Thanks to my friend Michael B. for this interesting piece!
For the second year in a row, IBM researchers and consultants have come up with five innovations that are going to change the way we live in the next five years. And we’re funding and working on technologies in our labs right now that will allow these amazing things to happen.
Imagine, if:
- You were able to tell your utility provider how much carbon output you were willing to live with each month and have them alert you if you were close to going over that amount
- Your car could alert you about a traffic jam, suggest an alternate route with less traffic and direct you the entire way
- You were able to know the exact source and make-up of the food products you purchase
- Your cell phone could allow your friends to shop with you, even if they are across the country or the world
- Your doctor could gain X-ray-like vision to view medical images and super sensitive hearing to find tiniest audio clue in your heartbeat.
1. It will be easy for you to be green and save money doing it
As the global population continues to expand, being personally responsible about how much energy we each use continues to grow increasingly important. Imagine receiving a phone call on your cell or office phone saying “It’s your air conditioner, you left me on and nobody’s home, press 1 to turn me off.” As data begins to run through our electrical wires – dishwashers, air conditioners, house lights and more will be connected directly to a "smart" electric grid, and using a cell phone or any Web browser to turn on or off power will be possible.
Smart grid technologies will make it easier for you to manage your personal carbon footprint. Your utility company will provide you with up-to-date reports of electrical usage, so you can easily monitor how much energy you are using and how much you are spending on your electricity. You will also be able to tell your electrical provider how much carbon output you are willing to live with each month and how much money you are willing to spend, and you will receive a warning when you are approaching those levels.
Intelligent grid technologies will also make it easier for utilities to provide you with the option to use green energy sources like wind and solar, and innovations in wind and solar will bring more cost-efficient, green energy options to a utility near you.
Many utilities around the world are already in the early stages of these innovations. IBM is working with companies like Centerpoint Energy in Texas and Oxxio in the Netherlands, that are providing smart meters to their customers. The ZigBee Alliance has developed devices that look like lamp timers and will enable you to turn appliances on and off via the Internet. And IBM and others are developing technologies to make solar equipment more affordable and efficient for consumers to use in the future.
2. The way you drive will be completely different
Imagine having your car automatically alert you to upcoming traffic jams and direct you to a less congested route. Or imagine your car being able to help you avoid collisions by being able to “sense” other cars. In the future, smart technology will keep traffic moving, curb accidents, and make it easier for you to get from point A to point B. Your car will have driver-assist technologies that will make it possible for your car to communicate with other cars, as well as receive messages from sensors along the road. In other words, your car will behave like it has reflexes and take preventative actions under dangerous conditions and when the road ahead is clogged with traffic.
In addition, the cities you live in will find a cure for congestion using intelligent traffic systems that can make real-time adjustments to traffic lights and divert traffic to alternate routes with ease. Already in Stockholm, the road congestion system has reduced peak hour traffic by 20 percent, and a predictive traffic system in Singapore is providing traffic authorities with precise information about the best way to route traffic. And, IBM will begin to develop a road congestion charging system for the city of London in 2009.
3. You are what you eat, so you will know what you eat
Imagine knowing the exact source and make-up of the food products you purchase at your grocery store. In a recent IBM study, more than 72 percent of consumers said they want specific information about the contents, origins and environmental impact of the products they buy.
In the future, advancements in computer software and wireless radio sensor technologies will give you access to much more detailed information about the food you are buying and eating. Using second generation barcodes, wireless tags like RFID, and specialized sensors that can detect the surrounding environment and even monitor the shipping containers they travel in, you will have access to detailed information on your food. You’ll know everything from the climate and soil the food was grown in to the pesticides and pollution it was exposed to and the temperature and air quality of the shipping containers it traveled through on the way to your dinner table. Additionally, you will be able to know how food production affected the environment, allowing you to make decisions on what you purchase based on how eco-friendly the products are.
Through the use of smart shopping carts and kiosks, you will have instant access to a wealth of information about the origins and conditions your food was created and shipped in via a network connected device that can read the digital passports on your food automatically. For example, if you are on a diet that calls for meats only from farms that use natural grains to feed their animals, you can find that information instantly.
And imagine your grocery store contacting you directly when an item you purchased has been recalled. Using loyalty card systems – the same cards that give you coupon-less discounts at checkout – grocers will be able to instantly tell you when items are recalled. Today, grocers and manufactures rely on the media to communicate recalls, but even in our highly connected world, you may miss those alerts. In the future, you will be able to opt-in to receive instant recall information via e-mail, text or phone call.
4. Your cell phone will be your wallet, your ticket broker, your concierge, your bank, your shopping buddy, and more
Imagine being able to bring your friends with you in your pocket when you go shopping - not just by text messaging each other, but by connecting them into the experience. New technology will allow you to snap a picture of someone walking past wearing the coolest new outfit and will automatically search the Web to find the designer and the nearest shops that carry that outfit. You can then see what that outfit would look like on your personal avatar – a 3D, to-scale, representation of you – right on your phone and ask your friends in different locations to check it out online and give you their opinion.
New technologies will also allow you to go into a store and ask your phone, "Where are the designer dresses?," and the phone will give you the exact location, even guiding you there much like GPS guides you in your car on the road.
Your phone will also guide you through visiting a city, like a personal concierge. Imagine you arrive at an airport, turn on your cell phone, and it automatically provides you with local entertainment, activity and dining options that match your preferences. Then, your phone would make reservations and purchase tickets for you, and you would be able to use a receipt on your cell phone to get into the concerts and sporting events that you selected.
The pervasive use of this type of technology isn't that far away. Working with IBM, Omron started the world's first mobile phone-based information delivery service called "Goopas" that sends local information to a consumer's mobile phone when the person passes through a ticket gate at a train station. In Singapore, CASSIS International and IBM are piloting a Smart Poster Management System at train stations and bus stops that enables transactions with a simple tap of a mobile phone. Consumers just need to tap on a smart poster to receive product and location information, quickly accessing services and conducting transactions like buying movie tickets or making dinner reservations with their mobile phones. And in Japan nearly all mobile phones have built-in barcode readers that allow the user to scan a barcode from an advertisement, which launches the phone's Web browser and delivers the advertiser's mCommerce storefront.
5. Doctors will get enhanced “super-senses” to better diagnose and treat you
Imagine your doctor having superpowers. Technology will allow your
doctors to gain X-ray-like vision to view medical images, super
sensitive hearing to find tiniest audio clue in your heart beat, and
ways to organize information in the same way they treat a patient, by
viewing the human body.
All of your medical history: past visits, blood tests, medicines
prescribed, MRIs, X-rays, and more will be organized in the same way a
doctor interacts with you – by looking at the human body. An avatar – a
3D representation of the human body – will allow doctors to visualize
your medical records in an entirely new way, so they can click with the
computer mouse on a particular part of the avatar "body" to trigger a
search of medical records to retrieve relevant information, instead of
leafing through pages of notes.
For example, when a patient visit a doctor’s office today and complains
of chest pain, the doctor will ask the patient about any history the
patient can recall, do tests and visually and physically examine the
patient. After that, the doctor will usually sort through stacks of
paper records, but will most likely not have access to the full patient
history and similar complaints. In the future, doctors can “click” a
specific part on the 3D avatar of the human body – in this case the
heart – and instantly see all the available medical history and
information related to that patient’s heart, including text entries,
lab results and medical images such as radiographs, EKGs or MRIs.
IBM Research has already developed some of the technology that will make this a reality. Using the Advanced Analytics for Information Management (AALIM), doctors will be able to find patterns they could never find on their own by analyzing thousands of other patient records to find treatments that are the most successful based on their particular patient's situation. And IBM's Anatomic and Symbolic Mapper Engine (ASME) provides an interactive 3D model of the human body that displays health information at a glance.
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