You’re not the same person anymore. Your mobile phone has changed your life. A tweet here, a ping there, earphones jutting from your ears, streaming a rush of social and business correspondence from your home, office, and around the world…with you returning the serve in realtime. You’re walking down the street alone, and having a hearty laugh, all by yourself. Passers- by hardly give you a second glance. They know that though you’re laughing like crazy all by yourself, you’re not at the brink… you’re just wired, wirelessly, through your smart phone, to the world…the whole wide world. While your smartphone puts you in contact with the world, puts critical information at your disposal at the speed of light, increases your efficiency and enables you to multi- task, new apps and capabilities are popping up daily. Programming cellphones to beep or flash vital information at a predetermined time is relatively straightforward. More sophisticated managerial self-monitoring, however, requires a more dynamic device. Perhaps you talk too much in meetings. Well, you’re in luck. There’s an (evolving) iPhone application for that, called the Talk-o-Meter that allows you to literally see how much you’re dominating a conversation. Would that knowledge help curb your tongue? Having your phone whisper in your ear, “You’re talking too much” might make you a humbler, more effective communicator. The emerging field of neuroergonomics explores how interfaces, prompts and warnings can be best designed to integrate with the working brain. Tablets, mobile phones and other portable devices are becoming the mainstay media for popular neuroergonomic design. As our devices become more contextually aware, sharing that awareness becomes an innovation challenge. How subtle or intrusive should that sharing be? For example, a new generation of face-recognition software means that we’ll never again have to worry about matching a name (and bio) to a face at a business meeting. But how should this information be communicated? A whisper? A tweet? A Facebook profile? Will new genres of real-time “promptware” emerge to allow seamlessly smooth transitions between what our phones sense and what we “know”? Much the same way the rise of Blackberries has raised expectations around instant reachability and response, the pervasiveness of promptware seems sure to reset expectations about interpersonal behaviour. It may be considered rude or unprofessional not to set your devices to ensure you’re behaving yourself. I’m happy to have a smarter phone keep me in line. I’d be less happy to have a colleague or client tell me I need to reboot my promptware. Would you want your iPad or Android to tell you, politely, to shut up or wake up? Should you want that? Today, for many Nigerians, the mobile phone is a ubiquitous companion, a trusted assistant anda unique tool which brings them quick reliefs, even transports them to wonderland now and again. They fall asleep at night, watching movies or listening to music on their mobile phones. In the morning, they are woken up by the beep or song of alarm clocks on the same portals. The same hand-held, is a prayer companion, doling out hymns and religious verses, as they pray along. They check their bank balances and even conduct some other financial transactions on the same tool. With clicks and clacks on their mobile phone key boards, they cross oceans and chasms, virtually, to communicate with friends and acquaintances around the world on social networking sites or by direct voice calls. They plan their work and social schedules on the mobile phones and initiate reminders on same. Their diaries of personal and official details are contained in this magic box and they even choose or design and send virtual birthday and other social cards from this same instrument. On the same portal, they capture and transport the images of a new-born to loved ones across the world, minutes after delivery. In trouble, they can call ( the police or ambulance ) for help, without having to pay. Some mobile phones even have a torchlight to help you find your way in the darkness of a power outage. Add comment Name (required) WEDNESDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2012 11:32 BILL OKONEDO, WITH AGENCY REPORT Desktop Versio