The devices of the future are not as important as they once were. The emphasis is going to be focused primarily on the information: collecting it, processing it, how and when it is displayed and in what context is it appropriate. There are already many places in which the computer has essentially disappeared. This is evident in the flourish of wearable computing, augmented reality, locative media, near-field communication and body-area networking.
This movement toward non-device specific technology can be referred to as “everyware.”
Once everyday objects have the ability to sense their environment and share information with other objects, people must begin to redefine their relationship with such things. Human interface pioneer, Don Norman, has already begun to experience this transition.
One of the challenges of designers of everyware is this: how to make the system that can be used so effortlessly that it basically disappears from awareness. The growing aging population will require less complicated interfaces, and perhaps even some form of memory augmentation. Much of the work being done in Japanese ubiquitous tecnhology is motivated by this.
Although it may seem strange to rely on some kind of tecnhical intervention for the transactions of everyday life, this seems to be the direction in which everyware is headed.
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