What’s the future of technology?
Published 1 May 2005
Help! I’ve agreed to speak on a panel at a local Technology Expo called Future Tech Forum: Tech Leaders Discuss the Future of Technology on the Northcoast.
After spending way too long this weekend trying to install Tiger (it’s pretty hard to use an install DVD when you have no DVD drive. Too bad I didn’t realize that when I pre-ordered my copy…), I’m feeling like this may not really be my area of expertise. Couple that with my irrational fear of public speaking, and this is shaping up to be a disaster.
So, if you were going to speak to a group that will be made up of about 50% high-school students and 50% other folks about the future of technology, what would you speak about? And what do you think will be the wave of the future?
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Commentary
goodwitch writes
May 5 at 05:53 AM #
Mmmmm…my absolute favorite topic. Here is what I’d talk about. I think the future is all about mobile computing, rich media and smart environments.
We will all be carrying very powerful (yet small) computers on our bodies. Perhaps we will just wear the input devices and be wirelessly connected to the great CPU in the sky. I predict input devices will begin to look like jewelery or clothing.
Rich media…you could wow them with some of the incredible rich media sites. And talk about how virtual can sometimes be better than reality. That alone could have them drooling. I’ve got a list of yummy sites in my sidenav under “There is no place like…”
And smart environments…yum! An environment that senses where I am and gives me information…whether I’m driving, working or playing. Kinda like zero stop computing…information just flows to me right when I need it based on my location and my filters.
And..something Jakob Nielsen said in his first book really rings true for me…in the future…vacation will be…getting away from technology. Being where no one can reach you!
Andrea writes
May 5 at 08:23 AM #
Great ideas, goodwitch!
I will definatlely use them. I think smart environments are really intriguing, and my eyes light up talking about them.
I think I am also going to talk a bit about music, to get the attention of the highschoolers. I think music will be on demand- we will be able to listen to anything we want at any time over a wireless network. Kind of a combo between iPods and satellite radio.
And wouldn’t it be great if I could specify my own customized elevator music? Instead of hearing instrumental Journey arrangements, I could hear something I’m interested in.
Matt writes
May 7 at 06:38 AM #
Great ideas … for the year 3000! Zing!
Really, though. There are several dozen intermediate steps between what we have now and what Goodwitch is talking about. Sure, wearable computers are technologically fiesable, but who wants to wear the same clothes every day just so that they have access to their address book?
The next step on that journey lies in cheap, full-featured, consumer (not business) oriented PDA’s. (You can see this happening with the new OQO’s… google it.) The next step would be to get a stable wireless network so that you could actually be reliably connected on the go.
As far as the elevator music, this is actually one of the founding concepts behind Bluetooth (very short range wireless communications). That way you could, say, stand at a bus stop and get a bus schedule from it. Go to a restaurant and get free internet access through a transmitter in the table, etc … Yet again the X factor there is creating technology that’s rugged enough to stand up to the public space, and doing it in such a way that it’s actually worth doing.
goodwitch writes
May 7 at 07:11 AM #
So I shouldn’t be wearing the same jeans everyday? Note to self…need to go shopping at Old Navy this weekend.
Andrea writes
May 7 at 05:10 PM #
Thanks, Matt, and thanks again goodwitch for your ideas.
The forum was this morning, and it ended up going well. The others on the panel talked about the more practical aspects of the future of technology (how to get big broadband to our semi-rural area, etc), which left me the opportunity to talk about some more exciting pie-in-the-sky type of stuff.
Discussion of music distribution went over really well, since 3/4 or more of the audience was high school students. They were also intrigued by the idea of smart environments, although I made sure to note that the technology for making this happen was a bit far off.
It was fun to get them excited about this kind of thing, since they are the ones who ultimately will be making it happen (or not).