Technology

What is technology doing to us? Between the digital skeptics and the wide-eyed utopians sit the authors of The Second Machine Age, two MIT scholars with an interest in consensus and moderation. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, both at the university’s Center for Digital Business, realized that things were moving way faster than even they would have predicted. Just as the Industrial Revolution saw machines replacing human brawn, the second machine age sees them replacing our cognitive faculties. These two, whose previous book, Race Against the Machine, took a cautionary look at the way computers, software development, and artificial intelligence were making human beings obsolete, now describe themselves as cautiously optimistic.

Searching With Images

In the past, we have searched with words but now software development has come so far that you can search with images. Curious? Well, armed with a smartphone and one of these apps, all you have to do is snap a photo and the app will try to identify the object or landmark and find information on it. No matter what kind of information you want, Google Goggles can help. This is a stand-alone app for Android, but it’s built into the Google Search app for iPhone (tap the search bar and then the camera icon to search by image). Take a picture of whatever you want to know more about, from a place to a work of art to a barcode or text (even in a foreign language), and Google will bring up more information. If the item is for purchase, you’ll also find shopping links and reviews. Looking for the perfect home? Homesnap is the app for you. If you see a property you like while you’re driving around looking at neighborhoods, take a photo using the Homesnap app to pull up the home’s complete real estate listing. You’ll get easy access to the property’s full details plus photos, all without having to get out of your car to grab a flyer.