And, for the next few years,
advances in smartphones and
tablets will continue to be
subtle and iterative, driven
by the twin processes of sim-
plification and connection.
The advanced Touch ID finger-
print sensor built into the
5S’s home button, while a
seemingly basic technology
(it replaces your password
with your thumbprint in a
handful of very specific ap-
plications) is a perfectly
representative feature. Today,
it’s merely a convenience,
since putting your thumb where
it goes a hundred times a day
anyway is less annoying than
typing in a password. But it’s
also a step closer to the day
when we no longer have to remem-
ber or store dozens of passwords—
a fundamental reinvention of the
way we approach identity and com-
puter security on a daily, even
hourly, basis. It breaks down one
of the barriers between humans and
our machines.
As if hailing the invention of eyeglasses, cleverly bobbing on the bridge of the nose so effortlessly, their correction of vision is almost spontaneous, the geek for The New Yorker gives us a thumb-rest of innocuous integration with a quite different world as it is: the one constructed of choices repeated, all day long. And what is this breaking down of "barriers," may we guess, but facilitating fingertips favouring that pattern? Could I commission an optician to convey to me a confessional screen in Prince of Wales tweed, I'd send it out for cleaning once a year and still save on battery life.
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