Emulating the Senses in Technology in 2012
Technology is constantly evolving and the nature of humankind is to constantly look at how to do things better. Keeping up with those evolutions is the challenge of many - some embrace the change and some prefer the currrent way of doing things. Either works - it's just up to the individual's personal preferences. And that is what companies today are trying to get closer to - the preferences of the individual.
I have been looking into the future today and contemplating what it will look like. One article I read was pointing to 2020 and what the world will look like then but one, highlighting changes which are closer on the horizon is about 5 innovations that will change 2012. Many of the senses are being emulated by technology - something we would never have imagined 15 years ago.
Eye control. This is about being able to control the way your computer works and what it does, using your eyes. Technology is also evolving to detect your feeling based on other facial movements (see an earlier blog on facial recognition technology). The next trend, gesture control is something we have seen used in areas such as gaming, but it is advancing to mean that you could open a file on your computer from 17 feet away or swipe through your music library at a distance. Touchscreen control, mainly now used on smartphones but not on laptops and mainstream computing will become more advanced. And speech recognition is advancing - as has been seen with iPhone's 'Siri' assistant. So this technology can be used to mean that you can talk to your computer just as easily as you use a mouse.
I remember when mobile phone handsets first came out and I saw people apparently talking to themselves. Just imagine, soon we'll be offices and streets full of people talking to themselves.... a sobering thought...But on a more serious note, emulating the senses brings marketers closer to their audience, as it is emotions that connect people with each other and with companies' brands. So many of these technology changes will in the future start to have a profound impact on the way companies are able to engage with their global customers.
