"I See Toilets Crashing"

An article in the SF Chronicle describes a recent talk by Adam Greenfield, author of Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing:

Greenfield, author of the new book "Everyware" from Berkeley's Peachpit Press, told a room packed with more than 200 people that an age of "ubiquitous computing" is upon us, with technology able to monitor nearly every facet of daily life and feed it all into databases. [...]

Smart toilets developed in Japan can monitor waste products to gauge a person's health, Greenfield said.

"This is not blue sky, speculative science fiction," he said. These applications are being built today. "We're talking about everyday life."

Aside from the civil liberties implications -- which Greenfield said are significant -- he also said the technology won't always be pretty.

In fact, he said, "I see a lot of misery. I see people's toilets crashing. How much in our homes are wired and subject to the blue screen of death?"

Greenfield said he hopes his book can spur more than just nerds and geeks into paying attention to these issues. "It kills me that there hasn't been more discussion," he said. "I have no illusion that government or business are going to do it. It's going to take a lot of pressure from the bottom."

Link: NOTEBOOK / Technology is not always your friend / Author warns of intrusive gear, 'toilets crashing'.

Greenfield's site: V-2.org.