Written By: INRIX Staff
As CE Week in New York City kicks off, we can all imagine the latest and greatest gadgets and devices that will lead the way into the all-important fourth-quarter selling season.
Premier tablets like iPad and ‘Microsoft’s Surface’ will be present in a big way; exciting new or improved items such as next-generation TVs, mobile health gadgets, and audio headphones will create a buzz. However, an interesting undercurrent to note is how Big Data analytics will play a role in all the above.
As summer starts and the holiday season looms on the horizon, there’s no doubt that this year, most of the big-hit electronics will be smarter, running apps that contain more information than an entire computer could only a decade ago.
Whether you are conscious of it or not, ‘Big Data’analytics are everywhere, offering the promise of helping to improve our lives. ’Big Data’ refers to a set of data so enormous that it’s impossible to understand or analyze what we’re looking at without some sort of filter or tool—which increasingly comes in the form of apps.
There are apps that aggregate data to share customized deals in the specific and temporary location you are in (like SpreadSave), apps that hyper-personalize your newsfeed (like wavii) and even gadgets like FitBit that run software designed to track your daily movements for improving personal health. Another prime example of how Big Data has smartened up our gadgets and our daily digital lives is through travel.
How we get from ‘Point A’ to ‘Point B’ effects all of us in important ways –whether you travel for business or pleasure, have a daily commute, or are just need to know fastest route and the required departure time to get you your child’s baseball game on time. Therefore, traffic apps in any of today’s newest gadgets need to provide more than just information: they need to provide actionable insight.
Big Data helps make this a reality through apps like our own INRIX Traffic. Once these analytics are in play, personalized travel experiences and reliable predictions are possible and essential for moving forward (literally). The ability to know what time is best to leave work in the evening by the time you arrive at your desk that morning helps you plan the day better; sharing your arrival times with friends and family keep you consistently connected; and updated and alternative routes keep you out of bottlenecks.
Thanks to Big Data, we can now also consider our cars as our biggest “mobile” gadgets. The “connected car” is emerging as the “ultimate mobile device” and the opportunities to harness Big Data to make the road a more intelligent place have the potential to transform our lives—saving us time and money spent on gas, and reducing stress. . Using your mobile device as well as other mobile sensory points in your car, your future car will be able to seamlessly connect with not only your location and travel apps, but the road condition according to information from your tires and windshield—not to mention your music (think AppRadio 2) and your social life (Tweeting on location).
In many ways, it’s the intelligence behind a Big Data analytics app that can make today’s consumer electronics a valuable and essential purchase in today’s fast-paced world. My message to you is then: You can buy all the gifts you want this holiday season, but if you’re late to the family’s holiday dinner, you’re still going to be in big trouble. Look out for Big Data in your next gadget purchase and look forward to living smarter.
