Final Thoughts (Blog 10)

Technology has always helped what we do in our everyday lives, but sometimes people are just out to have fun with what they create. In many cases, technology bridges on the seemingly insane, take...

The NUMI Toilet.

Yes, that's right, even where  you poop isn't safe from technological innovations...but why? Why must we make technology that is seemingly useless? Because we can, that's why. Things like the NUMI toilet aren't designed for a specific purpose, they're just designed to show off what we can do. It's a way of saying, "Hello world, look what I can innovate with your toilet!" But where would we be without this strange innovation? Most would argue that we would be exactly where we are, but one must remember that companies are pulling individual features of the NUMI and making it their own, making technology better. These innovations can seem crazy at the moment, but I bet somewhere in the near future, 50% of homes will have something similar to this...why? Because, excess. Simply because we can. 

Now while some products are excessively useful (or not useful, depending on how you feel), some seemingly useful products are just a pain in the butt. Take wireless chargers. Sounds great, right? Wrong. This fix to the common problem of having to hassle with power chords is a seeming godsend, but when asked about the usefulness of this technological innovation, Jay Goldberg of Venturebeat disagrees.

"This is the unspoken secret of wireless charging. You cannot just put a device on the charger. the phone has to sit in a specific spot. The technology is improving, and newer Powermat models have a bit more freedom of positioning. But there is a trade-off involved. Phones need metallic charging elements to receive wireless power. The more  of these you put in a phone, the less precise positioning needed. However, little pieces of metal are not free, they can make a meaningful difference in the price of a phone. They also take up space, which could otherwise go to useful things like a bigger battery. They can require design changes to the phone’s radio to make sure those pieces of metal do not interfere with the phone’s antennas and risk disrupting WiFi or the cellular radio."

So where do we draw the line? Never. That's the trick. No matter how stupid or useless technology seems at times, we need to expand on it. We need to make it better, because then, how are we ever going to get anywhere. We need these failures, we need excess, because without it, we would be failing worse than anyone will know. The only product I wish they would give up on is the iPhone these days!

Source: 

Goldberg, Jay. "Wireless Charging is Useless: Until It's Essential." VentureBeat. 28 2012: n. page. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/28/wireless-charging-is-useless-until-its-essential/>.