You open up Facebook and see someone’s posted a YouTube video. Someone is walking down the street, eyes glued to their phone until they walk into something or trip over something. You laugh and say, “I’d never do that!” Well, one app that’s currently in development may make it so that no one ever does it again. A researcher at University of Manitoba in Canada is working on an app called CrashAlert, which uses a depth-sensing camera to see things you might run into and pop up a warning on your phone, letting you know it’s there. Wouldn’t it just be easier to put our phones away and not text and walk? The researcher says he’s developing the app because of how attached we’ve all become to our phones, and thinks the connection to our devices is only going to get stronger in the future. As we become more in tune with our connected world, ideas like this may seem silly, but they also sound helpful.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.