Words by Ibba Rasul-Bernardo
I ride a motorcycle everyday, everywhere. It’s not because I’m a badass macho. Far from it, I’m a geek. I ride my KTM Duke 690 everyday because it saves me time. On average, I save around two and a half hours daily. That’s at least 600 hundred hours or 10 days a year. I also buy clothes in bulk, like five pieces of the same Under Armour black collared shirt ‘coz they dry fast and are wrinkle-free and perfectly fit my motorcycle lifestyle and I hate thinking about clothes, another 30 minutes saved. I have one kind of soap for everything and cut my hair at home, more time saved. All of this is to streamline my life. I crave efficiency even if I am not that efficient. This is also why I love my “Ninja Assistants.”
I wake up screaming “Alexa! Stop the alarm!” It’s 6am. Then I head to the shower and groggily say, “Alexa, play Spotify.” and I start scrubbing myself down to “Everything is Awesome.” As I’m drying off, I ask “Alexa, what’s the weather in Manila Philippines?” she answers, “31 degrees with scattered thunderstorms.” Great, I’ll be sweaty and drenched. I then sit on my thinking spot and ask, “Alexa, what my schedule for today?” Alexa runs down deadlines, four meetings, and unnecessary things like Margie’s Birthday. I exit the thinking room and say, “Alexa continue playing Spotify,” and the music follows me to the living room. At this point, my wife grumbles something, rolls over in our bed and goes back to sleep. I dress up, bring my packable raincoat, and head out. I unlock my front door with my phone, and don’t bother locking it since I set it to auto-lock after two minutes.
Google Assistant
On Ortigas, Waze diplays that I’ll be 30 minutes late because it’s rush hour and Metro Manila traffic. I’m on a motorcycle which means two things: 1. I’ll be on time, and 2. I ruin the algorithm for everyone in a car. I press my Scala Cardo Bluetooth helmet communicator and say “Call Gabe.” “Which Gabe?” my Google assistant asks, and lists 4 Gabe’s in my contact list. As I narrowly avoid a tricycle making a reckless U-turn, out of breath and a little shaken, I say “The second one.” I run through my week with her and give some input on a press release and the launch of our permanent exhibit in the Ayala Museum. I press the Bluetooth headset again and say “OK Google. Send an SMS to Bing Tan.” Google responds “Bing Tan mobile?” Me “Yup” and I say “See you in 10 minutes.” “Text message sent.”
I had a personal assistant for a couple of months. It didn’t work out coz my schedule is way to hectic and he didn’t ride a motorcycle. The technology is far from perfect, but can I live without this technology? For sure. Would I want to? Hell no. It’s freaking awesome. And that is how I start my day.
About the Author:
The CEO and co-founder of Sari Software Solutions, Ibba Rasul-Bernardo has been working with marginalized and underprivileged groups by giving them access to relevant technology.
This article was published in the adobo magazine Design 2017 issue.
