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(Short Term) Memory Aids

Ever been in a situation where your phone or laptop battery was about to die? What did you do next? A common strategy for the risk-averse is to make a hard copy backup of just enough information needed for the next tasks - an address, phone number, reference number.

And what if anything does this have to do with the poor quality key fob display (below) sold in an Urumqi market for a few Euro cents? It's a fairly typical don't-expect-it-too-last-too-long electronic gadget. It's also an unintentional precursor to a new class of object that you'll wonder how you did without, another small thing with a big future. The post-it or thumb drive of its time.

Take a display, preferably something persistent and with minimal power consumption, just enough resolution to display an address is enough to get started. Throw in a mechanism to synchronise data from your other connected stuff. The bill of materials is cheap. Sponsored versions where the default image is the advertising de jour, will be cheap enough to hand to a stranger.

Secondary and tertiary displays - optimised to support your (short term) memory. That account number you need to quote every time you call up tech support? Just where you want it. That appointment you're on your way to? Address and contact details automatically copied across. A trickle of pertinent information pulled from your life stream updating as your day evolves.

Related: charging from Soweto to Delhi to Tokyo.

Side note: Japanese mobile phone consumer's are more likely to pop into a convenience store if their battery dies - such is the benefit of having a power connector that is standardised across handsets - a phone feature defined by the operator for most products sold though its network.

Writing from Mishuku | January 4, 2008 | Permalink