Color me a technology gadget hound. The Mincey Plantation is packed with electronic devices. I think I can tell the time six different ways in every room; there are that many gadgets.
What we Mincey folk have not done in the 21st century is go all Internet of Things on the household. Why not? After all, more and more appliances and gadgets are connected to the internet these days. What’s holding us back?
Wants vs. Needs
Smart appliances are everywhere these days. Whirlpool is working on a Watch app to control their new line of appliances. I don’t know why, but such controls are a thing these days, as evidenced by Amazon’s Echo and Alexa, the artificial intelligent assistant. You know, like Siri inside a can of Pringles.
Other than both Android and iPhone applications, most of these connected devices don’t play nice-nice with one another, many present security risks because IoT brings inherent risks into the home, and this trend toward always on, always connected devices goes against the Apple grain.
Apple grain?
Apple makes products work well together, and even with HomeKit enabled devices, it all doesn’t yet just work. So, I’ve compile a list of new technology gadgets I want from Apple, starting with Apple Car.
Apple Car – nearly every technology prognosticator says Apple won’t build a car. Tesla beat Apple to the punch. Maybe so, but the only hit product Tesla has beyond positive spin public relations is the Model S. Apple, buy Tesla and move on.
Bundles – yes, Apple is in the television content business and that’s a good thing. It brings competition to the industry, and provides Apple with the ability to bundle TV shows and movies into a subscription that works best on Apple products. Music, movies, TV shows, YouTube, et al are the television of the 21st century.
Printers – just kidding. Who needs printers these days? The money is in the ink and we’re sharing and sending photos and documents these days instead of printing.
MacBook Touch – alright, we’ve hashed this one over ad nauseam, but Apple could really put a fire into the personal computer industry with an entry-level Mac with a touchscreen; ARM-based on an Apple designed chip. I would buy one. You know you would, too.
Appliances – look, Samsung does it and seems to have both a good reputation for kitchen-based products of decent quality, and they make money doing it. If Samsung can steal Apple’s intellectual property, why can’t Apple build refrigerators and freezers or washers and dryers?
Televisions – just kidding. Critics say there’s no money in building televisions. Even Gene Munster has given up the TV ghost. But, why are so many technology companies building televisions if not for money?
Robot – this is where the future is. Just ask anyone in Japan. It’s all about robots. Servant robots, industrial robots, personal robots, workerbots, and sex robots.
You really want one, don’t you?
Siri is a faceless robot that understands a few commands, therefore, she’s not much different than Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa or others where the AI smarts are housed on a server somewhere in the cloud, but the hardware and face interact with humans. Maybe the technology is to far into the future, but are you not surprised we do not yet have an Amazon robot that walks, talks, moves, fetches, and watches us with blinking eyes 24/7?
Amazon?
Glasses – Google messed up with Google Glass, but CES 2018 saw a handful of smartglasses about to be unleashed on the market and most of them looked like, well, glasses. Thick and heavy. But more glasses-like than Borg-like.
Apple seems to have crashed into an innovation-less wall of sorts where the next great thing is not clearly visible. The next great thing is not Watch or AirPods or Siri or a broader line of iPhones.
My bet is on robots.
Stick Amazon Echo on top of a Roomba, add a battery, and you’re halfway there. If Apple isn’t working on Siri as a robot, then Amazon is working on putting Alexa into a robot.
