EVERYDAY LIFE

NO MORE SPAM

Thanks to machine learning and years of email data, Google says that Gmail is now accurate to 99,9 per cent when identifying (and quarantining) spam or phishing emails. The next application for email is context-specific automatic replies. Gmail analyses the message you’ve received (“Meet on Tuesday or Wednesday?”) and automatically generates responses to choose from (“Let’s do Tuesday”).

FASTER NET F LI X

Ever stream a movie over bad Wi-fi? The video gets pixellated as the app tries to use less data and keep playing. To prevent this, Netflix built software that identifies how visual a scene is, then decides how to divvy up bandwidth. So when you’re watching a climactic Marvel movie battle, Netflix will use all available signal strength for the scene. Family Guy reruns? It won’t strain your LTE to show Stewie in 4K.

LONGER BATTERY LIFE

Your iphone will analyse app use and motion-sensor data to predict what you’re doing throughout the day. Say it needs to pull lots of data for a software update. The phone will use that data to figure out when you’re likely to be driving to work. So rather than tax your phone’s battery to search for cell towers to pull all that data, IOS waits until you’re likely asleep and the phone is plugged in and near decent Wi-fi.