I always thought that less is more but I’ve noticed these days, that more IS more. Fifty years ago houses were modest and backyards were big. Now we have fewer children but houses are getting bigger. Meals are now a lot bigger, drink sizes are larger and the coffee is stronger. Food is now more processed, contains more cholesterol and more salt – are we really healthier with more in our diet?
We want more from the products we buy too – smallest mobile phone, thinnest laptop, highest definition TV. Our insatiable appetite for more has pushed us to want more in business too. We all seem to work longer days, with no lunch break and take shorter holidays. Why do we want more freedom and more time to ourselves yet fill our spare time with more tasks and more routine?
We are constantly seeking more information, more analysis and more content so the internet has become the primary source of information for many people. We use the net to run our businesses, manage our finances, to communicate and as a source of knowledge. We are so reliant on the web that accessing it has become a new area of innovation. No longer are we content to only view the net via our computers and mobile phones, we are now surfing the net through gaming consoles like Wii and online streaming internet TV channels. We want easy access to more information, more media and more entertainment and web providers and technology companies have taken up the challenge.
Along with providing easy access to content through the internet, companies are now earning a lot of money in the process. Google is the main player in this field and is the most visited website on the internet. Google has expanded its empire from just a mere search engine to online maps, social networking, video sharing and applications. Google are now set to break even more boundaries with their latest release; “Goggles” – software that allows people to search the web using images taken with their mobile phone camera. This allows for even quicker access to information and revolutionises the way we obtain it. Goggles will have a huge knock-on effect for businesses as people can simply take a photo on a mobile phone and use that image to search for a café, bottle of wine or music CD and the results will be immediately served to them. The creation of this new Goggles arm will also add to Google’s massive profits and further cements their dominance in this field.
With breakthroughs like Goggles, it’s hard to conceive of where we might end up in two years time, let alone twenty years time. One thing that is certain is that our perpetual need for more - faster, thinner, more memory, more taste and more convenience will encourage us to continually innovate and improve the way we live our lives.
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