Paying attention to the sensors capturing information throughout my day, I found a few things.

At home, there light sensors in MacBook Pro so that when the light in the room changes, the keyboard and backlight dim or brighten accordingly. In the hallway and near the kitchen, we have carbon monoxide sensors. For the television, we have remote controls for the Roku Player and the TV itself both with infrared sensors.

As I leave the apartment, I pass the motion sensor light outside my door. It turns on as you approach it. It’s really handy when I’m coming home and it’s dark out. I also pass my neighbor’s motion sensor light across the street. Theirs is set at a much higher sensitivity than ours so both lights come on when our is activated.

A couple more sensors I run into are the sensors in the elevator that prevent the doors from closing on someone or something. If the doors are held open long enough, the elevator will begin to beep loudly. Also at the Brooklyn Public Library, the bathrooms are fitted with automatic toilet flushing when you stand, automatic hand dryers, and automatic faucets.

Finally, where I encountered the most sensors happen to be in my pocket. My Motorola Droid has GPS and a magnetometer to sense coordinates and direction, an accelerometer and pedometer to sense speed, and a tilt sensor used in games like Abduction. There’s a light sensor that adjusts the backlight and the keyboard brightness; it also can determine whether I need the flash turned on for the camera. And of course there are touch sensors for the screen.