Answering life’s big questions
What is the meaning of life? According to a recent article in The Guardian, mobile phones are well on their way to answer life’s big questions. Maybe they’re not quite up to the philosophical stuff just yet, but they’ve certainly come a long way to making life all the easier for the multitude of mobile users around the globe.
The introduction of improved tracking facilities on mobile phones is set to provide an answer to the question: who am I? With the ability to remember the places we frequent, and record this data, a profile of the “type” of person we are is able to be built.
2010 is the year for such a breakthrough thanks to the increased accuracy of in-built tracking devices and their ability to glean location signals from satellites, Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile transmitters. The information generated about the places we visit – cafés, restaurants, theatres or cinemas – goes a long way to create a fairly accurate personal profile. An advertiser’s dream or a privacy nightmare? Only time will tell, but in the meantime it certainly means fantastic opportunities for discovering appealing restaurants in your immediate vicinity. Localised weather services are also a boon for commuters or the curious. Need to chart the latest weather? The most up-to-date data can give you precise details on any rainy spells, heat transfers or cold snaps to help pick out the best route to work or an outfit for the day. The answers are all available via your mobile. The acquisition of satnav technologies in mobile phones is additionally a big plus.
Location-based services are plentiful, and there are new ones appearing all the time, including Google’s Near Me Now, Foursquare.com and blockchalk.com, although the latter is predominantly catered for the US market at the moment. A nifty gimmick is the chance to leave location-based messages in a café or at the end of your street, which gives users the opportunity to leave behind their cyber tag or virtual graffiti without actually despoiling the streets. Stay tuned as Twitter intends to pursue these technologies in the near future.
There’s even talk that mobile phones will be able to assist us with choices in our clothing labels with regards to shopping location data. From café locations to fashion fabric labels, the sky is the limit!
Enjoy !
