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Mother

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Re: Mother

#151

Post by atmosx »

Apart from the privacy issues, which the community already raised here, there's another fact that bothers me: Applications do can not discipline yourself for you.

I have tried many applications which should increase by productivity, sleep quality, or you-name-name-it. I don't recall a single one that managed to do so in the long run (most not even in the short run...).

So either one is open to change and that has little to do with technology or... You're toasted anyway. But even when you decide to change for yourself and not because a notification tells you to do so, these technologies become time consuming and troublesome to use. Of course they look nice on TV and ads, but in real life, most of them are frivolous IMHO.

Re: Mother

#152

Post by Roelven »

Happy to see the guys behind Violet are not giving up. I believe they're on to something but the branding / language choosing is indeed poor. Whatever they launch with now will surely be extended, I'm hopeful that they've learned a great deal with the Nabaztag (which I've owned one back in the days).

Re: Mother

#153

Post by Schiphol »

bluejellybean wrote: post #59
woofyman wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll save you money. I'll be Dad. Stop drinking soda and walk more.

This comment is fantastic! The trend in pointless analytics is annoying and isn't solving any real problems. All the ‘problems’ Mother solves are not really problems and it doesn’t seem to serve any truly useful purpose. Wakeup times - Already solved by the alarm on your clock. Managing drink consumption - Drink more or less than you currently do. Staying fit/active - Go workout/exercise once a day. Step tracking - O…

> Managing drink consumption - Drink more or less than you currently do.

You know that the human mind doesn't work like that -- mine doesn't, at any rate. Reminders, bribes, little games played around chores, those things tend to work.

Re: Mother

#154

Post by vidarh »

Houshalter wrote: post #120
nilkn wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think his point is that this doesn't provide much in the way of meaningful measurements or analytics. It's not actually a better way to, say, track soda consumption--it's just more self-aggrandizing.

I don't know if that's actually true, I would like a tool to keep track of this stuff for me but I don't at all feel some "desire to be a celebrity with assistants." Yes I suppose I could carry a notebook everywhere. I have failed doing that in the past though and I don't know anyone that keeps such detailed statistics. Especially on things like the exact time they wake up, come home, get coffee, etc. I imagine it wo…

I try, and for periods have succeeded, in tracking my diet and weight in detail, partly to support my exercise and partly because I'm prone to over-eating... The biggest challenge is that it needs to be extremely simple. A notebook sort-of works - it's easy to jot something down -, but with the caveat that taking the time to transfer notes and add up calories etc. to actually get any use of it is slow.

Smartphone works for me, but only with an app that is tailored to my workflow. Sensors that could capture lots of it semi-automatically would make a great deal of difference.

Re: Mother

#155

Post by fab13n »

I haven't been so creeped out by an ad for quite some time.

This looks like a solution desperately looking for a problem; that is, unless your problem is "I want to spy every single step of everyone in my family".

And seriously, "mother"? Do they even ever had one, to be that much off-mark? The very first quality of anything motherly is to be human; this is a wireless log collection system. Call it a "warden", or at best "coach", if you really need an anthropomorphic comparison.

Re: Mother

#156

Post by michaelwww »

rattray wrote: post #116
michaelwww wrote: post #3

First I've heard of it, but I had the same reaction as Cringley. Maybe it's an age thing. "Imagine v1 of Big Brother's -- or NSA director Keith Alexander's -- most inflamed fever dream: a sensorbot shaped like a Russian nesting doll wearing a Hindi-cow smile. Then terrifyingly name it "Mother" and build it specifically to monitor as many facets of your personal life as it can. Are you schvitzing yet?" http://www.info…

I'm 22 and had the same reaction, fwiw.

I'm relieved it doesn't seem to be an age thing. I have a nephew in his 20's who doesn't care at all about privacy and happily gives away all his data, so sometimes I wonder.

Re: Mother

#157

Post by gr3yh47 »

michaelwww wrote: post #3

First I've heard of it, but I had the same reaction as Cringley. Maybe it's an age thing. "Imagine v1 of Big Brother's -- or NSA director Keith Alexander's -- most inflamed fever dream: a sensorbot shaped like a Russian nesting doll wearing a Hindi-cow smile. Then terrifyingly name it "Mother" and build it specifically to monitor as many facets of your personal life as it can. Are you schvitzing yet?" http://www.info…

Yeah. crazy invasive and creepy was definitely my first reaction.

I'm not a fan of the whole 'internet of things' to begin with, no thanks. My stuff doesn't need to track everything i do with it.

Re: Mother

#158

Post by voyou »

michaelwww wrote: post #110
MartinCron wrote: post #36

Just yesterday I posted a quasi-luddite rant about how these smart devices and services are infantalizing. And now they're naming one Mother ? I can't tell if I should feel vindicated or offended.

"All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace" http://allpoetry.com/poem/8508991-All-Watched-Over-By-Machin...

Which poem (as you may well know) provided the title for Adam Curtis's interesting documentary about what happened when this cybernetic pastoral utopianism began to interact with politics and industry: http://vimeo.com/38724174

Re: Mother

#159

Post by cm2012 »

To me, this is pretty awesome and not at all creepy (22). A friendly UI and ease of use for life tracking? Yes please. Attach it to barbells to track workouts.

Re: Mother

#160

Post by sdoering »

michaelwww wrote: post #156
rattray wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 22 and had the same reaction, fwiw.

I'm relieved it doesn't seem to be an age thing. I have a nephew in his 20's who doesn't care at all about privacy and happily gives away all his data, so sometimes I wonder.

I know people here in Germany, far older than my 35 who give away every single bit of their privacy (and in that the privacy of their communication-partners).

For example: We have the so called "Spackeria" a post privacy movement, that arguments for not only willingly omitting every form of privacy, but to be brutally open/honest about everything in your life - and they really seem to mean everything.

And I know of people in their early twenties caring strongly. So no, it does not seem to be an age thing, but more of a ideology thing.

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