We talk about the mobile mind shift at Forrester Research – 

"The expectation that I can get what I want in my immediate context and moments of need." 

Mobile gives us unprecented control over more things in our lives – our schedule, our commute, our thermostat, our finances, etc. Mobile also gives us confidence we need – whether it's knowing we'll be on time or that there is enough money in the bank to cover our next purchase. 

I've been connecting stuff not only to get a sense of what works and what doesn't or what is a good experience and what is poor, but also to get a feeling for how much control I get, how I change my behavior, how much more confidence I feel in making decisions and so forth. I've been wearing fitness wearables for almost two years. I'm also collecting data to see what I use, how I use it, what is useful, etc. My dog now wears a pedometer. (More later on that). My husband has one. My friends do. 

So – my latest experiment is putting a tracker on a plant – no, not to see where it goes, but to check its health and allow it to talk to me – tell me what it needs. 

I'm not sure if the experiment will go much beyond this first week so I'll post some images now. 

 

 

CES was this past week – look to my colleague's Frank Gillett, JP Gownder or Michele Pelino for more on wearable technology. 

My interest in wearables and connected devices is more from the standpoint of a)  how it changes an individual's behavior and b) what new business models are possible. I'll publish some research here soon as well as more discoveries from my own experiments. If you know any good examples, please send my way. 

I think the take away here – is "don't lose site of the big picture" and "ensure you are collecting the most important data" – more fertilizer won't help this plant if decimated. 

I love this product – I will go find a new plant and give the Parrot product another shot. It was super easy to set up. And … for someone like me who knows nothing about caring for plants, it gives me a chance of nurturing one and keeping it alive.