Rated: 93.33% (3 votes)
Loading ...The Octopus Watch
Alex Watson
One of the things I find most frustrating about technology is when you can imagine a use for it but the hardware, software and real life just don’t fit together in any sensible way. Seeing how the junction between these three differs in other countries is something I always enjoy when travelling, but sometimes I do just end up feeling jealous, especially when the Far East is involved. A friend from Hong Kong is back in the UK briefly and he showed me his watch, which kicked off the latest recurrence of this despondent feeling - not because he’s got some massive, ugly chronograph but because his watch also worked as his ticket for Hong Kong’s transport system.
Like the London Underground, the HK Metro uses a contactless smart-card ticketing system, although as you’d expect, the HK got there a few years before London, and it has a cooler name (Octopus vs London’s Oyster). The Octopus system works using an RFID chip, and as well as selling credit card sized plastic tickets with the chip in, you can also buy a range of watches and even Nokia mobile phone covers which come with the chip embedded in.
Needless to say, in London, you can buy a card for tube travel…. and that’s it. <Sigh>. It’s a shame that in terms of ubiqutious computing - embedding computer technology in everyday life - in the UK, all too often, we seem more interested in taking inspiration from 1984 (the latest idea being on-the-spot DNA sample collection by the cops if you’re caught littering or not wearing a seatbelt) rather than using it to actually improve people’s lives and make life in the city a little more convenient.
Incidentally, I’m going to be writing a feature on ubiqitous computing a little later in the year. I’m kicking off my research with Adam Greenfield’s well regarded book Everyware, but if you’ve got any other recommendations or interesting links, let me know 
I think one thing that’s holding “ubiquitous computing” back, especially in this country is that everything is so disjointed. The technology is there but most people can’t be bothered (or understand the technology in the first place) to carry around a load of different devices all the time. For some reason the far east seems to have sorted this problem.
Mobiles with features like 8MP cameras,10GB+ hard drives and roaming TV are not uncommon and with cases including smart transport ticket chips, you’ll only need one device for practically everything.
Yes if you lose it it could be a nightmare but with a simple lock from the phone company your data could be safe and to be honest it’s you’re fault if you lose it!
But what’s the advantage of having an all in one device? The advantage, and it’s a big one, is that you able to integrate with far more of this ubiquitous technology that can be found out there. Not only this but you’ll be able to do it quicker and easier and instead of sifting through your pockets for your car keys or phone or security card, it would be possible to do all these things from one device.
For example, imagine someone coming the escalators at a tube station, they’re talking to someone on their mobile after watching GMTV on their way to work, and have been all the way from miles out on the Met line - (Wifi onboard the train let them view the TV and make a voip call even in tunnels).
They have sent an Excel file via email to their boss of last weeks figures completed on the train. As they come out of the escalators they say “just a sec” and touch the phone onto the chip reader which opens the ticket gate and continues the conversation. They then use the inbuilt map system + GPS to navigate to the building where that morning’s conference is being held.
Just a snippet of what I see it being like here in 10-15 years if that, but only if we get our fingers out!
Following on from your comment ‘on the spot DNA’. I think integration of technology into everyday life is hampered by this feeling of ’the big brother state’. Human rights activists would probably grind any cool future developments to a halt on these grounds. I find this a real shame as it likely to slow progress.