I was recently talking with my cousin about connectivity. Let me clarify -- by "talking" I mean Kyle and I were exchanging emails, which in many ways is more interesting than a phone call because we can take our time to write a paragraph or two on a particular point, send it off, then the recipient has the luxury of contemplating a response over several hours or even days. Had we been connected via the phone, imagine the long distance bill...
But I digress. What we were discussing was the state of oneness many areas of technology tools are migrating towards, especially computers. One example, the brand new Microsoft Ultra-Mobile PC, ...which Microsoft describes as "...a powerful companion that lets you communicate, accomplish your tasks, and stay entertained and informed wherever life takes you." I'd sure like to be able to accomplish my tasks, stay entertained and informed wherever I go. How have I possibly made it this far without one handheld device to organize, entertain me with mp3's and DVD movies, get directions, order take out, email, chat with friends, surf the web and build that spreadsheet my boss has been begging me for? It's a mystery. With the Ultra-Mobile PC I can do all of that while sipping my hip, overpriced latte....let's just hope I don't spill any of it on the utopian little gadget I'm clicking away on else my entire cyber life existence will come to a screeching halt.
That was my first reaction. A bit sarcastic, a tad amused. But then I stopped and pondered deeper. Maybe this integration based concept is the next major shift technologically. Like the rise of the internet as part of our daily lives, technological integration could become status quo for many or even most of us in the near future. But what will be the engine to drive this change? Back in '95, the internet existed out there somewhere on something called "A.O.L.", whatever that is. But how many of us emailed each other routinely? How many of us downloaded that song for a buck, then uploaded it to our mp3 player a minute later? How many of us collaborated and held discussions on any topic we liked via town hall style discussion board forums with fellow "community" members numbering in the hundreds of thousands? Certainly there were the elite few who engaged in this sort of behavior as far back as the early 1980's, but most of us missed the point that the internet was more than just a place to buy a book or a bag of dog food, then once in a while email one friend a joke from time to time, and maybe finally catch up on the sports scores. Not a whole lot of us saw clearly what the internet COULD do, we were looking only at what is WAS DOING. Only a few years later, the internet quickly became a tool to connect many of us with all kinds of realms outside our daily lives. Things we never thought of. Places, people and exciting things we never even knew existed. All from our very own computers! The possibilities seemed endless. Could devices like the UMPC be the next logical step towards a deeper and broader connectivity in our lives?
That may be a bit strong, but it's not unthinkable. Kyle writes back and nails it: "Imagine leaving your cellphone, blackberry, and all other 'peripherals' including the iPod at home, only to leave for the day with a laptop, something you probably schlep everywhere anyhow." Now this is where the power meets the pavement. People will need a reason to plunk down about $1000 for a device that does it all. More than that, they'll need a reason to change the way the do things today. At the heart of this drive for change might just be our inherent life complexities, and the increasing difficulty in juggling the various devices we've grown accustomed to. "While technology is progressing to simplify our lives, we tend to be more weighted down by it, literally. In regards to my generation's dependency on technology the big three to me are the laptop, cellphone and iPod. These things were not necessities 10 years ago." writes Kyle. One way to look at this is that things are getting worse. More gadgets, more things to leave at home on the counter or on the dashboard of the car. Enter the Ultra-Mobile PC. An end-all answer to all our juggling issues? Probably not, but perhaps a step in the right direction.
This integration concept is already catching on big time with car manufacturers. Many of us spend a lot of time behind the wheel, disconnected from the world unless you count our radios and cell phones. But BMW has tapped into this vein of interest with a new approach that highlights internet connectivity in the vehicle, which can seamlessly communicate to mobile phones, and can be managed in a personalized owner's portal by any PC.
"BMW Online ensures that you can access internet-based services while in your vehicle, increasing your mobility and providing you with more up-to-date information than ever before. The system supplies help for all kinds of questions. Where can I eat? Where can I stay? What is the phone number of ...? Who can help me with ...? Whatever it is you want to know, BMW Online has the answer.
The system avails of the latest information; at the touch of a button, all addresses and phone numbers you need are sent directly to the navigation system and car phone. This means you no longer have to waste time typing in data yourself or looking for streets and phone numbers in cities you are not familiar with. Telephone directories, restaurant and hotel information, economic and stock exchange news, a mobile office with your own address book and e-mail account, weather information - all of these services are all provided by BMW Online. And they are available not only in your car, but also on your PC or mobile phone."
Sweet, I'll take it! But here we are again...do we NEED to be more integrated? WHY do we need fewer devices that allow us to do more? Maybe we're asking the wrong question. The question might not be "why" we need integration, but rather "what are we not yet seeing" about integration? What has driven technology for the past ten to fifteen years is less about need, and more about social human evolution. I don't need to buy that song for a buck from iTunes while chatting with a friend online after I sent out a broadcast email to management with my latest spreadsheet, all over a nice hot Starbucks, but I certainly want to.
5 comments:
Thanks cuz! Looks good. Agreeably, as we are integrating more, caution needs to be used. As you mentioned with your coffee example, there may be no easy answer. Lets not forget however, device manufacturers are scrambling to keep up with such trends. For example, laptops with drain holes in the keyboard. This little feature can do a lot when relying on a device, preventing moisture from saturating a motherboard. Another would be shock resistance, parking the hard drive when sudden movements are detected.
The end user must also be aware that bad things happen, and must be accountable. Personally, the way that I try to eliminate such mishaps is redundancy. For example, making my laptop automatically backup all the important stuff to the SD card, daily. Another would be uploading this important stuff onto some network storage space. So now, I think I'm protected. If the computer crashes and needs to be formatted, I can pull everything off that postage stamp sized flash memory device and carry on with my connected life. Not only that, I can still access my important stuff from any other computer, after logging onto the network containing my files. This provision once again keeps me connected should the unthinkable happen, ie. someone steals the device, it spontaneously combusts, etc....
As memory and storage devices keep getting smaller and more affordable, it keeps opening doors for us. Imagine the day we all go to the bank to deposit thumb drives. No doubt, by that time these devices will be even smaller. The day when these devices possibly contain an infinite amount of information. Think about it, a man made device holding more information than dare I say ones own brain? Kind of freaky....
I cant wait to see where this discussion goes.
-Kyle
I am a self-contained self-contradiction on this topic. On the one hand, I author four different blogs (Rubicon is co-author on the newest one). If I have a paper form I need to fill out, I will spend twice as much time creating a format in Excel that makes the data fall where it should, rather than just throw the thing in the typewriter. That's Jeckel.
Meet Hyde: We have an online to-do list at the office that I never use. I have my routine: at the end of the day you create a list of everything you have to do the next day. Oh yeah, with a pen. And a sheet of paper (that's a small, 8.5x11 piece of material that is exceptionally thin upon which marks can be made with a pen to record thoughts).
I also refuse the pressure from the office to accept a Palm Pilot. Yes, that's right. It's free, they pay. But I don't want it. I have seen everyone in that office sweat bullets at one time or another as their life passes before their eyes because their Palm won't boot up (or whatever Palm's do to wake up in the morning).
My personal data system has never failed to boot up. The boot up procedure involves removing it from my briefcase and opening it to the proper page. Occasionally it malfunctions and does not open to the proper page. Then I have to flip through pages to find "today". But I recently downloaded a device (scissors) that allow me to cut the corner off of each page allowing instant access to today's page.
When I write pleadings or other documents, I hand-write them first. I make arrows all over the place, scratch out big sections, cut and paste (as in where that phrase came from, with scissors and a glue stick). It's quite caveman-ish of me. But it works. And nothing plugs into the wall, which is a good thing in the roll-the-dice electrical service available in DG, Illinois.
But, then it comes time to create a final version of this document. I don't go to the typewriter, because that machine is even more my enemy than the computer. I sit at the desktop or laptop, whichever is malfunctioning less, and pound it out. I enjoy the process of formatting the document to make it look great. I like adding little features like hyperlinks to other documents, or links to websites. It creates oohs and aahs at my office. It would probably lull most readers of this blog to sleep. I get a kick out of having an outline created for me, and tweeking the indentation and style of the various outline levels. All things I could not do on a typewriter. I think that's a little Jeckel coming back, right?
So I publicly proclaim my disdain for technology (Hyde). And I do so via my brother's blog (Jeckel). You do the math. Two plus two is something like 6.84, I don't make any sense.
But I would like to say this without self-contradiction:
Breathe wrote about how these new devices help us "stay entertained". We used to do that with books, or the newspaper. And that took time. Many people argue in favor of books for the sake of books. I don't really care. Books on tape (ahem, CD, sorry) are still books, to me at least. Nothing magic about turning the physical page. The key is that a book on tape still takes time. It is unproductive. I argue that unproductivity is a good thing, at times.
What these devices have allowed us to do is pack just as much functionality into our LIVES as they pack into the little machines. We CAN do more, we can fill every minute with something. Wether it's work, entertainment, or anything else, no minute is left behind (as GW would say).
Is that a good thing? Here's what I spent my time doing yesterday. Note that not a single one of these tasks NEEDED to be done, and all of them could have been done more efficiently. But they took time away from me, which I perceive as a good thing.
1) Kneaded dough for a fresh homeade pizza. I have an uber-cool mixer that would do it for me. But I did it by hand. Satisfying.
2) Planted seeds for our garden (indoors). We have grocery stores that sell veggies. I could save time by going there just once a week. Now I'll have to spend hours each week tending to a garden.
3) Watched my daughter dance to her favorite DVD, U2 Live at Slaine Castle (yes, she's the coolest 3 year old in the world). I could have been studying, or working. But I just stood there, and even joined in (it's a cool surround sound, enter Mr. Jeckel).
4) Raking the leaves that have collected over winter. Our neighbor has a leaf blower. Could have been done in 20 minutes. It took me 90, and I didn't even finish.
5) Relocated some retaining wall stones. I have a nice garden cart, could have moved them all in one trip. But I lugged each one from one side of the yard to the other, trip after trip. My back is sore today.
What's the theme? Each one of these things I did intentionally took more time than it should have. I wasted lots of time. And while I did so, I thought about things. I watched my daughter and my dogs play in the yard while I worked. I spun her (the daughter, not the dog) around in the air. I pushed her on the swing a few times on my way to get another stone. I spoke to her. That's a big one. I spoke to my daughter.
Technology can't bring that to you. But, then again, I can't bring this message to you without it. I agree, I'm a self-contained self-contradiction.
But I've tricked you all. If you made it this far, you just spent a fair amount of time reading and thinking. You've been exceptionally unproductive. Good for you, I say.
I suppose I like technology itself. But I do not like the expectation it creates that I will maximize the minutes in my day they same way Bill Gates maximizes the his zeros and ones. I think that's the common ground between Jeckel and Hyde.
The big question, did it ever occur to you to skip this comment because it was too long?
Great post. Glad you're back.
Jim (AKA Jeckel/Hyde),
Yes, you do seem to be a contradiction. The underlying theme here is that you are kicking and sceaming not be reliant on technology. Even with that, you still are coming arround. Even with your day planner example, you are still reliant. How you may ask? The intrecate workings of the technologically advanced inter workings of hinges and locks. What if your briefcase hinges or lock jamed one day, rendering your paper day planner trapped inside? (I am asuming yours is a "old school" hard case. If not what if the zipper broke, ending with the same result.)
Just one of the things our very wise grandfather said: "Don't let your wants get in the way of your needs"
I disagree, Jim. You aren't demonstrating a bi-polar, Jeckle and Hyde mentality to technology, you're being smart about it. Technology should ultimately be a means to an end; the solution should drive which (if any) technology is used, not the other way around. It's an honest mistake, one I encounter almost every day in meeting rooms where the IT group is at one end of the table asking the business to change their processes and in some cases actual data to satisfy the faulty needs of the backend systems. Question: could you have used your mixer to knead that pizza dough the other day? Yes, but why would you? It was satisfying to use your hands. I think it's good you are in touch with what you wanted -- a pizza crust you personally created, not a bunch of whirring blinking beeping devices making it for you in less time. BUT....if you had been cooking that same pizza for a large dinner party and had 13 other food items to juggle at the same time while struggling to put it all together on the table at the same time, I'm guessing you'd take the quicker, easier route and fire up the machine. Sames goes for the blower and the leaves. If you got home from work 30 minutes before it was dark and had to clean the leaves that night, you'd probably use the blower else you'd never finish while there was still light. Instead, you organized your week and your Saturday to block off the time needed. You probably didn't start at 6pm, realizing you'd not have the time. As a warm, tangible human benefit you got so hang out with Becca as she swung away. I'd bet the more Saturday's you two spend in the back yard -- her playing, you working -- the more she'll have fond memories of watching on as her daddy went about his chores. Those are the memories that she'll always cherish.
I don't know of one blower, even the high end kind the landscapers use, that can make that happen.
So this brings up the core question about the one-in-all gadget -- do we NEED it, or WANT it? Gates' marketing crew may have us believe we NEED it to organize, entertain ourselves, increase productivity, and the like, but at the end of the day one could do any of these things with existing technology; just not in a slick universal skin.
Productivity in particular is an apparently highly coveted attribute, because nearly every bit of software, gadget, device, and tool shout it from the mountaintops. Email was going to free up hours out of our collective days, giving us more time with our families. At least in every corporate environment I've ever heard of, email has done quite the opposite. True, we are more productive than we were 15 or 20 years ago. However, it didn't take long for business leaders to recognize that the reduced time it now took to complete a task or project didn't necessarily mean the worker could start heading home at 4pm every day, it meant that more projects and tasks could be assigned in the same or even slightly longer time spans. I think that technology in general, as manifested by devices like the Ultra Mobile PC won't free up any time for us, but will make us more productive.
Sounds like a drag, I know.
If you think of it, so did the cotton gin in the late 1700's. Eli Whitney wasn't interested in sending the slaves and other workers home earlier at the end of the day by giving them a device that could clean seeds out of 50 times the cotton that a man could, he and the people who leveraged that technology did so to increase productivity in the same amount of time. I highly doubt many Fortune 500 companies nor small businesses issue Palm Pilot's and BlackBerrys to reduce a worker's time on the job. It's to increase productivity.
It's not all bad, though. Truth be told I've received many an email response from co-workers from the back nine at 2pm on a Tuesday.
You know, being a father and a homeowner have made you so wise...
Can't figure out why those two things didn't work for me, though. I'm about as wise as my shoe.
P.S. I agree with your clear and unequivocal statement that we can blame all our personal problems today on the cotton gin. Good insight.
I'm all out of scrolls to write on. I'm going to go cut down some trees and make some paper.
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