So, ive had a few minor revelations over the past few days – which i’d like to share and get feedback on. Here they are – in no particular order.

1. Small business and ubicomp

As I look out my window, I see a man steering a small boat underneath the Anzac bridge. He’s a coffee man. He travels around Sydney in his aussie-gondola, selling coffee to people on beaches too removed from the rest of the world to have kiosks, boardwalks or pools. It’s a great business. Question is, do you think he has a need for ubiquitous computing?

Well, what could he get out of having better access to the world, from within the comforts of his floating coffee shop? I can think of at least one thing : more customers. Imagine if people on their secluded beach could open up their phones, launch a little web app, placing an order. He’d be able to launch his side of the app, see the list of orders, and plan a route that would best maximise his dollar. He could use something like the Google Maps Java app for mobile phones in conjunction with his own custom orderring system and viola!

Or, if he does decide to go the ubicomp way… perhaps his implementation will be via an SMS service, and the cost of the coffee will be charged to the users mobile account. He’ll forgoe Google Maps Mobile, and instead use a tablet pc to map his route out. People will recieve his current location (based on a GPS signal) and know how long until he arrives at their beach.

Question is… would he really use any of this technology? Just because ubicomp is coming, doesn’t mean that every small business will be on the ever-connected band-wagon. And just because it has the name ubicomp, doesn’t meant that it’s a one size fits all scenario. In actual fact, it’s the complete opposite. And for small business, I can see the future being a fun messy place of technologies as they jump head long in the brave new world.

2. Personal computing and ubicomp

OJ has started an interesting discussion about the state of personal computing – with respect to the family pc. It is an interesting discussion, which goes on to suggest a non-MS default for all standard home pc’s – a great idea.

I love the notion that every new computer will get shipped with an open source operating system – capable of becoming a Windows, or OSX or Linux box – depending on the need of the individual. Hence the “personal” in personal computing. But what interests me even more, is what shape the personal computer will take in 10 years time…

Many people are moving to the now user-friendly install of Ubuntu, and we already know that MS aren’t about to rush out and make another version of Windows after Vista…so this number will just continue to rise. We have just seen in the last few days Adobe hand over much of its proprietry Flash virtual machine to the Mozilla foundation. Google seem to come out with yet another free application every second day, and are pushing the use of their personalised javascript widgets heavily. And many smaller devices – digital playback, network elements, etc – come with Linux as the default standard OS because of it’s light weight, and yet fully flexible, robust, secure and open sourced framework.

This constant push I think will make these curently “geeky” devices more and more common in the household – and perhaps spell the demise of the personal computer… or at least force the reshaping of it, to become something much more ad hoc, and “personalised”.

3. Market pressure

The road to these possible futures will forever be pushed and pulled by market pressure. You only have to look at the current mess surrounding the new LG LCD advertising which had to be pulled and reworded, because it promoted people skipping ads. Then there is the continued ICE TV debate in Australia between it and Channel 9.

In the same way that Sydney streets do not follow a discernable pattern, nor too will the future of interactive technologies. And maybe that’s a good thing – ever lived in a city with nothing but straight streets? It might be easy to get from A to B, but is it any fun?