/dev/random: Ambush Computing

I recently read a piece about “ambient computing,” which is the idea that the next logical phase of digital evolution is to have computers controlling our lives without the nuisance of us having to operate them. I would argue that this revolution has already taken its nascent steps. Even a fossilized semi-Luddite like me is a prisoner of the fitness app on my iPhone, for example. Gotta get those steps in—and Heaven forbid I should walk down the hall without said tracker and so fail to get “credit” for the trip. That app is like a jealous lover who insists on monitoring my every move.