Archive for the 'Gadgets' Category

It’s Not About the Technology, and This Isn’t the Jetsons

Published by Taylor on March 3, 2009 in Computing, Culture and Gadgets. View Comments

Let me paint a picture for you that, despite the snark, is not an exaggeration:

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At a conference I attended recently, a speaker made the legitimate and important point that technology–particularly broadband–should be included in our definition of “infrastructure.” In order to illustrate this point, and the potential economic boom that virtual commuting represents for rural communities, we watched a video…featuring a family that was unrecognizable to even the most tech savvy people in the room.

Look, it’s Dad on his Bluetooth headset in the kitchen. Mixing fruit salad as he talks to his colleagues in NY or Atlanta. It’s a snow day, but instead of sledding or starting a snowball fight, little Johnny and Susie are downloading their assignments from the web, listening to 7th grade history lectures on podcasts, and exercising on the treadmill. They’re even (gasp!) attending class in a virtual world reminiscent of Second Life. All the while Dad is locked in his office working remotely while Mom places inventory orders for her small business.

Here’s my issue. Nobody–and I mean nobody–loses sleep over the question of what their children will do if they can’t access their school work on a snow day. Likewise, though many of us imagine working primarily from a home office some day, that vision maintains some semblance of connection to our current lived experience: leaving the house, interacting offline with friends and peers, and (you guessed it) PLAYING OUTSIDE IN THE SNOW.

People see this sort of technologically-dominated futurecasting and become overwhelmed by the disconnect, seemingly caused (worsened?) by technology, between their lives and this vision! Because when the focal point is the shiny gadget and the slick interface, we’re not solving problems anymore.

Technology is more integrated into our lives now than we could have ever realistically imagined 20 years ago. Yet, instead of recognizing how current and emerging technologies can help us accomplish great things, we’re still wasting energy trying to figure out why our lives don’t resemble EPCOT and the Jetsons.

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Kindled

Published by Jarred on June 24, 2008 in Books, Gadgets and Reading. View Comments

My birthday was last week, though I unfortunately had to spend the majority of the day taking an evil standardized test. How’s that for bad timing? My parents were gracious and awesome enough to offer me an Amazon Kindle for my birthday, which we’ve written about some before. Now, after about a week of fairly regular first-hand use, I’m ready to offer some more thoughts.

When I first turned it on and downloaded a free sample chapter, the thing that most struck me about the Kindle was that, man… this thing is slow. Every button press is followed by at least a one second pause — a considerable delay in today’s high tech world. For a device that promises to usher in the next evolution of reading, I was perplexed at first. Where’s the gee-whiz slickness, the instant page-turns, the animation? (Amazon’s explains the slight delays by pointing to the E-Ink display, which at its current stage of development requires a little longer to render).

Ironically enough, however, I’ve almost come to appreciate the delay. Just as the E-Ink display mimics the ocular experience of the printed book, so do these delays mimic the time required to turn a page. It’s a subtle reminder when you continue to the next page that it is just that — a new page. You don’t scroll to the next screen on the Kindle; the scoll wheel is only used to access the menu and other features. You have to take the time to hit a button and wait as the screen momentarily flashes dark, and then rekindles (ha) with the next segment of text. That brief second gives you a chance to process the page you just read, to look out the window for a moment, to readjust the device in your hands. Looking back at the past week, I’m not sure now that I’d want it any other way.

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Movie Review: Iron Man

Published by Jarred on May 28, 2008 in Gadgets and Movie Reviews. View Comments

[Warning: Here be spoilers, mateys.]

The moment I heard that TechCrunch was sponsoring a pre-screening of Iron Man, I knew it was a must-see. Tropophilia-favorite blog Gizmodo lovingly titled its review of the film “126 Minutes of Gadget Porn“. I saw it on Saturday night, and I’m afraid that I too was filled with a deep technolust. What self-respecting geek wouldn’t want a suit of armor that enabled him to fly and kill bad guys? I mean, come on.

If you had trouble following some of the concepts I was talking about when I wrote about augmented reality a few months ago, you need look no further than the “heads-up display” inside Iron Man’s helmet. Check out this short clip from the movie. Imagine looking at anything, anywhere, and seeing computer-fed, real-time information layered on top of and around it. It’s coming – first to our vehicles, and later to our glasses. There’s too much other gadgety goodness to mention, but pay special attention to the technology around Stark’s home. All of it is believable to this geek’s eye. Well done, Industrial Light & Magic. Well done.

For the most part, Iron Man was able to avoid following a too-familiar formula in recreating the Marvel comic on the big screen. Robert Downey, Jr. was a brilliant choice for Tony Stark, both of them being somewhat cocky rich dudes who head down the road of reform after nearly getting themselves killed. I liked that even though he decides to consult his moral compass and do battle on the side of good, Stark loses neither his snarky sense of humor nor his arrogance. Sometimes his disregard for the opinions of everyone else becomes annoying, but mostly it helps to keep him from becoming the overly-dramatic “with great power comes great responsibility” stereotype that he could easily have become.

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Amazon CEO Says Kindle Will Salvage Long-Form Reading

Published by Jarred on May 3, 2008 in Books, Business, Consumer Behavior, Gadgets and Reading. View Comments

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, recently sent out his annual letter to shareholders [warning: PDF file]. I’m not a shareholder [yet], but the letter is currently linked on the Amazon homepage.

Bezos writes almost exclusively about the Kindle, the e-reader created and sold by Amazon that seems to be constantly going out-of-stock. While the whole letter is interesting and informative, I found that one paragraph in particular clarified something about the Kindle that I hadn’t though about before: the Kindle not as the harbinger of informational ADD, but as the savior of long-form reading as we know it. I especially like the term “information snacking,” and you’ll probably see me use it more and more here on the blog.

Here’s the paragraph in its entirety*, and I’ll leave it at that for you to ponder and comment on:

We humans co-evolve with our tools. We change our tools, and then our tools change us. Writing, invented thousands of years ago, is a grand whopper of a tool, and I have no doubt that it changed us dramatically. Five hundred years ago, Gutenberg’s invention led to a significant step-change in the cost of books. Physical books ushered in a new way of collaborating and learning.

Lately, networked tools such as desktop computers, laptops, cell phones and PDAs have changed us too. They’ve shifted us more toward information snacking, and I would argue toward shorter attention spans. I value my BlackBerry—I’m convinced it makes me more productive—but I don’t want to read a three-hundred-page document on it. Nor do I want to read something hundreds of pages long on my desktop computer or my laptop.

As I’ve already mentioned in this letter, people do more of what’s convenient and friction-free. If our tools make information snacking easier, we’ll shift more toward information snacking and away from long-form reading. Kindle is purpose-built for long-form reading. We hope Kindle and its successors may gradually and incrementally move us over years into a world with longer spans of attention, providing a counterbalance to the recent proliferation of info-snacking tools.

I realize my tone here tends toward the missionary, and I can assure you it’s heartfelt. It’s also not unique to me but is shared by a large group of folks here. I’m glad about that because missionaries build better products. I’ll also point out that, while I’m convinced books are on the verge of being improved upon, Amazon has no sinecure as that agent. It will happen, but if we don’t execute well, it will be done by others.

* I broke the paragraph up into four pieces to make it easier on the eyes (and brain).

Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user etech.

Classroom Connections: The Role of Technology in Schools

Published by Jarred on April 29, 2008 in Education and Gadgets. View Comments

I have class tonight and so won’t be able to post very much until tomorrow night, but I did want to throw two related thoughts at you guys and hopefully generate some discussion.

First, I learned that my old high school is getting ready to implement “Smart Board” technologies in some of its classrooms. Smart Boards combine a whiteboard, a computer, a projector, and some sort of touch/motion sensor to know when your hand or marker makes contact with its surface. The result:

The Smart Boards also allow you to save notes taken on the whiteboard.

Second, Ars Technica has a write-up on Abilene Christian University’s plan to give out iPhones to incoming freshmen this fall, ostensibly for academic use. Some say it’s a gimmick, others see great potential.

With those two blurbs in mind, what do you think of technology in the classroom? We’ve recently discussed blogging as a learning method. Where do you draw the line between a cool gadget and a real tool for teaching and enrichment? Could this money be better spent in other ways? Speak your mind in the comments!

P.S. — Bonus points to whoever can figure out where that guy is browsing in Google Earth. I don’t have the answer… but if you recognize the buildings on the board then speak up because I, for one, am curious!