The weirdest dreams are those that are real- Quantified self and Ubiquitous computing.

Image Source: API Evangelist
My iPhone alarm clock went off announcing the start of another hectic day. My alarm clock also functioned as a sleep cycle assistant and told me that I did not get the ideal sleep. I said to myself- "oh good. I have to face this hectic day with not enough sleep? perfect." As I felt the exasperation and anxiety boil through my body, my smartwatch detected my mood (after seeing a spike in heart rate and blood pressure) and loged it with an application on my phone. My virtual assistant Siri, found the connection in those 3 independent information (i. not having enough sleep, ii. hectict day based on my calendar, and iii. the change in my mood) and decided it was time to pump me up. Siri then sent a command to my bluetooth speaker to play my favorite collection of motivational songs. As I was taking a shower, my phone was hard at work telling my coffee maker to start brewing, pulling the most recent traffic data to map out my route to wrok, checking the weather, sending an email summary of my day's itinerary to my iPad, and tells my Samsung T900 series refrigerator to check for any item that needed to be bought at the end of the day and to set a reminder for me to buy them on my way home. As I got out of the shower and into my living room to start dressing up, my smartwatch vibrated and I saw a notification from Siri- "Rain is expected today. Be sure to bring a jacket." I then went to the dinning room to drink my coffee and eat breakfast using the latest iteration of Hapifork. Every bite I took was logged and my hapifork sent that information to Myfitnesspal and updated my Calorie budget for the day. As I was eating and reading the news from my iPad, I saw a promoted feed about a blow out sale in my favorite shoe store so I "liked" the article and "pinned" it on my Pinterest board. As I was heading out, my iPhone told my smartcar to start warming up to save me time.  

Upon entering the car my phone launched my favorite Navigation app- Waze-  and gave me the best route to take based on traffic updates my phone collected over the internet and based on crowd-sourced information that my Navigation app gathered. While driving, my phone synched with my car stereo. Sensing my mood through my smartwatch and knowing the kind of day I faced at work, my phone played my favorite Songza album - "Like a boss". It also set itself on "drive mode" sending auto reply sms to people who called me while I was driving. 

Image Source: ipoll.com
At work, my phone and smart watch were hard at work collecting data and making adjustments about their understanding of myself. On my way out for lunch break, my smartwatch suggested I take the stairs instead of the elevator- to burn-off the nuttella sandwhich I gobbled this morning. To pay for food, I used the NFC feature of my phone- the transaction was tagged as a #food purchase in a #cefeteria so MyFitnesspal loged the calories and updated my daily caloric budget.  While looking for a seat in the cafeteria, I received another notification on my smartwatch that my friend John just came back from vacation in Venice and that he was also in the cafeteria (using Highlight- an ambient social networking). This notification reminded me about my planned vacation to Venice and so I decided to sit with John to get some tips about where to go and what to do in Venice. 

As my work day went by, some of my scheduled appointments got updated (either moved or canceled). This was usually a big hassel for me as I had to take note of these changes to make sure I made the necessary adjustments in my personal calendar/ schedule. Thankfully, my employer is a strong supporter of the BYOD movement allowing me to use my own Macbook Pro at work. This allowed me to synch my work calendar with my personal calendar through iCloud. At the end of the day my virtual scheduling assistant did the necessary calendar management making sure nothing is conflicting and overlapping. It also scheduled an email to be sent to me (around 10pm) asking me to go over the decisions it made in moving some appointments. This allows it to learn how I prioritize certain appointments based on keywords and attendees. 

On my way out of the office, I received a notification on my smartwatch reminding me of things I needed to do on my way home- (ie. the grocery list my refrigerator sent me earlier today). As I was nearing the parking lot, my phone told my car to start and it also started mapping out the best route to my favorite grocery store. 

On my way out of the grocery store my smartwatch sent me a notification- "Running Room is having a big blow out sale today. You might want to check it out." This reminded me that I did read an add about this today and I "liked" it and "pinned" it too. It just so happens that Running Room is in the same compound so I went to check it out. As I was entering the store I got another notification on my smartwatch- "Great news. We found a Groupon that will give you an extra $10 off each item purchased in Running room today. The coupon code has been added to your Passbbook." What started off as a window shopping decision became an actual purchase- I went home with two pairs of shoes. 
Image Source: Memoto Blog

As I was nearing home, my phone told my centralized heating system at home to set the temperature at a nice 28 degrees Celsius. Inside the house, I put my groceries inside the refrigerator. As I was putting the items inside, the small camera in the refrigerator was busy identifying the items and updating its inventory list. 

As I was moving towards the kitchen, my smartwatch sent me a notification that I only had 500 Calories left in my daily Calorie budget. It also told me that it had a few suggestions on what to cook for dinner- taking into account the items I currently had in my refrigerator. 

Before going to bed, I received an email from my virtual scheduling assistant  asking me to go over the scheduling moves it made today. To my horror it moved my birthday celebration to another week because it overlapped with another calendar entry....then my alarm went off. 

And I woke up...feeling tired that sleep went by so fast after a long day at work...then I realized it was all just a dream. I felt confused because it all felt so real. It felt so real because it was all possible. All the technology I saw in my dream already exist today in varying degrees of iteration. What a wonderful world it would be when they are all scaled to mass production. I'm not sure about you but I sure am excited about the future when wearable technology, quantified self movement and ubiquitous computing all merge into the next technological revolution. 

Want to get started on wearable computing? Check-out these great deals:

 Sony Smart Watch for Android


Fitbit Flex Fitness Tracker

Nike Fuel Band Fitness Tracker

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