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My entry for the INK Designing the future NOW competition

I am designing the future in association with BlogAdda.com & INK talks.

A truly interconnected world

Somewhere, in the near future…

The world is a village, that’s what they say. It all started with the invention of the wheel. Suddenly distances became smaller. A little later in the history, people attracted by the question of what lies beyond the horizon set sail in ships. Distant lands were discovered, the world as we know it today came into existence. Then came industrial revolution which gave us the engine. We had cars and planes. The dream of flight was a reality. And all these inventions have collectively made the world a smaller place; you can really go around the world in 80 hours or even lesser. But the true revolution in connecting the world came in the age of computers. Computers along with internet have brought the world closer than ever before. And today we have one window, that one portal that connects us to the whole world - the smartphone.

The next phase of inter-connectivity will be based on smartphones. This is the inter-connectivity of humans and the world around us. Smartphones can and will change the way we interact with our world. They will connect us with the cities that we live in. We all interact with friends on social network; soon we will be able to interact with the city, a smarter city.

How? Here is how smartphones will revolutionize our lives. There will be one app that will cut across apps and networks, it will assimilate and integrate all information and give me all that I need to make a smarter decision. I call it the ‘Intercon’, short for interconnected. Imagine this scenario, it’s Monday morning and I am late for office, I quickly shoot out messages to my carpool friends that they can start without me. Now I need to plan my travel to office. I open 'Intercon' and look up for the next available bus. The bus arrives at my stop in 5 minutes; I can know this thanks to GPS tagged buses. Intercon draws info directly out of the transport authority’s website. I know I am late for this bus, so I need a different mode of transport. I look up for a cab. Intercon shows there are 10 cabs within 500 meters which are vacant and luckily 3 of them are looking for passengers travelling in the direction of my office. The cabs are connected over high speed networks, the cabbie can let any passenger know if his cab is vacant and what direction he is headed in. I can book the cab on the fly and he is sent my location. I ping the closest one, the cabbie replies yes. 2 minutes to ETA. I can also check out what ideal fare I will have to shell out for the ride. I can also carpool on cabs if someone in the vicinity is willing to!

I am 10 minutes from the office and feeling very hungry. Based on my earlier preferences Intercon shows me 3 different restaurants on the way to office. It also shows me that all three restaurants have vacant tables right now and asks me if I want to book a table. Having been to all the three before, I am not very keen visiting them again. The cabbie recommends some new place in the vicinity of my office. Intercon jumps into action once again. It quickly brings up reviews of the hotel both from reviewing websites and from my social networks. I see that a lot of people from my office have already tried the place and have given good ratings to it. I decide to go for this new place. My table has been booked and I already know what I am going to have there. Intercon is linked to both the cab and my bank account. I don’t pay a dime, Intercon does it for me, and I just take my briefcase and run to the restaurant. I am late for office, remember?

As soon as I step into my office Intercon switches to silent mode, cutting off most updates. It is still running but won’t disturb me with regular updates. I can set locational settings and it will behave in that particular way in that particular location. As soon as I turn up my computer I see a mail from Intercon, it’s my colleagues birthday. My office mode tells Intercon to communicate on mails as that’s where I am most of the time. How could I forget my friend’s birthday! Intercon has sent me some options for gifts, carefully I choose one. Intercon gets a message from the delivery company, the package has been dispatched. 30 minutes later it’s on my desk! Some utility bills too are there in the inbox. I ask Intercon to take care of them too. 

Somewhere in the middle of the work day my phone starts buzzing, seems like some urgent update. Intercon is telling me that my kids have left home with the TV on. Well no trouble, I can control home appliances and electronics which are connected to the web through Intercon. One button press and the problem is solved. Quickly, I shoot a message to my kids asking them to be more careful henceforth.

The day is about to end and I just remembered that I forgot to book movie tickets for the family. Intercon quickly brings up the info from the movie theatre, and I book the seats. Now for the transportation, Intercon pulls up radio cab service info. I book one for my wife and one for my kids, I tag their location for the radio cab give their details and it’s done. Two hours later we are all at the cinema. No hassle in payment as Intercon has done that for me already. No need of paper tickets as Near Field Communication tells the cinema that I have electronic tickets. Inside the hall in dim lights finding your seats is always a trouble. But Intercon helps with that too, my seats are flashing red in the app, I know exactly which direction I need to take! 

It was a great day thanks to Intercon and all the technology behind it. It has really simplified our lives. Technology has really brought the world closer. It’s the era of integration, anything and everything in the world is integrated. Through a simple app we can control anything; making lives a lot easier, and services a lot smarter. As we step out of the cinema hall my kids are surprised to see that there is no cab waiting for us. “Fancy an old school walk to home kids?” well; something’s are best without all the high tech tools of the world, like a nice walk with your family. Good night Intercon.