Retail Shopping

It is going to look a lot different in the coming years. First of all, we can technically live right from our homes without every leaving because anything and everything we need can be ordered online. For those of us who cannot bare the thought of ordering clothes online without trying them on first, there is even news for you. Think of this experience for a second:

Your body is scanned and the data file is private. It's your exact body on that exact day. You put on your VR goggles, and appear in a virtual store. Zero time to get there.You enter YOUR personal clothing store. Everything in this store is your exact size. Everything fits. The store has every designer and every design on the planet. Your friend, who you called a few minutes ago, joins you via their VR headset, and he or she sees everything you see. The experience is social and fun. You voice what you're looking for. You can ask an AI advisor (online and listening) for help. Presto, a fashion show materializes before your very eyes. Every model walking down the runway looks like you and is wearing a different combination of clothing. When you see an outfit you like, you just point and instantly, your virtual self is wearing it. No frustration of getting undressed or dressed. Mirrors all around allow you to see your virtual self from every angle. As you move in real life, your virtual reflection the mirror moves in exact sync. It feels and looks just like you are looking at yourself in the mirror.

This is going past of shopping with mobile applications and things like social media. Do you think that it will catch on and if so, how soon?

Your Moods

Your outlook on life can be changed simply by your posture. You know how you can spot a very confident or shy person just by reading their body language. Well the reverse is true as well. If you try to stand taller and take up more room even when doing a video conference, you will see a change in the attitude towards your surroundings. The same is also true for people that drive large cars, they seem to have more confidence on the road and might be a bit more brash than others. Another factor that affects your moods and outlook is the weather. Everyone loves a sunny day but it can impair your judgement. Nothing can go wrong on those sunny days, right? Well, as it turns out, there are other colors on the spectrum that do freaky things to your brain: Being exposed to green can apparently make you more creative. So much for being in control of your moods despite your surrounding. There needs to be a way to take advantage of these little quirks.

Customized Computing

Does it sometimes seems like the computing these days knows a little too much about you? Is it really possible that we can all be reduced down to an algorithm? That is a rather disturbing thought. The other day when I picked up my phone, it seemed like that my day was planned to the minute. Even the news is very much customized. Your phone is constantly gathering what the app developing ones call signals. These could be your commuting habits, which the phone can glean from its internal GPS, often within a few feet. Your phone could also gather your meetings, your future trips, your friends and family, your favorite sports team, the type of news you usually read and even things like your heart rate. Things really get interesting when the apps that gather these signals start to be predictive. When that happens, your phone can start anticipating your needs, interests and habits and give you relevant information, apps and even coupons and ads.

Love Without Smartphones

Technology, as a whole, has ruined traditional romantic progression. In today's world, we hold our phone more than we hold hands. In the Mad Men era, we would have to learn about one another through an actual conversation rather than getting a scouting report from their Twitter bio prior to your night out because describing it as a "date" these days would aggrandize the situation. Above all, people would have more of a connection with one another instead of being connected with the entire world. Dinner dates wouldn't be interrupted by nagging phone service and business app notifications and people would actually get to enjoy the company of those in front of them instead of those who are merely virtually present.After a few minutes of thumb scrolling I can find out a lot about a person. Just think about the type of effort that love in the relatively medieval times required. The hand cramping letters that took hours on end to complete because they wanted to get every word written is a testament enough; nowadays people have simplified emotions to 140 characters.

The Internet and the Pope

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, doesn't it? The Internet presents a platform for communication, Pope Francis wrote, letting people of different faiths and backgrounds interact. The pope is using the message to promote open conversation about things like faith. Pope Francis also added that while there are positives on the Internet, it can also ultimately serve to isolate users from friends and family.Even though we have application such as internet phone services, it can still serve to tear us apart because communication is much too easy so we can act on our impulses. On the other hand, it can connect people that are in different countries. Talking using video conferencing programs has different dynamics than talking face to face and many experts are saying that the younger generation is losing the ability to communicate with other people besides on the internet and behind a screen. These are too sides of the same coin and we have been here before when other new technology such as the telephone came out. Where do you think that we are headed?

Secure Your Phones

Your smartphone is probably a much more tempting target for cybercriminals than your desktop computer, and unless you take proper precautions, it's easier to hack as well. Think of it this way: Your computer might have sensitive work documents, banking information or personal records, but there are only a few ways people can access those files — in person, via a network or over the Internet. Your smartphone is almost always on, connected to the Internet, logged into your email and social media and other mobile applications, and likely has at least a username stored for your bank account. Your smartphone contains as much sensitive information as your wallet does — more, if you count the contact information for your family and friends. A smartphone is a whole different beast. Hackers do not represent the only mobile threat, either. Leaving your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality activated when you don't need to do so represents a considerable privacy risk.

Unplug for a Day

Just the other day was National Unplugging Day. Would you be able to completely go off the grid for 24 hours? Many people would probably go into shock and experience anxiety symptoms because it is hard to just let go of your internet phone services and constantly being in contact with people. I realize that the demands of the business world is that you have to be available 24/7. There are time when we need to unplug though. Participants are encouraged to put away their phones, tablets, laptops and other Internet-connected doodads from sunset Friday to sundown Saturday for a digital sabbath. The time might instead be used for quiet reflection, communing with nature, reconnecting with family or friends, focusing on a project and even getting a rare, uninterrupted night's sleep. How awesome would that be?! Just let the important people know that you are going off the grid before you do. They might report you missing otherwise.