For predictive computing to become ubiquitous, devices need accurate indoor location info so developers can build fully contextually aware apps
First Brain Computing and the Mouse Cursor for the Physical World — We are quickly approaching an era where smartphones, watches and computers are extensions of us as human beings. Tweets: @stevecheney , @semil and @mdudas Tweets: Steve Cheney / @stevecheney : The “mouse cursor for physical world” analogy is provocative...& clearly what's after mobile. http://stevecheney.com/... http://twitter.com/... @semil : Connecting dots from Google I/O to WWDC, @stevecheney on mobile shift to predictive (location, intent) OS: http://stevecheney.com/... Mike Dudas / @mdudas : “Smart connected devices are becoming our sort of ‘first brain’” via @stevecheney: http://stevecheney.com/... http://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Steve Cheney's 'mouse cursor for physical world' argument lands mid-arc between [[a:865438|Chris Dixon's thesis that cheap sensors plus open-source AI would usher in the next computing wave]] and the platform-level worry that users who prioritize big-data services will leave Apple in a BlackBerry-in-2007 position. His point is that mobile's successor is a predictive OS driven by location and intent — but only if devices know where you are indoors, which GPS cannot deliver.
First-order effects
- App developers building contextual experiences are blocked at the input layer today: without reliable indoor positioning, phones, watches and computers stay reactive rather than anticipatory.
Second-order effects
- Whoever supplies accurate indoor location data becomes a chokepoint for the entire context-app ecosystem, sharpening the platform split between Apple's device-first approach and the big-data AI stacks of Google, Amazon and Facebook.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds toward an ambient computing layer, downstream interface work — from multimodal UI understanding like Apple's Ferret-UI research to CTRL-Labs' keyboard-free input armband — all presumes a solved physical-location primitive underneath, and generative AI is the bridge being counted on to connect current paradigms to it.
The trend: Computing is shifting from app-centric interaction to predictive, context-driven interfaces, with indoor positioning emerging as the foundational input that determines which platforms own the next layer.