More Smartness

Yesterday, Berg launched a teaser video about a mini-printer that would print a tailored feed of items you set on your smartphone. It’s a clever little device, looks awesome, but prints static feed info. It’s like a digital butler sending you a customized newspaper everyday. Then, talking about it with Teppo, I realized it could be so much more.

On this day and age, it baffles me that we don’t have smarter apps acting as digital assistants. Yes, there’s Siri. But Siri is an assistant you have to bug to fetch bits of info for you. Why don’t we have proactive digital assistants. The following scenario is entirely possible today using several different services. We just don’t have anything to mix and match all of this. Let’s call this assistant Digi.

  • 7:00: Digi wakes you up: “Good Morning! It’s 7 o’clock and it’s a beautiful automn  day outside. Better use a sweater or light jacket today”.
  • 7:02: You go to the bathroom and weigh yourself on the scale. The scale then sends the info to Digi: “Seems like you dropped another 200g! Good for you. You’re on track with your goal to loose 10kg by year end.”
  • 7:05: Senses you moving about and figures you went into the kitchen. Digi then advises: “For breakfast, why don’t you try this quick an easy recipe? It will fit your diet.” Digi supposedly should know what ingredients I have based on what I’ve been adding and ticking off the shopping list.
  • 7:10: Digi: “While you eat breakfast, here are the main news of the day”.
  • 7:20: “Shall we go for a bit of a jog? You have about 25min, so here’s a good route to follow. Grab your sneakers!”
  • 7:45: “Congratulations! You ran 2 miles and dropped 400 calories. Great work!”
  • 8:00: Senses you leaving the house (no longer connected to the home wifi network): “Here’s how your day is looking: you have a meeting at 10 at BigCorps, then lunch with Steve at Little Italy,  then an afternoon in the office. Here’s your route to the BigCorps office (based on current traffic information).
  • 8:40: As you drive, Digi gets a report about an accident ahead: “Accident ahead, changing course. You will arrive 10min later but still on time.”
  • 9:45: As you approach BigCorps office, Digi kicks in: “BigCorps office is 500m ahead. Cheapest parking is 200m ahead. Turn right.”
  • 10:00: “Time for your meeting. Here’s the meeting agenda.”
  • 11:30: As the meeting is finished, Digi senses you move out. “Lunch with Steve in half an hour. There’s a machine to pay for your parking on Level 2. I’ll guide you there.”
  • 11:50: Getting late. “You’re 10 minutes late. I’ll send a text to Steve to warn him.”
  • 12:10: Arriving at the restaurant: “Michael has been here before. He recommends the Parma Pizza.”
  • 13:40: After lunch, Digi senses you arrived at the office: “So, here’s what you have to deal with this afternoon.” And displays your to-do list.
  • 18:10: “Time to leave. You have dinner with your parents at 20:00”.
  • 18:25: As you drive home: “Since you’re early, Max Supermarket is on the day and you can pick up some groceries.”
  • 18:35: As you enter the supermarket: “Don’t forget to pick up your dry cleaning”.
  • 18:50: Once you tick off your last item in the shopping list: “You have two coupons to use.” It displays them on the screen.
  • 19:50: “Your bottle of Douro Fab wine will go nicely with this recipe. Time to open it and let it rest”
  • 22:20: After dinner: “Your favorite series is on on Channel 24. Do you want me to put in on or record it?”.

As you can see, there’s a way to link all sorts of different services we have today. All we need is someone willing to make us live in the future like we deserve.