SignPost:Prepare for gadgets with a sixth sense

06 May 2013 - 10:29 By Arthur Goldstuck
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Arthur Goldstuck
Arthur Goldstuck
Image: Business Times

One small throwaway comment during an analyst conference in Silicon Valley this week offered a dramatic pointer to the future.

"Our children will one day be amazed we never used tools to monitor health automatically," said Peggy Johnson, executive vice-president of Qualcomm Technologies.

She was referring to the range of technologies that are available to monitor at-risk patients' health without the need to visit a hospital or even a doctor. This growing industry, known as telemedicine, has already produced dramatic results.

"We have seen a 45% drop in the mortality rate of chronic disease patients using telehealth," said Johnson.

But this is only one of many industries being transformed by new mobile technologies. Qualcomm refers to the "digital sixth sense" as we depend on mobile devices not only for our human communications but also to communicate with inanimate objects.

Wireless communication is being built into fridges, washing machines and even toasters. When a fridge alerts you via instant messaging that its door has been left open, or your washing machine calls you at the movies to alert you that a load is unbalanced, you know this not the future most people were expecting.

Qualcomm, which makes the Snapdragon chip that powers most smartphones today, is developing technologies that device manufacturers can build into their products to give them that digital sixth sense.

This doesn't mean technology will run itself but rather that it will be used in ways that could barely have been conceived of just a few years ago.

Or even a few months ago.

The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 last month was accompanied by demonstrations of futuristic technologies now available to consumers.

A Qualcomm technology called AllJoyn was used to show audiences how half a dozen phones could connect to each other to play the same music at the same time, creating a shared listening experience for people across a room or across the world from each other.

AllJoyn can also be used to link a smartphone with a data projector or TV set so that people can instantly connect their devices and transmit a presentation, or even a full-length movie, from their phone.

The same thinking that advances telemedicine has gone into such entertainment technology. Expect it to invade schools and malls, the automotive and airline industries, and industries still to be invented.

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs is fascinated by the tricorder, the device used in the Star Trek series to diagnose patients' medical conditions simply by touching it to their bodies. As a result, he has offered a $10-million prize for anyone who develops an equivalent device in the next two years.

To win the prize, the device must be small and light and be able to diagnose a mere 15 medical conditions.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 offers evidence that this is not so far-fetched: it includes sensors for weather forecasting and the equivalent of a pedometer to measure your steps in a device that has the primary purpose of being a phone. A tricorder cannot be too far behind.

The purpose of the sponsorship is to turn possibilities into reality. Jacobs doesn't mind who creates it.

"Projects like AllJoyn are designed to be cross-platform, not because we want to control a market, but because we want to make a market," he said.

"If they are given the right tools, people and their ideas can be very powerful."

  • Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee
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