Slashdot Mirror
Smart Cellphone Would Spend Your Money
jonknee writes "MobileTracker pointed to an article in the latest New Scientist about some new 3G mobile phone software that tries to learn your habits and start making your decisions for you. This sounds like science fiction, but it's happening now. The phone will be able to make reservations for you at your favorite steak house and then save seats for you at the hot event in town. Neat!"
I hope it checks with my calendar to make sure I'm free for that friday night concert!
Hey, the other consumer electronic that guessed what you liked was TiVo, and everybody complains about how it assumes the wrong stuff all the time. How can this be better, or 'neat' then? I don't want my electronics to guess what I want, I want them to be predictable. That is the only way i can rely on them, if I can predict them, instead of the other way around.
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
It might sound like a bankruptcy waiting to happen, but software engineer Nick Jennings is supremely confident the phones will not mess up anybody's life.
If you have to tell people "dont worry it won't mess up your life", I think you might have problems.
Like the robo-maid that cooks and cleans- don't worry it won't murder your wife and kids in their sleep.
bite my glorious golden ass.
Before there are too many replies about how it can't decide what you want to do for you, the article states that the software makes it's decisions based on information from your calendar entries. It will learn what your preferences are for specific types of entries.
The main section about how it works in the article is this:
The software's main focus is to recognise when you have a trip coming up in your diary, and then ask if you want it to check the availability of flights and hotels. In time, Jennings hopes you will decide to trust it to book the entire trip, choosing your preferred seating, route, day trips - and even allowing it to spend cash.
The cellphone agents only offer help if triggered by a diary event or if a definite pattern of behaviour, such as going to the movies every Friday, has been established.
The only thing I can't quite figure out is how it's going to reserve a spot at my favorite steak house given that it doesn't have an electronic reservation system =P. Airlines reservations, etc are all fine and dandy but many of my appointments aren't something software can handle without human intervention and if it was handled by an intermediary person, then we'd have many more privacy issues to worry about.
How about they make a phone and a service plan that gives you quality connections and no dropped calls? Why do I need phones that wipe my butt for me but can't make a phonecall?
The problem with devices like these is that human nature is the most illogical thing in the world. People love something one minute and hate it the next, you can't predict people's actions and decisions as much as you might think.
This _might_ be useful for the running-like-clockwork suits that have a strict routine: getting the same train everyday, having lunch at the same restaurant etc. but even then you're still gonna get a lot of incorrect purchases/bookings.
Computers should automate boring/repetitive tasks to make our lives easier. I don't know about you but I quite enjoy the excitement of booking a holiday or enjoy the experience of booking a fancy restaraunt for a big dinner.
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
What I can't buy is a phone that is a really good telephone. I want a phone that gets great reception, has accurate voice recognition and a sane user interface, a good speaker and microphone, and talks to my computer via USB or IR instead of a $100 proprietary dongle. In other words, I want a phone that does all of the things modern cell-phones do, but does them well.
-m