Wouldn’t it be great if we had this AI or the next big things!

I get it, there are a lot of reasons as to why certain products can’t be built, such as cost, delivery, legal and regulatory rules. However, I have some thoughts on cool apps or products that would be great to have now. Even those that are currently in the works or out in the market aren’t necessarily user friendly or intuitive to the user.

This is why I miss Steve Jobs, although I’m not an apple product person, I loved his thinking. Basically, you shouldn’t need instructions, the product should be intuitive on its own.

For example – Wouldn’t it be great if you could unlock your PC, your car, apartment, or house by using your finger print from your phone? At a minimum, this option should be embedded in every windows OS. Doing a quick search for this type of technology on the internet it looks as if this  was available through a product called BTProximity, but the product is discontinued.  This should not be a difficult product to create, it would require a simple architecture like the depiction below:

The first time you setup the PC/Laptop/tablet this feature would be available to imprint your phone and finger, no brainier right?! So, why hasn’t Microsoft given this to us? Well, I don’t think they thought of it yet.  Instead they decided to work with a USB device that recognizes you through face or finger recognition. But come on, most of us already have a device that securely identifies us, our cell phone or our watch. Or better yet, wouldn’t be great to ask your device’s AI to unlock the computer, door, car, instead of using your finger.  The AI should recognize you and do as you have requested.

It would be awesome if Alexia/Google/Siri  would work like Onstar works in your car. It would be great if today’s AIs were intelligent like C3PO and could talk or text to people as C3PO did in Star Wars.  It would be very helpful if you could use your device’s AI to make a call on your behalf. If only your phone could place a food order on your behalf at restaurants or grocery stores. The AI would ask if you’ll be dining-in at the restaurant, pick it up, or if the order should be delivered. If you select dining-in, the AI would ask where you would like to dine, how many people will be joining you, and the approximate time for a reservation. If you select delivery, it would track the order to your door and tell you it has arrived.  If you select pick-up, it would track the order and let you know that the order will be ready in the X amount of minutes it will take you to get to that location.  Wouldn’t that be great?!  What we need is for Android Auto, Google Android, and the Onstar AI to merge and add some minor functions to make an awesome AI that talks and texts for the customer. 

Example 1: “Maihnn, please call Rosati’s and order 2 large Pizza’s, one pizza with cheese only and the other with half sausage and the other half mushrooms and onions.” Maihnn response… Did you say call Rosati’s  Pizza and order 2 large Pizza’s, one with cheese only and the other pizza one half sausage the other half Mushroom and onion; is that correct? “Yes” Calling… “Hi Rick, your Rosati’s pizza order total came to $32.80 and the pizzas will be ready in thirty minutes.   Is there anything else that you need?” Example 2: “Maihnn, I would like to eat at Squires tonight.”  Maihnn response… Did you say you would like to make a reservation to eat at The Village Squire tonight? “Yes” “Sir, which location would you like to eat at, how many people will be joining you and at what day and time would you like this reservation?” “I would like to eat in McHenry, there will be 3 others joining me, and make it for tonight at 7 pm.” “Sir, just to confirm, you would like me to make your McHenry Village Squire reservation for four people at 7:00 PM tonight, is that correct?” “Yes, that is correct” Calling… “Sir, they can’t seat you until 7:30, would that be okay?” “Yes, that would work” “Sir, your reservation is set for tonight at 7:30 PM for four people under the name Rick Kottke. Is there anything else I can do for you?” Wouldn’t it be awesome if this and other similar apps really worked this way?

The AI to make calls and place orders is not that difficult  to program, Apple, Amazon, Google Android and GM Onstar have already completed half the work. The other half should be just as easy by using the customer’s voice or the AI’s to place the actual order and then receive a confirmation from the retailer/restaurant host as feedback to the customer.  Hey, Samsung, Apple, Motorola, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon, Google, GM, or VC’s, are you listening? If you need a Portfolio/Program/Software manager to create, design, architect, and manage this, just drop me a note.  

Some retailers get it, for example, Starbucks has an app that allows you to place your order from your device and pick it up at a specified location. You should be able to do that same thing at all retail stores/restaurants.  

You should be able to use your device to pay for your purchases at any retail location. Currently, American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa offer a point-to-pay app for Android and iPhone’s but this is not available everywhere from every POS device. Also, setting this app up should be automatic. Although the Android Pay and Apple pay install and setup is pretty much the same from either app, I had to contact my bank to complete the account linkage. 

It is a shame that these apps don’t allow me to order and pick-up the way the Starbucks app does. To me, it is a game changer!

Wouldn’t be great to withdraw money from an ATM via your phone and have it dispense the funds when you arrive at the ATM. You don’t have to enter a PIN, the ATM would know you and that you were there to pick-up your withdrawal.

It would be amazing to have an app that looks at spending habits and suggests financial funds to invest in – and if you agree to the suggestions, would actually invest in them on your behalf. Apps that will buy and sell equities based on your ranges and requirements. This would not only include information on dividends, volatility, average shares traded, and cycles; but in equities of your interest based on your spending habits, books and news that you read, searches you perform, and sites that you visit.  

Mint.com is close to what I would want in a financial app, but it isn’t close enough. The app will look for savings vehicles but not in equities where one can make a lot more money, especially since current savings interest rates are so low.

Devices should suggest dinner ideas based on your purchasing habits and they should know what you like and don’t like. However, the app should only do this when you are looking for something to eat. The app should alert you in an android’s voice, “Sir, may I suggest blah, blah, blah”.  It would be great to have that Star Wars effect.

A device should tell you whether it would be better to walk instead of taking a cab to your next meeting. And if you walk, whether or not you should bring an umbrella.

Your device should know if you forgot your train pass or wallet, or know where your keys are – why don’t we have these apps?  Alexa, where are my keys? Yes, one could use “Tile”, but why don’t we have transmitters in our current keys?

As you can tell by this post, I want more out of the apps and technology that are supported on my phone and other devices. I haven’t even begun to discuss how a new AI app could aid businesses, back-office operations,  and employees. There’s a gold mine here.

I am passionate about this type of AI, if you are a corporation that is seriously interested in hearing more about or looking to be that next product/app big thing, please drop me a line and we can talk about it in detail.