
The rise of context-aware computing - kentf
http://kent.io/post/68239366153/context-aware-computing-is-the-next-big-thing
======
xarball
I find concept videos like this often grossly over-simplify the problem of
contextual computing, or even personalization for the matter.

I think today we already have plenty of context -- A paypass-equipped credit
card can already provide context. And NFC-equipped phone, or even your wifi or
bluetooth fingerprint. All of these things are already capable of providing
the same level of uniqueness describing your person (Or at least arranging the
transfer of enough uniqueness to qualify you).

I think the biggest problem that every entrepreneur always misses is: "How do
we define context?"

"How do we organize it?" "How do we make sure that your personal information
is open, tailored to you, and not limited in so much as Microsoft, Apple, or
Facebook is willing to sell you that expression of identity which you will be
LIMITED to being, as they see fit."

I think it comes down to a much more broad question that I don't think the
industry has yet to answer at all.

What is the GRAMMAR of this context -- that will make it so fluid that
everybody can integrate with it, seamlessly?

This is not something the industry has tried to answer, because we're still
arguing over Apache's "Web of Things" vs a Json "Web of Things". We haven't
even prescribed machine-understandable meaning to these free structured Apis
yet -- let alone write a system that can automatically understand what a trunk
is, how it works, and the entire context and meaning of a car.

This is not a move to context -- it's a limited gesture, and one that isn't
based in the realm of context any more than a key understands a door.

~~~
brokenparser
If there only was some way of reading one's mind. You could create a device
that holds your hand and hums your favourite tune as you cross the street,
tell you when it's time to go pee-pee and tells you a cute story when you go
to bed.

I hate the future where you can't drive a car because the cars drive
themselves, you can't create a campfire (or even bbq) because the drones put
it out and call the cops, can't flip the bird at anyone because the picture of
that is instantly posted to your profile for your employer and clients to see,
can't watch the games on the couch with a crate of beer because the tv watches
you and forwards the data to your doctor, etc.

Wait a minute, we're nearly there already. Better book a trip to Bouvet...

~~~
nightski
It is easy to focus on what inevitable restrictions are more easily "enforced"
with the technology (but those restrictions by and large already exist). I
think it is far more interesting to focus on what they enable.

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InclinedPlane
Ah yes, the semantic web. Remember when that was going to change everything?
All it required was for everyone on the web to meticulously format their data
into carefully structured databases. I can't imagine why it never gained much
traction.

As an interesting side note, part of the reason of the success of google is
that through the page rank algorithm they were able to extract highly
important _implicit_ data on the relative popularity, authoritativeness, and
context of links rather than being forced to rely only on explicit data.

I will make the claim that in the future devices and systems which work on
implicit context and metadata are going to be more successful at these sorts
of high level pseudo-cognitive capabilities than anything which is dependent
on people changing the way they do everything.

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rjd
I started working on a project with a friend to use NFC in phones to start on
this problem.

We where working on using NFC to auto lock and unlock your PC when you phone
was on your desk hear a receiver. The idea originated from using the NFC to by
pass the RFID door scanner so we didn't need our toggles to get into the
office. Deciding we could get in troupe pissing around trying to bypass the
security system we ended up working backwards to something easier... being the
lock/unlock thing.

Unfortunately we stopped working on it when my friend went broke and his
priorities changed (i.e. silly hobby projects don't pay the bills).

Would love to pick it up again some time in the future, we had lots of awesome
discussions and ideas with this field. We where just investigating a braclet
RFID to add to the system as a two factor authentication, so you needed more
than just the phone do it. But thats roughly where we got up to.

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nl
This is so true, and it's such a hard problem.

AFAIK, only Google (with Google Now) is tackling it seriously. The Sixth Sense
demo[1] showed where we should be going.

(The linked Nymi tool isn't particularly interesting IMHO. It's certainly not
much more capable than things like the FitBit, or the much more capable sports
oriented Garmin devices)

[1]
[http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potenti...](http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology.html)

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thewarrior
I get a feeling that this is what Apple might be trying to accomplish with
their rumoured iWatch. They've been hiring experts in heart rate measurement
and other biometrics. There have also been rumours that the iWatch would
integrate with home automation systems.

[http://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/18/apple-taps-new-hires-
in-...](http://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/18/apple-taps-new-hires-in-health-
sensors-broad-array-of-internal-experts-for-iwatch-team/)

