Added on Wed 9 Apr 2008
Internet Glasses
I’ve just been a bit too busy lately with so many other things, I haven’t had a chance to clutter up this space with more words in quite a while. Anyway, I’m here for now. Do you like the title? I came up with that after writing the rest of this. It will make more sense once you get close to the end.
Over the last month or two I’ve been following the rapid developments in web based applications, mobile devices and a bunch of other things, (PC audio – go Asus, down with Creative!) plus the numerous rambling thoughts that keep bouncing through my brain. Finally, I think I can distil all that stuff into this post. I don’t promise it’s all going to fit together nicely; well… maybe? General topic – The Future!! My favourite.
As is always, I like thinking about future potential – of all things. Where does that come from? Well, one thing that drives me is probably my dislike of work. Not that I actually dislike my work (when I first realised I disliked work, I quickly discovered the first step is to make it something you like doing, so…) I’m just always looking for ways of making it easier and more enjoyable. I mean it just struck me that there was a time that technological advances were aimed at a world wide desire to reduce labour; humans play while robots work! Remember that? I know that in a reality, that’s really a dream that would be a disaster. But surely we could have expected that technology would influence things in that direction at least a little bit? Naturally, what has happened is that we get more done in same time rather than same done in less time.
Oh well, that was just a little picture of where my thought processes grow from. So where do they go to from there?
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Let’s start with the big picture. The onslaught of the internet; it has become so useful to everyone who gets even just a little bit close to it. For myself, it’s really become a fairly integral part of my life. It’s involved with just about everything I spend my time doing. That’s really a huge thing. If that wasn’t enough, internet is busy making itself even more useful to me. It is starting to act in different ways. It’s starting to act like a whole new form of service. For instance, the flash video on the front page of the TechArt website… I had that video created for me using a free web based service. I uploaded my video – it then converted it and let me download the flash version from their site. Ok, fair enough, web based services aren’t completely new. The net has being doing things for people for a long time; language translation is an early example. But converting a file format, for a video a couple of megabytes in size? That’s a real service that is really has a lot more meat to it. It actually did something that was quite computer intensive, I didn’t need a powerful computer to do it, just a broadband connection. That’s just one example, there are more. There’s the newly released online version of Photoshop, document creation programs, data storage and data syncing, and that’s off the top of my head.
It’s a very rapid development! I mean, don’t forget the internet is still relatively new. Think for a moment, what were you using the web for 10 years ago? For comparison what type of car were you driving 10 years ago? Which has changed more? Well, that’s probably not a fair comparison, but you get the point, it has been changing fast… it’s changing even faster now! It now does stuff, it does stuff specifically for you! That’s the sort of change that really takes my involvement with it to a new level.
That brings me to my next step in my rambling thought process. Here we have such a useful and integral thing, which really is confined to the desk, and I for one don’t sit at my desk all the time. I don’t actually mind being here… I’m sitting here right now, but what if I had the flexibility not to be here?? Well soon I hope to have that flexibility.
Telstra here in Australia is already providing 7.2Mbps broadband over capable phones and modems right now. That’s pretty fast! (By the way, it seems the hardware is lagging behind here. Show me the fancy phones that can support 7.2 Mbps? Hardly any.) The really interesting part is… Telstra is going to skip the next data rate increment and for it’s next up-grade at end of 08 go straight to 21Mbps! So in a short year, we can (apparently) expect to have a wired home internet connection of say 20-40Mbps and a wireless connection of 21Mbps. (And please!! Can we also expect to have ISP deals that are based not on individual connections and devices, but on individuals ie a person or a household? I’m one person, I want one account!).
So soon we’ll have the sort of connection speeds that are going to make the useful internet tool thingy absolutely and easily ubiquitous throughout our lives. Another side note. My personal plan is to have my home computer as my personal server.. my ‘grunt’ machine and then hook up to it with remote desktop via the internet where ever I happen to be with some nice little 10in convertible tablet PC. Think about it… the moment you can stream the data required to replicate a computer screen wirelessly, you can essentially work at any computer halfway around the world. What about lag? Well I don’t think lag will be a problem… lag is just an interface issue. The little machine you’re on replicates the interface. Only the ‘cpu intensive’ stuff flies back and forth. The sort of stuff you’re already waiting for anyway. While we’re on the subject, you can start to see why it doesn’t matter if your ‘netbook’ has a relatively slow CPU. All it needs to do is send/receive data quickly and whip up images in a silky smooth fashion. Ahh! But don’t forget manufactures, I’m still going to pick the device with the fastest CPU, nobody likes a slow CPU! It’s same thing as which microwave, sound system or sports car you’re likely to buy.
Having said that, the rate that this ‘cloud computing’ idea is growing at, I reckon my idea will be redundant as I will be able to use super fast cloud computers to do my work with instead. The home computer will simply be a HTPC with a bit of home security thrown in.
The good news is that as more and more people get hooked into the internet, the demand for mobile devices will sky-rocket. The general population won’t put up with just any old crap either… so I’m looking forward to some very neat ‘fold-ups’ ‘wrap-ups’ & MPPC’s (micro-projector-PC – just made that one up… well I made up the others as well, but I’m sure I’m not the first). The technology is out there, soon enough the pressure to get the implementation right will drive the little suckers into the open.
But I’ll tell you what I’m looking forward to. (and this is out there too, check this link, but still in very early stages.) As they call it – reality augmentation… a Heads-Up-Display for your eyes. Fairly ugly glasses (sorry Lumus, but they are!) are out there now which have mini projectors shotting images onto the lens of the glasses. They show up as an overlay on the world around you. What I like to imagine is that technology combined with a digital compass, GPS… and not to forget the previously discussed broadband wireless internet. I don’t know… but surely in the finished product using fibre optic projectors or something the projectors could be incorporated into design to look like normal glasses… not ugly like the ones they have now. Finally, (and I don’t think they’re doing this yet) the glasses would track the position of my eyes, hence controlling the mouse. Blinking becomes mouse clicking. Left eye = left mouse, right eye? You guessed it = right click!
You would look around the city/surroundings and see the names of every single business within view. Hover your gaze at the gallery, and more info pops up – “Current exhibition - Future Technology”! What else - ATM positions, see the location of your ‘locate’ enabled friends. Street names & numbers or even an aerial view of your current location. Naturally, you can take a seat and read a few emails, or watch the news with them. They are after all connected to your personal computer.
The potential is already there for that sort of thing, and at the current rate of development something weird and strange today will be completely common place in just a couple of years.
I’ve got more things to harp on about, but this is where I will end this one. Hopefully it won’t be so long between drinks next time.