[amiga_500]

Have smart watches really improved daily life for the masses? I really don't think they have.

We need real technology that saves labour, like washing machines, dishwashers, sewage processing, electricity grids.

I think satellites can provide services that join that club, by allowing decentralization through ubiquitous access to medium speed internet.

Smart watches tend to provide information that really doesn't matter, like number of steps in a day. Yes there is the example of the heartbeat, but for most that is just informational also, plus other dedicated devices already existed.

I think too much of new tech are just toys, hopefully this is just an interim stage and we are about to get to the real stuff again.

[pimeys]

I'm a type 1 diabetic and I get real time glucose information from a Dexcom CGM to my Garmin watch. This is extremely useful, but maybe we're a bit too small group to be counted as masses...

[amiga_500]

Agreed, not the main use case.

[thesh4d0w]

Satellites already provide that service via GPS, it easily meets your criteria of improving daily life for the masses.

[dividedbyzero]

Still struggling to find a smartwatch that works for me, but I wouldn't agree that fitness tracking doesn't matter.

[bluedino]

What are people spending tons of time these days, doing menial tasks?

I guess there’s commuting and sleeping. Maybe eating and exercising?

[Cthulhu_]

I actually stopped to think about your question for a while, and honestly all I can think of what "we" still need to do ourselves is organizing everything - getting ready in the morning, organizing and preparing meals, and housework, even if it's helped with vacuums and dishwashers etc. I'm sure there's tech companies working in this area (like the overcomplicated clothes folding machine, or Soylent).

Right now even for those there's a solution, but they involve outsourcing things which cost more money / recurring expenses; laundry service, cleaners, takeout / delivered food, personal assistants, day care / babysitters, etc. I can't really see a revolution happening in those areas.

I mean I'm sure in time it'll be possible to buy a machine that does full service laundry, but it'll take up a lot of space. Maybe something for apartment building basements, and your clothes would need to be tagged (e.g. RFID) with ownership and washing information.

Of course, alternatively you go for the dys/utopian scenario where everyone lives in worker housing complexes, wears the same functional outfit, eats in food halls / canteens three times a day, etc. I'm sure some people do live or have lived like that already. But the issue with that is that in those scenarios, people live to work, there's not much outside of their employment, and they live where they work. I'm sure this happens a lot in SF anyway.

[amiga_500]

Tech is the menial task now. We are wasting time looking at our smart watches!