ambient intelligence at the gym

Okay... so occasionally I get to just gripe... so here goes.

Why doesn't the treadmill or elliptical trainer know who I am? Why can't it talk to me, understand my training goals for the day, or tell my iPod to play a different subset of songs based on the intensity?

Why do I have to make training notes myself when any of the machines I use could easily send notes to my wristwatch?

My heart rate monitor has no problem talking with a treadmill... Why don't they both talk to my Palm, and my iPod, and my laptop, and my mobile, and... my car? Who knows... the number of intelligent inferences these things could make if only they could talk... is nothing short of astounding.

So who's making this happen?

We are... :)

iPod and community...

So a few days ago I was standing in line to get onto the subway. I noticed another guy with white headphones, 9
the telltale iPod sign) but didn't really pay much attention to it. As we were getting on, the usual subway crowing ensued and I noticed the Apple logo on the back of his remote control... ah, so he WAS an iPod user! I smiled knowingly and walked to get an empty seat.

A moment later I decided I wanted to listen to something else... in fact a different album... so I pulled out my little iPod and spun its glorious wheel. It turns out this guy happened to be within eyesight, and noticed my iPod. As I looked up, he smiled, pointed at my 'pod and gave me a big thumbs up.

Admittedly, a moment like this is grounds for admission into the inner realm of geekdom, but hold on a minute... what happened here? It was a brief expression of community. I love my Sony toys more than the average person... but I've never smiled at someone just because they had the same MD player. No, this was something different. There was some commonality we shared, just because we both happened to own a similar device.

Perhaps this is the first step to realizing Dertouzos' "Unfinished Revolution" ... making things so human, so personally endearing that we not only have an affinity for them, but feel as if it is actually a gateway into a part of a culture, a community, even a part of ourselves.