Android Updates: Everyday Products Transformed By The OS

Then: Too hot? Open a window or go outside.

Now: Too hot? Grab your smartphone and literally chill out. With smart phone controlled air conditioning systems, you can identify the exact temperature you want and make your home or office more comfortable without much effort.

Then: The good ol’ days when starting a fire meant striking a match. Friends gathered around said fire to toast marshmallows and drink beer. Heat was given off by burning wood, paper, or that chair that crumbled under your uncle Steve.

Now: Starting a fire means swiping your index finger across your phone’s touch screen. In-home fireplaces such as the Escea DX1500 are being installed in homes using their Android application downloaded from the Google Play store. It’s been a while since we’ve had to get up to chop our own wood with the gas powered fireplace, but no having to get up off your couch? That’s true innovation.

Then: From eyeballing it at the old mercantile to then writing it down in the log book to then navigating thousands of excel sheet columns…inventory management has always been a bit of a headache. This is an issue because businesses sometimes live or die based on the efficiency of inventory turnover. How much product was sold today? Start counting.

Now: Product is scanned by bar code at cash register in the front of the store, product is replaced in the back of the store. Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) combined with Android make this hyper-responsive inventory management possible.

Future: With technology growing rapidly in this space, it’s only a matter of time before shoppers can walk through an RFID reader (think of it like walking through a metal detector) with their items. The reader instantly picks up all items in your cart and charges the credit card on file with your membership card. Items are inventoried in real time! Purchases are compiled and sent via smartphone to the inventory manager to be restocked. When the product reaches a predetermined point (RFID technology is implemented from the back of the store to the front) the warehouse coordinator in another state receives a smart phone push alert to ship out another batch.

Then: Dolls came in plastic packaging. Girls played with them inside doll houses, boys stole them from their sisters to battle G.I. Joe in the mud pit out back.

Now: Smart Doll Mirai Suenaga moves like a human and is controlled through your Android smartphone. Although it’s the same size of most dolls you would buy in the store, it might be a bad idea to have an underwater battle. Just as it sounds, the smart doll still in development will be controllable through Bluetooth technology and Android OS using any smartphone.