You’re already using the Internet of Things (IOT), and maybe even voicing that acronym in some projects you’ve been narrating lately.
The IOT proposes that much of your physical world will (or has already) become integrated into network connections. This is machines talking to (or through) other machines. It’s aided by a mobile society and cloud computing. Much of it relies on remote sensors or awareness of some kind. This is verging on AI (artificial intelligence)
Think:
- monitoring the images from a home security camera on your smartphone
- controlling your thermostat
- turning on lights in your home before you get there
- letting your refrigerator tell you what items you need to buy
- making calls from your car
- smart vials that order prescriptions when you’re getting low on pills
- a car that sees a collision ahead and brakes for you
Some nascent signs of this coming into your world begin with sites like IFTTT (If this, then that), and Zapier. Examples of “recipes” that these services offer:
- save all your Gmail attachments to DropBox
- save your status updates on Facebook to Evernote
- add your FourSquare check-ins to a spreadsheet
- get a notification when rain is headed your way
- sync new Gmail contacts to a spreadsheet
- save Instagram photos to Google Drive
There are HUNDREDS such recipes on these sites…and they grow every day.
In a two-part series on IOT in WIRED, Daniel Burrus cautions against thinking to SMALL when considering the potential of IOT. He seems most excited about the ability of sensors to detect problems, anticipate thresholds of supply, notify decision-makers about red flags coming.
If you’ve been disappointed in the much-ballyhooed promise of the internet…watch out…we will soon have IOT coming out of our ears…maybe even more than we want.
So how could IOT affect your freelance voice-over business?
Maybe you’re already using some early tools. Do you get a notification when an email is posted to your account with the word “audition” in it? Do you have a smartphone-enabled switch that can turn on your pre-amp to warm it up when you’re 10-miles from home? Are you accessing files from a cloud server?…or giving commands to a remote computer to schedule the sending of an audition? Should you be having IFTTT keep an automatic log of all incoming emails to build a list of prospects?
But are we thinking too small here? Without being intrusive, or breaking any laws, how can IOT help you better anticipate job openings, a shift in the market, or the best price on a microphone? What undiscovered data in servers somewhere could be analyzed to trigger a notification with trends helpful to your freelance business?
How ’bout a sensor that tells you how many times your audition was heard, and by whom? (actually, I already wrote about this 3 years ago in: THE ULTIMATE AUDITION FANTASY).
What would YOUR dream IOT tool be for your voice-over business?
CourVO
