Context: One night Cathie and Elliot had dinner with Cathie's son Michael and wife Amy. During the dinner conversation, Michael used his iPhone, which was seemingly implanted into his hand. The very next day Cathie and Elliot had lunch with Berj Akian, CEO of Classlink who also had an iPhone embedded in the palm of his hand. Here are Cathie and Elliot's reflections on those mealtime experiences:
Elliot: Michael used his iPhone to contribute something to each twist and turn of our dinnertime conversation.
Cathie: When we discussed weather in Phoenix, St. Helena (CA), and Ann Arbor, Michael displayed average temps, rainfall, etc. for each of the cities.
Elliot: And when we discussed the location of our favorite city, Michael showed us exactly where in world Pinetop, AZ really was on a very readable and scrollable map.
Cathie: And when we were talking about the cost of buying a vacation home he used the calculator to dive into the true costs…
Elliot: … and it turned out that it would be cheaper to move into the Ritz Hotel!
Cathie: My son has champagne tastes…
Elliot: … He comes by them honestly…
Cathie: And Berj did the same thing at lunch the next day with his iPhone hand-implant.
Elliot: When we were discussing the cost of installing wifi in a school building…
Cathie: … and he quickly ginned up some calculations.
Elliot: And when we discussed a company's product, instead of me guessing at what the product's specs were…
Cathie: … Berj visited the company's website to get more specific info.
Elliot: I would have been right in my speculations, by the way.
Cathie: No you wouldn't.
Elliot: You're right.
Cathie: And didn't you share with me a picture of your college-age daughter sleeping with her iPhone?
Elliot: <laughing> Yes, my Princess Emma set her MacBook to take a picture as she was sleeping with her iPhone implant. She uses her iPhone all the time to look things up while I am talking with her.
Cathie: Remember the teacher in Nebraska who raved about his Android phone - being the only device he needs to carry. His Android GPS actually talks to him and he was fact-checking YOUR numbers during our presentation.
Elliot: He didn't say I was wrong or anything.. Phew. Made it….
Cathie: …This time… or maybe he was too polite.
Elliot: But, neither Michael nor Berj seemed in the least put out by both participating in the conversation and looking things up on their mobiles.
Cathie: Yes, never before has someone been able to reach out into the vast information network to pluck out information relevant to the conversation so quickly and easily.
Elliot: This is a problem for me.
Cathie: What? You can't just make stuff up any longer because you'll get called out??
Elliot: I DON'T MAKE STUFF UP!
Cathie: Methinks he doth protest too much… I wonder how many educators do the same thing on a regular basis with their mobiles?
Elliot: Excellent question!
Cathie: Goodnight Elliot.
Comments