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If it computes, it connects...
18 September 2012

Now, those that know me well will probably snigger at this blog, given my general lack of internet skills. I just about stretch to Twitter, but then only occasionally.

But I was really intrigued by this news snippet I stumbled across. ‘If it computes, it’s connected’ read the headline.

Those were the words of Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner, who went on to explain that everything, from the most heavyweight cloud computing centres to the latest internet radios, will all be wireless.

Items will communicate and exchange data; how useful would it be, I wondered, if you didn’t have to record business mileage in an app or on a notebook, but your car did it for you?

Given the current pace of change such technological revolutions will be here before we know it.

And that irritating clicking from the rear right of your company car – the one that goes instantly silent the moment you try to demonstrate it to the service engineer – is recorded by the car and remotely sent to your nearest dealer, who then books you in for a service to get it fixed. Having already remotely checked your diary to ascertain when is suitable.

Utopian stuff? I don’t think so. I might be a little older by the time such technology is commonplace, but given the current pace of change such technological revolutions will be here before we know it.

Let’s take technology and congestion. I suspect one of the biggest bugbears any company car manager faces is the constant moaning about traffic jams and the time wasted going nowhere. But smarter navigation systems are already being introduced to overcome this.

For example, BMW has recently launched its latest navigation system that plots the most efficient routes with intelligent planning linked to the car’s fuel-saving ECO PRO mode.

Volvo is going further. It’s putting the commuting time spent on motorways to good use by allowing autonomous driving ‘road trains’. In other words, allowing your car to drive itself.

You might be taken aback by such a thought, but Marcus Rothoff – the Volvo engineer in charge of the project – says that as we don’t give a thought to airplanes flying on autopilot, why should we worry about cars?

The ability for drivers to answer emails, check reports, or talk to the office in complete safety while the car drives itself should really drive up productivity. Although I suppose it will also give those same drivers time to go extra curricular and update their Facebook status and so on.

Although, clearly not in my case. Such technology is outside my current capabilities - but when the age of 'if it computes, it connects' eventually arrives, it might bring me closer to technological mastery!

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