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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 swear honey, I didn't rent these pornos, my cell phone did!
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Microsoft announces new line of "smart" cell phones along with new catchphrase "This IS where you'll go today"
Get a free Ipod!
I hope it checks with my calendar to make sure I'm free for that friday night concert!
I'd hate it when my cell phone tells me I'm a boring human because no one ever calls me and knows I spend all my time at home in front of the computer.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
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.
Don't wives already make decisions for us. Why on earth would we want a phone to also do this, its already a pain in the ass as is.
While us Americans are chuckling and wondering why anyone would want this, as many posts are showing...
In Japan is is absolutely critical for every teenage girl to have exactly the same stuff as every other, or else she faces some rather severe social consequences. It's no secret that these girls/sheep run the Japanese economy.
So once sales of product-X reaches some critical mass all the girls phones can be programmed to detect it and keep up by ordering the product immediately.
In all seriousness, this will relive the stress of keeping up for many girls, and make their lives a bit better.
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
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?
My wife is already making all my decisions and spending all my money. I don't think she's going to cede that power to my cell phone.
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