Monthly Archives: September 2012

Mobile Panic

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“I love technology!” exclaimed a sprightly 74 year-old lady who was sitting next to me on a flight to Seattle. She had many a twinkle in her eye; sitting with a drink in one hand and reading from her Kindle in the other. From then on in we chatted merrily about her trip to the US and how ageing is in the body and not in the mind. She was fascinated with technological innovation and has been a Twitter, iPhone, Skype and Facebook user for years. As soon as there is a new app or device out she wants it. It would not have surprised me to see her in one of the long snakes at an Apple store last Friday when the new iPhone 5 was released. It made me think again how we really need to adjust our assumptions and prejudices about the ageing population and what ‘older people’ want.

But not all novel technological developments hit the spot – whatever age you are – especially if they are driven by system efficiency and tree-saving rhetoric rather than creature comfort or cognitive amplification. The latest app that is guilty of this is the mobile boarding pass.

Mobile boarding passes have been around for a couple of years now but I – like many others – have chosen to stick with the tried and tested ways of printing them out at home or at a check-in machine at the airport. The reason being is that I can think of too many things that can go wrong – not least the phone battery running out of juice. I get very anxious flying and so try to avoid unnecessary risks that might increase my fear.

Last week when I was flying back with United from Portland to Seattle I was sent an email with a URL to my mobile boarding pass. Not having access to a printer on the return trip I decided to try it out. The email message was inviting:

“Select a link below to display your mobile boarding document on the screen of your mobile device. Scroll down to the barcode, and then scan the barcode at security checkpoints and at the gate to board your flight(s). Printed versions of mobile boarding documents will not be accepted.

Mobile boarding document links:
Mobile boarding document for flight UA5423 from Portland, OR – Portland, OR (PDX) to Seattle, WA – Seattle/Tacoma (SEA)

For YVONNEDR ROGERS
https://mobile.united.com/CheckIn/MobileCheckInShortCut?txtInput=FKJFC9&eBP=1&origin=GHFYfXVuK3Ml6vF6iLV1abpOD4padh0J”

I clicked on the link in the hotel before we left and it took me straight to the boarding pass. It was really easy and I did not think about it again until we got to security. Then suddenly, I remembered I did not have a print out pass and started fumbling with my iPhone to bring up the mobile pass. The wi-fi took ages coming up and I started fretting. When it did show up I then needed to scroll through the long regulations page to confirm I was happy with the terms and conditions. The page is not designed for mobile phones and requires stretching it to make the tiny accept button big enough for a fat finger to press. More fiddling and fretting. Eventually, I was able to get to my mobile boarding pass and placed my iPhone on the security reader. Trouble was as I moved my iPhone from its portrait view when held in my hand to the scanner the phone’s accelerometer decided I wanted to look at the page in landscape mode and in doing so obscured half the QR code. Not very clever, I thought. The machine barked at me and stayed red. More fiddling to switch it back to portrait view.

When I finally got through (the passengers behind me had started sighing) I was mightily relieved and so went to have some lunch. I put my phone away not thinking. But then at the security check at the gate the same thing happened again. Only this time I could not get the wi-fi to work. I really started to panic. What if they would not let me on the plane as I had no proof. If only I had that paper print out… I waited and waited for the pie-chart icon to appear at the top of my phone, cursing. Finally, it appeared; but then I had to go through the same rigmarole of accepting the terms and conditions of the airport free wi-fi. Then the portrait went to landscape mode and the QR code was not readable. More sighing behind me. More fuming inside me.

Once through, I kept my phone awake by shaking it so that when I finally stepped onto the plane the web page with my boarding pass on it would still be showing. How stupid is that! But one resorts to desperate measures under duress. Once sat in my seat it then came to me in a flash. Why not simply use screen capture? And store it as a photo. At that point I really felt stupid.

At Heathrow T5 on the way out I noticed for the first time a Car Finder kiosk next to the car park payment machine. What a great idea I thought remembering the times I’ve forgotten where exactly I had parked my car. Turns out Siemens made the system and is very proud of its efforts. I asked my driver to put his parking ticket in to see where his car was parked. He obliged. We were both marveling at how the system knows which parking spot you are in when the machine asked for him to type in his car number plate. He balked at giving away this information. I probably would not remember mine especially with jetlag.

The system can work out which floor and roughly which section you are in – but not the actual parking place – based on the cameras it has throughout the car park by scanning your number plates. Not that clever yet if it can’t read the number plate that is printed on your parking ticket when entering the car park. Far smarter is the workaround my Intel colleague uses when he can’t find his car at the very large car park at his place of work – pressing his car alarm button on his car keys.

It got me thinking – what happens when you lose your parking ticket? Technology not designed to help there. Instead, they slap a hefty fine on you.

Top image copied from Alistair Donnell’s blog

Silly Siri

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I love going on vacation out of season when the weather is still perfect and the town and hotels are only half-full of more discerning tourists; the bumper families who descend in July and August having returned to their routines of work and school. We’re staying in a beautiful quiet spot on the island of Hvar that has dreamy views and a very still warm Adriatic sea gently kissing the shores. Sun-loungers covered in bright orange mattresses deck the rocky tiers beside our private beach, dotted with spruces, pines and other exotic trees, providing shade and privacy. Nirvana.

The joy of floating and snorkeling in clear blue sea and then drying in milky warm sun takes over as we let our bodies relax. So, too, do our minds empty. Stress-inducing, incessant work email is left on the plane. But our love and attachment to technology persists. Free Wi-Fi is pervasive, in our hotel, in the town, the bars, the restaurants and even at the beach on the sun loungers. We scan our friendly email, look at our twitter feeds and read the news – but only for the news and trends we want to catch up on.

On the first afternoon of our arrival I snapped with my iPhone one of our fellow guests slumbering, having quickly given up on her Kindle and succumbing to a change in her body rhythm. It lay inert in its place. At breakfast it popped up again. Everyone nowadays (even the retirees) has a Kindle, iPhone or iPad perched besides them at their table. They seem part of the furniture.

In the evening whilst having a sun-downer, A and I tried our voices at Siri, on our respective iPhones. We have previously both only ever had a fun time with him, showing him off to others who have not experienced asking him questions. Treat him like a fun app and you don’t get disappointed. He becomes the topic of conversation – since he always ends up misunderstanding you or only ever being able to tell you the weather. And you nearly always end up swearing at your phone because you want to see if he understands that – we’re all childish at heart. We asked him last night – admittedly after a glass or two of wine – what ‘good morning’ was in Croatian. On cue, he replied that the weather in Zagreb was 18 degrees. We tried a few more times, speaking ever more slowly and loudly into our phones, as one does to a foreigner or a child who does not understand you. Each time, we ended up in fits of laughter, listening to ourselves asking a piece of technology to tell us what good morning was in another language. Imagine if we were trying this on the train to London in the morning, our fellow commuters would have throttled us before even nearing Hayward’s Heath.

When the waiter came by to ask if we wanted another drink we asked him what good morning was and he told us sweetly what to say. Sorry Siri – the human won effortlessly – but not nearly as much fun. Next morning at breakfast, we noticed paper sheets on our dining table overlaying the tablet cloth – listing all the key phrases a tourist needs to know in 5 languages. The irony made us chuckle heartily over our continental breakfasts.

While we were playing with Siri at the bar the night before, we kept switching over to the BBC Sports page, in order to keep updated on Andy Murray’s semi final against Tomas Berdych in the US Open Tennis championship. Every few minutes a new line of text would pop up, nudging the old score down. There is something very exciting about waiting in anticipation for it to appear and imagining the game play out in the way you want, instead of watching or listening to it unfold under its own volition. When you imagine right there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction. A whole different way of experiencing sport.

We’d caught a glimpse of the start of the match on the receptionist’s TV as we left for dinner, then again as we passed a bar in town. We saw that Andy had lost the first set and, so later, when we got back and read on our iPhones that the match was into its 4th set, we assumed that it was Tomas who was 2-1 up in a commanding position. The set ended with a tie-break and we saw ‘match point’ flash up followed a couple of minutes later by ‘match point saved’. It got very tense for us, not knowing when the next update would come or whether Andy had already been knocked out. Being Andy, we assumed the worst and were about to switch back to Silly Siri when a new line of text appeared ‘Murray through to final!’ Our excitement was palpable. And the joy at regaling how we had got our wires crossed about Murray was even more fun.

It is OK taking technology on holiday. Some frown and tut, thinking a complete break is what is needed. There is even a new craze called digital detox. On ‘one site, it proselytizes “disconnect from technology and reconnect with yourself. Recharge your mind, body and soul. The Digital Detox is a tech-free personal wellness retreat where attendees give up their smart-phones and gadgets in exchange for four days of serenity and bliss. Yoga, meditation, hiking, hot-springs, art/writing workshops, and healthy eating in a natural and tranquil environment help one gain balance, perspective and a piece of mind.”

To ‘disconnect to reconnect’ is an oxymoron to our ears. It is an integral, extended part of us now not an addiction. The trick is to switch your technology into holiday mode and use it to enhance and join in the fun. That is where Siri and Kindles can give so much pleasure. It is simple once one understands how to switch.

I am sitting on a terrace by myself, listening to the sea on one side and plates being cleared away in the distant dining room, using my laptop to write this – I have never enjoyed writing a blog entry so much. It is natural, tranquil, and bliss. And technology is ever present in its place. It would not be nearly as much fun without it.