I Just Want to Say Two Words to You, Ben: “Mobile Content.”
OK, so it’s not as poetic as Mr. McGuire telling a young, 21 year-old graduate by the name of Ben Braddock that the future is in “plastics.” But it is just as age- and era- defining.
I see a tremendous transitional shift in technology again, and as usual we are going smaller and lighter, which when we really study it, seems to be an evolutionary trend for the human race over at least the last 80-90 years or so.
Consider the big screen and public response to the first “moving picture.” In 1895, Louis Lumiere and his brother were the first to present projected, moving, photographic images to a paying audience of more than one person. Around the same time, several others were experimenting with similar technology, including The Edison Company. The world would never be the same.
Think about the invention of the television and how it brought a technological revolution and the media to the masses. Imagine life in the 80’s before the invention of the first IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC. It was introduced on August 12, 1981 and created by a team of engineers and designers under the direction of Don Estridge of the IBM Entry Systems Division in Boca Raton, Florida.
Can you remember life before the invention of the laptop? The clam-shell design that today's modern laptop is based on was developed in 1979 by William Moggridge for GRiD Systems Corporation, which was acquired by Tandy Corporation in 1988.
Looking back even earlier, the small device that you hold in your hand, whether it is the new iPhone, some form of the Blackberry or similar device, was at first much larger and intended not to carry all forms of information, but rather sound, primarily.
According to the Wiki, an early version of the telephone was invented around 1860 by Italian inventor Antonio Meucci, who called it teletrofono (telectrophone). The first American demonstration of Meucci's invention took place in NYC, USA in 1854. In 1860, a description of it was published in New York’s Italian language newspaper. Alexander Graham Bell was the first to patent the telephone, an “apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically.” The first successful bi-directional transmission of clear speech by Bell and Watson was made on March 10, 1876 when Bell spoke into his device, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” The first long distance telephone call was made on August 10, 1876 by Bell from the family homestead in Brantford, Ontario, to his assistant located in Paris, Ontario, some 10 miles away.
To the day, exactly 100 years and 40 days later, after Bell and Watson first communicated those historic words, Steve Wozniak, the technician, and Steve Jobs, the visionary, sold the first Apple computers on April 1, 1976.
Of course, along with the technological innovations, there was also the convergence of media. The driver of all media business does apply like an unrelenting Darwinian principle. The mantra today is not “Go west, young man,” but rather: Give the people the communication they want, when they want it, however they want it. Considering the increase in population, availability to work and live with great mobility, demand for constant communication, the accessibility of wireless data, and the means to purchase — on a mass scale — items of technology that would have been considered a luxury in 1876, is there any doubt where this is headed?
All technology is interesting and worth considering as an investment of either time ot money, but based on ROI, I would not put my money into computers placed into cabs, or even into GPS or satellite technology. The future of exciting technology and graphic or content development is in that small, 2-3 ounce device in your purse or pocket.
I can only assume that on a broad scale, we’ll be purchasing clothing, groceries, making travel plans, speaking, listening, viewing our friends in real time video chats, accessing entertainment such as movies and television, and living our complete lives around one tiny instrument that fits into our pocket. Our desktop computers, our laptops, our televisions? All antiquated relics of the past that collect dust, and increasingly are disposed or stored in our garages and attics.
Herbert Marshall McLuhen (1911-1980) would have been proud. The medium truly is the message.
I see a tremendous transitional shift in technology again, and as usual we are going smaller and lighter, which when we really study it, seems to be an evolutionary trend for the human race over at least the last 80-90 years or so.
Consider the big screen and public response to the first “moving picture.” In 1895, Louis Lumiere and his brother were the first to present projected, moving, photographic images to a paying audience of more than one person. Around the same time, several others were experimenting with similar technology, including The Edison Company. The world would never be the same.
Think about the invention of the television and how it brought a technological revolution and the media to the masses. Imagine life in the 80’s before the invention of the first IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC. It was introduced on August 12, 1981 and created by a team of engineers and designers under the direction of Don Estridge of the IBM Entry Systems Division in Boca Raton, Florida.
Can you remember life before the invention of the laptop? The clam-shell design that today's modern laptop is based on was developed in 1979 by William Moggridge for GRiD Systems Corporation, which was acquired by Tandy Corporation in 1988.
Looking back even earlier, the small device that you hold in your hand, whether it is the new iPhone, some form of the Blackberry or similar device, was at first much larger and intended not to carry all forms of information, but rather sound, primarily.
According to the Wiki, an early version of the telephone was invented around 1860 by Italian inventor Antonio Meucci, who called it teletrofono (telectrophone). The first American demonstration of Meucci's invention took place in NYC, USA in 1854. In 1860, a description of it was published in New York’s Italian language newspaper. Alexander Graham Bell was the first to patent the telephone, an “apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically.” The first successful bi-directional transmission of clear speech by Bell and Watson was made on March 10, 1876 when Bell spoke into his device, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” The first long distance telephone call was made on August 10, 1876 by Bell from the family homestead in Brantford, Ontario, to his assistant located in Paris, Ontario, some 10 miles away.
To the day, exactly 100 years and 40 days later, after Bell and Watson first communicated those historic words, Steve Wozniak, the technician, and Steve Jobs, the visionary, sold the first Apple computers on April 1, 1976.
Of course, along with the technological innovations, there was also the convergence of media. The driver of all media business does apply like an unrelenting Darwinian principle. The mantra today is not “Go west, young man,” but rather: Give the people the communication they want, when they want it, however they want it. Considering the increase in population, availability to work and live with great mobility, demand for constant communication, the accessibility of wireless data, and the means to purchase — on a mass scale — items of technology that would have been considered a luxury in 1876, is there any doubt where this is headed?
All technology is interesting and worth considering as an investment of either time ot money, but based on ROI, I would not put my money into computers placed into cabs, or even into GPS or satellite technology. The future of exciting technology and graphic or content development is in that small, 2-3 ounce device in your purse or pocket.
I can only assume that on a broad scale, we’ll be purchasing clothing, groceries, making travel plans, speaking, listening, viewing our friends in real time video chats, accessing entertainment such as movies and television, and living our complete lives around one tiny instrument that fits into our pocket. Our desktop computers, our laptops, our televisions? All antiquated relics of the past that collect dust, and increasingly are disposed or stored in our garages and attics.
Herbert Marshall McLuhen (1911-1980) would have been proud. The medium truly is the message.
posted by Dwayne Flinchum at
11:00 AM
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