Week 9 Blog Questions

"What 'converged' apps do you use? (if any)...Or what would you use if you had the chance?"

Like most people in the western world, I have a mobile phone. And like most young people of today I have everything on there - my contacts, my diary, alarm, my music. If I ever misplace my phone I freak out, thinking that I won't be able to find it again or get it back, which really, is quite sad. Another convergent technology that I find very handy is my GPS. Since I often have to travel for work or to find peoples houses in unfamiliar areas, my GPS makes it so much easier. When I think about it though, I have only had this piece of machinery for just over a year and before that, I got around fine with just a map book. Now though, I find that I can't go anywhere I haven't been to before without the aid of my GPS to give me directions.

As far as technologies I would like to own - I would very much like to have an IPhone, simply because you can do so much more on it and it's more user-friendly than my little Motorola phone. It's large screen, qwerty keyboard, onboard itunes and downloadable/customisable apps are all very appealing to me, and I keep finding new reasons and justifications as to why I need/want one. Again, it is a technology that is not necessary to our lives, as we have all gotten along just fine without the IPhone for hundreds of years, but suddenly with all that it offers, this gadget has become a sought-after commodity.

I was watching NextWorld on the Discovery channel the other day and the episode was all about future cars. What I found really interesting about these concept cars of the future is that so many of them include built-in robots, personalities, GPS systems, and all sorts of other 'user-friendly' devices. The Nissan PIVO was a very cool little Japanese car that has a mini-robot who is able to scan and detect the emotions of the driver - it can tell when you are happy, sad, angry, tired, and then offers advice such as 'you look tired, there is a coffee stop five-hundred meters ahead, on the left.' It can also control the car if the driver turns on a sort of 'auto pilot' which allows the car to park itself. For added safety this car contains LCD screens which give a 360 degree view of the surroundings of the car so the driver can 'see' in every direction, through a sort of augmented reality. Wikipedia has more details:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Pivo
and to view a video of the PIVO check out this site:
http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/nissan-pivo-2-from-next-world/261658
Maybe this cute little car could be the end of road rage?!