A Device Free World

Imagine a world where everything you do is device-free. No laptops, Blackberries or iPods. Calling a friend would be done using your hand as the keypad and phone. Videos could be watched anywhere and anytime and all you’ll need is a piece of paper to watch them on. Merging physical and digital documents would be as simple as cutting and pasting the physical document using your hands and pasting it onto your computer to combine it with the digital document.

Sounds like a scene from the movie “Minority Report” with Tom Cruise? Something future-esque? Star Trek like? Well, in a couple of years it may be reality. In the world of PR our clients often send us interesting tidbits related to their realm of expertise. The latest one came when our client was discussing what she sees as “the next big leap in science and technology over the next five years and how it will affect business and society at large.” She responded with the clip below:



SixthSense technology, as it’s called, is “worn” by an individual on their fingers and uses that person’s gestures and motions to allow them to interact with information. The keyword here is interact. You can use your fingers as a camera to take a picture. Newspapers become interactive tools that show broadcast clips of news reported or updated weather information specific to where the user is located. As our client put it – “it’s the merging of the physical and digital.”

Imagine marketing this puppy to the masses. True 24/7 connectedness no matter where a person is. Truly life changing technology for consumers.

While I like the idea of not having to carry around multiple devices anymore, it’s also a scary thought. To always be connected means you never turn off. It’s hard enough as it is to get away from always being connected. Losing my phone over the weekend was kind of a blessing – I spent Sunday talking to no one and relaxing on my own.

But the implementation of SixthSense technology is better than it is worse. It’ll be interesting to see if the technology comes to fruition in the next five years and how much it will affect society as it is today.