As multiple networked devices between a single user becomes the norm, and as we vie to digitally self-organize our lives, we can assume that software capable of synchronisation with several devices is key to its longevity. Today we’re still only teetering toward a new era of ubiquitous computing, daring to envision a techno-utopia, as it were, of perpetual interconnectedness. While we’ve made subtle attempts to diverge from basic web applications to the Internet as a platform for hand-held devices, there are comparatively few applications designed ‘from the ground up’ to span multiple devices.

Ericsson’s CEO Hans Vestberg aptly describes it as “the internet of things”, and goes on to predict a boom of over 50 billion networked devices by 2020. As we begin to move from P2P (People to People) to “machine to people” and “machine to machine”, we shift from data management for applications into services of synchronized software for new opportunities, saving time, simplifying actions, enhancing communication and generally making our lives all the more enjoyable. Unfortunately, while Web services are becoming increasingly abstract, adaptable (Flickr’s Innovation and Assembly as a prime example) and already play an impressive part in our lives, we’ve far from harnessed their full potential.

Imagine embedded home appliances, automobiles, home energy and security managements systems, and mobile-enabled caregiver systems. I came across an excellent article here iterating the impact on mobile and non-mobile industries requiring collaboration to “enable an ecosystem of connected devices”. It goes on to show that the problems are chalked up to a) business models, b) software and device standards and c) choice of technology platforms with interoperability issues. Propriety wireless networks and closed technologies or “walled gardens” like the iPhone run the risk of hampering society’s advancement just to ensure consumer dependency on the one company – like Apple and Microsoft – to develop an entirely compatible package.

Software spanning multiple devices

As it stands today, Apple’s MobileMe and Microsoft’s Live Mesh are prime examples of the current level of ubiquitous computing. While they pale in comparison to innovative next-gen technology like SixthSense (also entirely open source, check out the explanatory video here), they are slowly bridging the gap, as it were, to synchronize multiple networked devices like the phone, desktop, laptop, tablet, etc. Utilizing the cloud to mobilize control, both are beginning to venture into cross-platform data integration – which is exactly what we’re yearning for, but remains disappointingly in its stubborn early stages.

We’re still yet to bloom into natural ubiquity as we struggle to integrate too numerous applications, too many proprietary vendors, making it difficult for serious virtual convergence that makes our lives richer minus the frustrations and complications. We still possess a mishmash of software; iTunes, TiVo and MobileMe might integrate services within themselves, but it’s still not making it easy on the consumer.

As an example service, let’s have a closer look at MobileMe and what it offers (at $99US per year):

  • 40GB cloud space
  • mail, contacts and calendar automatic synchronization with the Web and devices
  • mobile control (no docking required)
  • gallery application for upload and transfer between devices (equivalent to Live Mesh’s digital photo frame sync)
  • store, access and share data files between devices via the cloud
  • locative software for lost or stolen devices
  • web access to your desktop

Can you imagine the extensiveness of each of these if software like MobileMe became open source and readily manipulable by innovators within the field? Let’s try a few:

  • massive cloud space due to the nature of collaborative software by numerous network businesses
  • automatic updates for public transport delays, your regular bus or flights
  • embedded mobile systems for automobiles, providing web access to performance data like braking patterns, worn equipment, engine speed, fuel consumption and mileage
  • broaden technological control beyond devices to appliances and non-mobile systems for home energy consumption, security and more
  • utilizing one interface for everything, whether it be to control your home, office or cloud data

While many of these technologies exist, none of them are tidily bundled within the one package. The important lesson here, then, is to think beyond the box we’ve been given and be open to collaboration. Be the next MIT innovator to converge these applications and eliminate the desktop, think more than P2P to facilitate new avenues for change and pervasiveness. Synchronized software is the way of the future.