Anybody else a little intimidated by future tech?
I've used computers for quite a while, and I love a good gadget that makes my life easier. But I have to admit that ALL of today's technology -- and everything that's on the horizon -- is a bit intimidating. With the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray debate, HDTV, pre-N wireless, social bookmarking, online auctions, automated homes, etc. etc. I really and truly am becoming a little wary of technology. It seems like it's really starting to be too tightly absorbed into EVERYTHING we do.
Sure, most of that stuff makes our lives a little more convenient here, a little faster there, but I'm reminded of the idea of the "digital office." The idea was to do the same amount of work in less time, leaving us open to enjoy our lives. Instead, we've made things so efficient that we just cram that much more work into the same amount of time, keeping the stress we wanted to avoid in the first place.
I guess my thinking has shifted the last year or so. I've been a video producer for a good 7 1/2 years now, but am feeling an urge to get into still photography. There's something really appealing about a photograph that can just hang on a wall or sit on a desk. So long as you have a light source, you can enjoy it. No wires. No firmware. No high-speed internet connection. Just an image.
Books and newspapers are the same way. So much is available online nowadays, yet I'm feeling more compelled to read stuff that doesn't have any XML coding, internet protocols, and can compactly sit on a shelf to wait until I want it again. I like that I can hold the daily news in my hands, fold it, and leave it on a restaurant table for the next guy to read.
I've begun journaling in a Moleskine notebook. It will last the test of time and it's comforting to know that what I write in it today will be readable 100 years or more from now, without having to reformat, plug anything in, or scan for viruses. I actually think about that with each word I write, knowing that my great-grandchildren might be reading what is going on the paper right now.
What are your thoughts on this? Is technology going too far? Are we losing what's really important? Am I just overreacting?
Sure, most of that stuff makes our lives a little more convenient here, a little faster there, but I'm reminded of the idea of the "digital office." The idea was to do the same amount of work in less time, leaving us open to enjoy our lives. Instead, we've made things so efficient that we just cram that much more work into the same amount of time, keeping the stress we wanted to avoid in the first place.
I guess my thinking has shifted the last year or so. I've been a video producer for a good 7 1/2 years now, but am feeling an urge to get into still photography. There's something really appealing about a photograph that can just hang on a wall or sit on a desk. So long as you have a light source, you can enjoy it. No wires. No firmware. No high-speed internet connection. Just an image.
Books and newspapers are the same way. So much is available online nowadays, yet I'm feeling more compelled to read stuff that doesn't have any XML coding, internet protocols, and can compactly sit on a shelf to wait until I want it again. I like that I can hold the daily news in my hands, fold it, and leave it on a restaurant table for the next guy to read.
I've begun journaling in a Moleskine notebook. It will last the test of time and it's comforting to know that what I write in it today will be readable 100 years or more from now, without having to reformat, plug anything in, or scan for viruses. I actually think about that with each word I write, knowing that my great-grandchildren might be reading what is going on the paper right now.
What are your thoughts on this? Is technology going too far? Are we losing what's really important? Am I just overreacting?
Comments
I'm just giving you grief, but there is some resemblance to the way my mom gets sentimental about these sorts of things. As for technology, well, at some point there's going to need to be something to re-introduce evolution into the human race. It may as well be technology.
I've taken a break the last few years but now is the time for me to update my toys.
also remember all the numbering will always move in base 2
(2, 16, 256, 512, 2048 etc etc etc) regardless if the units are bits, bytes, gigs, petabytes, teraquadriloobytes, or ---- what is the unit they use in star trek? ..... or jigowatts (back to the future)
Oh, God! I just realized-- if Apple makes everything too easy and user friendly, I won't have to figure anything out and my brain will turn into raisin bran!
O the humanity...
i want an apple 50inch hd scree imac, apple remote, apple airport, apple dvd, apple dvr, apple tivo, and use .mac to sync all the settings......hey apple rescue us from this glut of owners manuals. the company that can make it as simple as possible .....transparent... to the average joe and joan will win.
there is a certain psychological security in purchasing everything from Apple, and as long as they keep it up, i'm not gonna start sounding like a 'post-menopausal' woman.
Interesting topic!8)
PEOPLE are the black hole of technology, the cog that will keep it down, I got a first hand example of this this week, The Bob and Tom show had two hrs worth of people calling in giving their funny/dirty usernames and passwords ON NATIONAL RADIO...
eith stupidity like this, I have to wonder about what damage will be done with new tech.
Originally posted by BRussell
I'm not intimidated so much as unimpressed. Everything right now is about passive entertainment: It's all about finding new ways you can sit on your ass and watch a screen.
my dad needs a respectable solution to replace his vcr though... cmon apple, next week introduce a mac mini with built-in dvr, dvi, hdmi, svideo support for us$499..... cmon!!!!!!!!
We NEED standards, and not just standards that a few companies get together and agree upon- we need everyone to agree and comply- EVERYONE!
Why do we need ethernet, firewire, usb, audio in/out, VGA, DVI, compact flash, SD, memory stick, DVD, HD-DVD, Blueray, Hard Drives, Bluetooth, 802.11a, b, g, power adapters, etc.
At this point we should be able to develop one standard plug/interface that every device can use- so maybe we can't combine USB and HD-DVD, but we can get rid of ethernet, firewire, autio in/out, DVI and replace it with one common interface.
I think just having that would simplify a LOT of problems. Kinda like Gas- I know that anywhere I go, I can drive my car up and fill it up- not having to worry if it's the right kind.
Standards need to be open so the industry can move forward and make technology more transparent to the end user.
Originally posted by tacojohn
I think the whole technology industry needs to stop and take a look at the current situation.
We NEED standards, and not just standards that a few companies get together and agree upon- we need everyone to agree and comply- EVERYONE!
Why do we need ethernet, firewire, usb, audio in/out, VGA, DVI, compact flash, SD, memory stick, DVD, HD-DVD, Blueray, Hard Drives, Bluetooth, 802.11a, b, g, power adapters, etc.
At this point we should be able to develop one standard plug/interface that every device can use- so maybe we can't combine USB and HD-DVD, but we can get rid of ethernet, firewire, autio in/out, DVI and replace it with one common interface.
I think just having that would simplify a LOT of problems. Kinda like Gas- I know that anywhere I go, I can drive my car up and fill it up- not having to worry if it's the right kind.
Standards need to be open so the industry can move forward and make technology more transparent to the end user.
am i the only one with the "back to the future 2" scene that popped into my head? "mr. fusion"
Originally posted by tacojohn
I think the whole technology industry needs to stop and take a look at the current situation.
We NEED standards, and not just standards that a few companies get together and agree upon- we need everyone to agree and comply- EVERYONE!
Why do we need ethernet, firewire, usb, audio in/out, VGA, DVI, compact flash, SD, memory stick, DVD, HD-DVD, Blueray, Hard Drives, Bluetooth, 802.11a, b, g, power adapters, etc.
At this point we should be able to develop one standard plug/interface that every device can use- so maybe we can't combine USB and HD-DVD, but we can get rid of ethernet, firewire, autio in/out, DVI and replace it with one common interface.
I think just having that would simplify a LOT of problems. Kinda like Gas- I know that anywhere I go, I can drive my car up and fill it up- not having to worry if it's the right kind.
Standards need to be open so the industry can move forward and make technology more transparent to the end user.
the one that wins the hearts of consumers is the one that can seemlessly integrate the standards..e.g itunes+apple+ipod. if apple has the same seemless integration for home entertainment than POOF people will follow. people don't want a "pc" for entertainment. they want a tv or device, simple turn on and bingo it's synced, ready to go transparent use and EASY to maintain and understand. apple has the tradition, the other pc manufacturers don't have a culture of "simplicity and integration" they have been focusing on hardware, not integration. apple brought us the airport...lets not forget how simple it was to make work, and work well, then the others came and even through there were standards they didn't work together.....why? that culture of hardware not integration. similar to pc is auto industry. engineering should make technology invisibe....lexus simple mercedes is more interested to "showing" it's technology. oh yea how aboutthe bmw iDrive...some sales people couln't get the car set for the consumer to drive.....oops. if the culture at apple says all apple hey who cares as long as the experience is stellar. i will admit apple needs more frequent upgrades to address changes in the industry. that may be easier with intel.
Originally posted by tacojohn
I think the whole technology industry needs to stop and take a look at the current situation.
We NEED standards, and not just standards that a few companies get together and agree upon- we need everyone to agree and comply- EVERYONE!
Why do we need ethernet, firewire, usb, audio in/out, VGA, DVI, compact flash, SD, memory stick, DVD, HD-DVD, Blueray, Hard Drives, Bluetooth, 802.11a, b, g, power adapters, etc.
At this point we should be able to develop one standard plug/interface that every device can use- so maybe we can't combine USB and HD-DVD, but we can get rid of ethernet, firewire, autio in/out, DVI and replace it with one common interface.
I think just having that would simplify a LOT of problems. Kinda like Gas- I know that anywhere I go, I can drive my car up and fill it up- not having to worry if it's the right kind.
Standards need to be open so the industry can move forward and make technology more transparent to the end user.
We get standards when corprate IT DEMANDS them
Ethernet and TCPIP came to be standards when corprate IT couldnt make differant vendors boxes work together. Ibm had one idea how it should work, Novell had a different idea, Apple had their little appletalk joke...and so on
Once the IEEE standardised 802.3, almost instantly, corperations started migrating away from token-ring and various propriatery schemes to switched ethernet and BOOM, we have a standard, 10Base-t, and as the scientists have crammen the bits closer together on the wire, and using all of the wires, we got 100, and 1000 base-t
NOW the magic is because they all meet the standard, any 10Mb card can work in a gig switch, and vice versa.
When corporate IT gets pissed about inopprabillity, we will get more results.
As BRussell has noted most of this fuss has been over forms of passive entertainment. My recent foray out was trying to buy a television.
You used to buy it and watch it with channels over the air. Once upon a time you would pay for one premium channel that gave you some movies each month (We had SelectTV and ONTv growing up) which later became cable and you also bought a VCR. The management of all this was pretty easy. We are talking about what constitutes a typical set-up. You could watch what you want, tape what you want and copy what you wanted. It wasn't perfect. It certainly wasn't digital but it was managable.
Now we have SDTV, EDTV, and HDTV's with both CRT, projection, plasma and LCD technology. (I know there is one more I am forgetting) The government is mandating a move to HDTV but does not require makers to put HD tuners in their televisions. So you are walking out the door with a television TODAY that the government swears might be useless without a new tuner in as little as three years.
They might pull the HD switch anyway since so many of us are on some combination of sat/cable. The cable companies are offering a combination of analog and digital entertainment. This leads to varying results and you aren't sure why but it is always your job to figure it out. Satellite is much the same where you might have local channels included, but not the local HD channels, etc. You have to buy a new HD sat receiver for each television and pay an extra fee on top of your previous sat. rate to receive the HD programming and you have to do this per room and per television. Start adding first Tivo and later various provider specific DVR's, some which can give you abilities you desire, some which start with great abilities but are having their feature set altered and changed after the fact (Tivo again mostly) and it all appears to be lining up to give you some of what you want, when you want if someone agrees and doesn't change their mind later.
Then you have the industry itself talking. Seems they have grown very worried about piracy and might demand all previous HD tuners be obsoleted before they have even really been used because they do not recognized various digital flags that promote copyright protection (in their view) and would prevent the unauthorized recording of digital programming. Then you start hearing it go further. They want us all to replace our DVD players with players that are higher than 480p, but also interface digitally with the television in a manner that respects their copyright. (again no unauthorized recording)
Fair use... well that is pretty much an alien concept. Use for purposes as advertised... perhaps, if the provider doesn't want to set their flag to prevent you, or doesn't demand that our DVR not record their content. Perhaps it will but you can only keep the content for three days, or a week, or never, or who knows....perhaps you can keep it for a week but it has to insert new downloaded commercials each time you watch it, etc. Perhaps you are buying this because it is digital but need all new equipment to output digital otherwise you must go analog and what was the point again if you can't go digital?
Make sure you have to right tuner and television, otherwise none of this might work. Make sure you buy a basic package that gives you what used to be free or very cheap so you can pile on an endless array of $5-$10 add on's PER ROOM and then have it still possibly not turn out okay.
Screw them all, I'll set up a big antennae and go all primative/1970's on you all... well that might not work either....they are threatening to pull the switch and make it all not work unless you buy additional $250 per telvision new HD receivers.
I encountered this for two reasons. One I wanted to buy a future proof television for my travel trailer. There is no such thing as the only HD televisions they sell are all huge and still all have seperate tuners. The second issue was we moved to a different property we own and sold the house we were previously living in. We had DirectTV with Tivo. Tivo has some great capabilities but DirectTV was making them not upgrade the box with latest software and features and in addition was dropping them for their own boxes.
They wanted to come set back up our systems for us, and give a second DVR(but only Tivo since that was what we already had and they were obsoleting, not their new DVR)(I declined since we were already sitting on our asses too much as BRussell noted.
So I called the local cable company... the dreaded Adelphia. They offered analog cable as many rooms and televisions as you want for $45 a month. That is a third more than it used to cost and to add anything to improve that value proposition (movie channels, etc.) requires digital cable with rental of the box, must be done for every room you want that feature in, etc.
All this is not so much intimidating as it is tiring. You feel constantly nickled and dimed and there is no basic value.
The last issue is there is no halfway solution. You want to run your HD television with an analog receiver be it cable or air, it will look like crap and your $2000 set will look like the $600 standard definition projection television you could have bought a couple years ago. Going HD requires you jump in with both feet and you must commit to the XBox360 (Sorry Revolution won't be HD) satellite received with HD receiver, dish, extra cost programming. (same programming but extra charge for it being HD) Meanwhile you want to commit to the Blue-Ray/HD-DVD future because 480p isn't going to cut it with all this money already invested. However if your player decides your satellite receiver or television is declared "legacy" (even though it is already brand new) it will only work in analog mode which means it will look just like... your current DVD players...
Insane...
Nick