Page 9 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

they also have proximity sensors that measure the distance between themselves and other objects, which is basically what turns the screen off when you bring it to your ear to talk which,
if you will allow me a touch of irony, is also one of the main uses that a telephone has. Phones also incorporate sensors from magnetic fields, allowing them to function as a compass and supporting the orientation function of the phone and its user. Some phones can also measure the atmospheric pressure using a barometer, which makes our GPS more precise by helping it to de- termine height above sea level. It can also have a thermometer to control the temperature of the device itself and avoid damage to the batteries and the rest of the components. For some time now they have also incorporated a pedometer, which is the sensor that allows us to control the number of steps that we take in a specific period of time. And they may carry a heartbeat sensor than measures our heart rate.
If our cell phone does not have these sensors, we can add them with a wristband that is connected to the phone. Naturally, the most advanced of these also have a sensor for fingerprints and a camera that allows for retina and sometimes face recognition, resulting in a sophisticated security system. But the list is much longer and can include, without us knowing, infrared sen- sors, ultraviolet light sensors and damp sensors.
And if there is one sensor that is essential, beyond being connected by data, it’s the cam- era, which all cell phones are equipped with nowadays. What has triggered a crisis across the photography sector has begun a race in optics and the sensor’s software that is now considered an integral part of the phone, turning it into a hybrid. What cell phone sells without a decent camera? Sight and hearing have managed to gain extension in one single device.
The camera is simple, transportable and has, above all, created legions of creators: the number of photos taken is almost equal to the number of people using telephone data – at the
end of 2017 around five billion. Every second, thousands of people take a photo that they post on social networks with the purpose of dating, having a record of something or simply for the pleasure of sharing. According to the boundaries set by technology, photos are constantly chang- ing and ‘selfies’ are being replaced by ‘bothies’. Taking advantage of the fact that phones now have one camera in front and one behind, people now take photos in which both the author of the photo and the landscape he is looking at can be seen. Popular culture feeds off these develop- ments. Expert photographers or painters scarcely exist anymore. We are all authors, owning tools that ten years ago would have been a profession- al’s dream.
Thanks to this increase in sensitive capacity that we now carry in our pockets and bags,
the inhabitants of any city are one with the capacities of their devices, which also measure and capture data from our cars, houses, official buildings and traffic lights etc... Our telephone knows where we are but also, thanks to pooled data, can predict if we will be caught in a traffic jam in the next few minutes because other cars, other cell phones and even traffic cameras are ‘seeing’ what is still out of view.
The inhabitants of any city are one with
the capacities of their devices, which also measure and capture data from our cars, houses, official buildings and traffic lights etc.
Beyond basic sensors, this artificial system facilitates the existence of applications such as the relatively well-known Shazam that not only listens, but tells us what music is being played on TV or the radio at the press of a button. These apps are so popular that they recently became an object of interest to Apple1 which has already bought one for around €350 million. But there are also other software programs2 that just by focusing the camera on a painting, can give us its name, the name of the artist and where it was painted. The app has the same effect as more complex human senses, such as Kinesthesia, by
AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2018
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Digital Trends in Culture