| INTERNET OF THINGS, UBER FOR DOCTORS, BIOTECH, ROBOCUP! The Trough of Disillusionment The Internet of Things hasn't turned out so well, at least not for consumer devices, which seem to all be doomed. "It seems like every month an Internet of Things (IoT) device becomes abandonware after its cloud service is discontinued. "Many of these devices once disconnected from the cloud become useless. They can't be remotely managed, and some of them stop functioning as standalone (or were never capable of it in the first place). Are these products going end-of-life too soon? What are we to do about this endless pile of e-waste that seems to be the inevitable casualty of the connected-device age?" A big part of the problem is the dependence of these devices on external data services which become unprofitable for the original maker to maintain, and for which there is no non-proprietary substitute. But I suspect that has a lot to do with the fact that, for consumers at least, the Internet of Things doesn't yet do anything all that amazing. Things get tough when your emerging technology enters the Trough of Disillusionment. --- Like Uber, But for...Health Care? Robert Graboyes argues that the Uber model can be, should be, and already is being applied to health care. The debate over whether this is possible or desirable hinges on a debate over whether health care is a "relationship" or a mere "transaction." And the answer Graboyes gives might not be what you think. "[A] strong relationship with a specific doctor can be quite valuable. But it would actually be a better world if that were less the case—and that is how the healthcare Ubers are already saving and improving lives. "If your healthcare depends on a long-term relationship with a specific physician, then by definition, your care suffers when you move, when you become ill while traveling, or when your doctor is away or asleep. It means the quality of your care depends heavily on the hard-to-judge abilities and scope-of-practice of your specific doctor.... "When illness strikes while I’m in California, I would strongly prefer a world where the random doctor I see there, armed with Uber-like tools, can provide the same care my own doctor provides me in Virginia—or something close to it." --- There's plenty more at our main page, including some hard realism for Uber and self-driving cars and some interesting advances in biotechnology: Uber Hasn't Killed the Taxi After All
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Robot Predator Hunts Prey with Digital Retina Check it all out. --- This Is RoboCup! It's that time of year again: time for RoboCup, the ultimate in robot soccer action. CNET offers us a highlights reel and a guide to "How to Win at Robot Football." But it's still not as exciting as this presentation of the 2012 RoboCup. --Rob Tracinski
Editor, RealClearFuture Follow @RealClearFuture on Twitter. Send comments, recommendations, and submissions to rob@realclearfuture.com. | 
