Interesting Links for 23-09-2014

[andrewducker]

• On Upgrading One’s Wristwatch
  (tags: watch technology Apple obsolescence )
• 'F*ck it, I quit': TV reporter Charlo Greene quits live on air in spectacular fashion
  (tags: tv marijuana )
• English devolution - with maps
  (tags: devolution uk england politics )
• Fantasy Flight's employees are leaving it the _worst_ reviews
  (tags: review employment )
• snopes

Comments

[rhythmaning]

Regarding the updating the iWatch thing... That is one of the thing I really don't get about "wearables": updating.

I met someone a few weeks ago who worked as a consultant in "mobile", and she was going on (like half the tech world!) about wearables as the next big thing - driven largely by the high costs of American medical bills. (This actually made sense: it is cheaper to get initial diagnostic from a device than a doctor, and American medical insurance companies are likely to demand the insured use devices to keep costs down.)

A friend of hers has an RFID chip inserted in his arm, which he uses to open his front door, turn lights on and so on.

Personally, I've never had a problem opening a door or switching lights on.

But I couldn't help thinking: what happens when he needs an upgrade? Just stick another chip under the skin?

There is something rather unpleasant about the scene. Or maybe it is just the idea of Cybermen that Dr Who has imprinted on my crocodile-brain.

[andrewducker]

Yeah. I'm tempted by the NFC Ring, or similar. But not by putting things into my body. This week.

[alitheapipkin]

That is the kind of nonsense that makes me feel like a luddite. Technological advances should be about helping us achieve more and better not do tasks most people can achieve perfectly easily themselves for people who are obsessed and have more money than sense.

[naath]

Why is buying a new iWatch any different to buying a new iPhone? Loads of people buy the new iWhatever every time it comes out. Loads of other people don't - my last phone lasted several years before I decided it was too stupid and I needed a new one.

I have a contraceptive implant in my arm; it runs out every three years and requires removing and replacing if I want to continue to use it (or just removing if I don't). This procedure is not especially horrifying to me. I guess if I had an RFID chip implanted for some reason (and not needing to remember my keys sounds pretty useful, but not something I'd want to pay loads and loads for) then I could get it removed and replaced if I decided to upgrade, or it stopped working, or whatever.

[steer]

Yes, exactly this. Someone thirty years ago could have said "What, you're going to get a new phone every two years or so just because it's mobile?" but people do exactly that.

(But RFID is an old and stable tech -- so it would be more like every ten or fifteen years).

[steer]

To be fair here RFID is not one of those technologies that's going to go out of date super quickly. That's been stable tech for a long long time now. So, if you're going to pick one to get implanted, that's a reasonable choice.