I find the concept of the “Internet of Things” to be really interesting; especially as it pertains to my own life. Just last week I felt like a “blogject” when Google asked me if they could track my texting patterns and where I am when I text. Of course I declined. It also reminded when Microsoft tried to force people to buy their Kinect motion camera which must always be on to play a video game despite whether that game needed the camera to function or not. I feel like these things could be either good or bad depending on what it is used for. Is it being used solely to collect data to get an angle on marketing? Or is it being used to truly try to improve functionality and practicality. I also find interesting the idea in the parsons article about technology being “invisible.” I think technology would function better and be a lot less controversial if it stays invisible but as the article says “most consumers will associate their mobiles with being social, aesthetic, and fun,” iphones have become a statement about status, cutomer loyalty has become more important than putting out a better product and the marketing is more important than the engineering and innovation.
However I do like the idea of “a stoplight can communicate with roads to route cars around traffic, a building can operate more efficiently by knowing where people are and what they’re doing, and even the health of the whole planet can be monitored in real time by aggregating the data from all such devices.” These are things that can actually help and benift society while also being almost invisible.
