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Category: Life (Page 4 of 33)
Almost exactly a year ago I predicted the end of writing in 50 years. Today, I’m going further and predicting the death of the keyboard and mouse before in 40.
Why?
This is why…
1. Touch screens. How many new phones have a keypad now? Not many and none have a mouse/pointing device. Add to this, the rise of tablet PCs and the old keyboard-mouse combo is on shaky ground.
2. Text to speech. It’s been around for a while gut hasn’t really taken off. However, as the technology improves I expect that will change. Especially in combination with my next point, the deal breaker…
3. (e?) Motion. Yes, movement is gonna be the real killer. Check Gmail Motion to see why.
As it says, “Gmail Motion uses your computer’s built-in webcam and Google’s patented spatial tracking technology to detect your movements and translate them into meaningful characters and commands. Movements are designed to be simple and intuitive for people of all skill levels”
So, I can control my PC and read & write without touching a thing. I’m sold.
IB
PS, for the sentimental reader, here’s a recap of last years ‘debate’. Next year, I’m gonna see if I can predict the birth of something. For balance.
predicts the end of writing (in the classical ‘with a pen’ sense) within 50 years. Mark my words – it’s finished.
07 March 2010 at 19:13 · · ·
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Ash Thomas Just like they predicted the paperless office when computers first came in. Never happen mate, they don’t need batteries :o)07 March 2010 at 19:19 · -
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Jens Krag I finished writing with a pen 10 yrs ago. Therefore, the only thing Im able to write with a pen is my signature…08 March 2010 at 07:12 · -
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Ian BearderExactly Jens! …and I can’t even write my signature properly, it just looks like a scribble. Luckily, signatures are on their way out as well. Also, I take comfort from the fact that you’re Danish and Denmark is 10 years ahead of the res…See more08 March 2010 at 11:43 · -
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Jens Krag The pen hasnt even hit Laos yet… I didnt see a single newspaper i Laos and after a little research I found out that there are a weekly paper published in English. However, almost noone i Laos speeks English.08 March 2010 at 16:16 ·
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Ian BearderSilvia! When was the last time you wrote me a letter??!!??
It’s already impersonal now.
…but don’t worry, I’m not sad 🙂
In 50 years Billy László Bíró will be sitting in inventors heaven, stroking a Dodo and reminiscing about ‘the good old days’ with his buddy Samuel F. B. Morse.Jens, only the English will publish newspapers even if nobody is there to read them. The other option (learning the local language) is, of course, out of the question.
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Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the best app I’ve ever seen, Google Goggles. Take a picture of foreign text (a statement written by a fat, corrupt Russian Police’man’ for example) and watch in amazement as it converts the picture to text and then translates it for you. Maybe I should predict the end of French lessons as well? 😉
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Change their name!
Well, I’m not sure it would achieve a great deal but it was one on the more playful suggestions Prof Timothy Garton Ash made during a presentation this evening in Oxford.
As a liberal who has an almost unhealthy obsession with European affairs, I was keen to hear what GA (a Professor of European Studies here in Oxford) had to say about my favorite subject. I’m glad I did for two reasons.
Firstly, having spent most of 2010 bemoaning the absence of a cohesive EU policy in Ukraine, and having concluded that the mass duplication of national and EU embassy resources Ukraine is, in part, the root of this problem – I was able to ask what he (and lets face it he’s a lot smarter than me) thought. Depressingly, GA turned my whole argument on its head and instead pointed-out the benefit of having 27 national + one EU embassies, all pushing for similar change …the result is greater than the sum of its parts etc etc.
I’m still not sure I agree but I can see his point and it means I’ve got some thinking to do. At least in the case of visa policy (my area of limited expertise) I need to give some greater consideration to the possibilities this duplication offers.
Secondly, during a very brief conversation after after his speech he asked me how I thought things were going in Ukraine since Fedsy Yanokovych took the helm in February. In answering his question I found myself explaining that, whatever the political arguments were on either side and despite the doomsday predictions – not much has changed. I mean, for your average hard working (and hard-up) Ukrainian – life is not much different. It’s the same shit, just a different day.
However, I realized after I left that this itself is actually the tragedy. Ukraine and Ukrainians need change (a lot of it) and they need a government with the academic, political and moral integrity to pull it off. No positive change in Ukraine would itself be failure.
Anyway, GA did what he does best and got people thinking, I’m not used to that on a Friday night….
Oh, and while I’m on the subject of Ukraine – it’s good to see that, in the case of D Fitrash vs The Kyiv Post, common sense won over our ‘draconian libel laws’. See why here: http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/3339
For GA on Europe, watch here:
…oh, and he suggested the Lib Dems should call themselves (wait for it) …the… “Liberals”!!
I’m not sure about that one Tim.
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…you may attend one training session, you may attend many training sessions. These might make up your training schedule but they are NOT trainings!
Repeat after me: “there are no such things as ‘trainings'”
There are lessons and training sessions (note the plural sessionS)
OK, now, if you like you can enjoy the following article and correct the mistakes.
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Facebook and farmers markets – feeding the social self.
> Usage trumps possession
> Access is better than ownership
> Social networks are redefining our values and our society allowing us to produce less and reuse, repair, recycle and redistribute
> Don’t keep up with the Jones’s – connect with them…
These are all points Rachel Botsman raises in her refreshingly optimistic view of the future and her exploration of our connected future.
As the RSA puts it “an emerging culture and economy of sharing, swapping and trading that is transforming how and what we consume. Fuelled by a mix of drivers including the rise of new technologies and social media, a rethinking of traditional market principles and a renewed belief in community, many more people are now sharing not just material goods, but also experiences, skills and time.
Join Rachel Botsman at the RSA to find out how the millions of small contributions that make up collaborative consumption are accumulating to create a new kind of wealth, where commerce and community meet.”
So, while I’m appalled that she babbled on about airbnb.com without so much as a reference to the long-running pioneers in this area – Hospitalityclub.com and CouchSurfing.com, on the whole she makes a great case for a future in which we define ourselves through interaction and not ownership.
If you missed the link above you can listen here:http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/2011/the-rise-of-collaborative-consumption
Eddy
> Usage trumps possession
> Access is better than ownership
> Social networks are redefining our values and our society allowing us to produce less and reuse, repair, recycle and redistribute
> Don’t keep up with the Jones’s – connect with them…
These are all points Rachel Botsman raises in her refreshingly optimistic view of the future and her exploration of our connected future.
As the RSA puts it “an emerging culture and economy of sharing, swapping and trading that is transforming how and what we consume. Fuelled by a mix of drivers including the rise of new technologies and social media, a rethinking of traditional market principles and a renewed belief in community, many more people are now sharing not just material goods, but also experiences, skills and time.
Join Rachel Botsman at the RSA to find out how the millions of small contributions that make up collaborative consumption are accumulating to create a new kind of wealth, where commerce and community meet.”
So, while I’m appalled that she babbled on about airbnb.com without so much as a reference to the long-running pioneers in this area – Hospitalityclub.com and CouchSurfing.com, on the whole she makes a great case for a future in which we define ourselves through interaction and not ownership.
If you missed the link above you can listen here:http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/2011/the-rise-of-collaborative-consumption
Eddy
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“Britain is the only country where people will introduce you to a friend by saying: ‘this is my mate Barry, he’s a bit of a twat'”
~: Reginald D.Hunter
~: Reginald D.Hunter
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Tate Britain : Art Project, powered by Google
The world’s best artwork …brought to you in your armchair
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I was listening to a talk the other day on ‘being wrong’. Throughout the lecture the speaker argued that we should all learn to accept when we are wrong and to admit it. It all sounded quite sensible, but as I’ve never been wrong I’m not entirely sure that she was referring to people like me. However, it did get me thinking and I’d definitely like to be more thankful. Or, more to the point – to say ‘thanks’ more.
I don’t mean ‘thanks’ in a ‘please, thank you, thank you, please …sorry-thanks’ kind of British way, but in a straight-up ‘thank you, I really appreciate it/you’ kinda way. I’m genuinely quite a grateful person (and easily pleased) so hopefully it won’t be too difficult …let’s see how I get on.
Thank you for reading this.
Oh, but please be warned – I might balance this with some uncharacteristic straight-talking when I’m least thankful. Mr Postman, you have been warned! Three week late Christmas cards don’t tickle my funny bone. People who sit in the middle lane of the motorway, I’m not very happy with you either…
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