Useless technology

You know someone has no imagination (and no basic understanding of software stability) when they think a home like this would be heaven:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38

 

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"Homeowner's technical support, Hi, my name is Bill, how may I help you?"

"Ok, CALM DOWN, Ma'am! It sounds like your house has caught a virus...yes, we understand your stove is melting, it'll be covered... Oh, and your refrigerator's spitting ice at you when you walk by as well? I think we can take care of that for you."
"Okay. Okay."
"Right now I need you to go out and shut down the main power switch. No, the main power switch. We need to reboot the house. That's right. Oh, it's outside? okay, well go outside and...What, the door won't open?"

Tech support guy rolls eyes, waves to supervisor "Yeah, we got another fire department case over here..."

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Oh for pity's sake! What's the problem?
Just close all the windows and then open them again.

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Latest Microsoft Windows Home upgrade: Same as previous version but with all the menu options rearranged.

Pop Up blocker software makers: now richer than Microsoft.

 

Why do I keep running into information age Luddites on the internet?

LOL

 

Maybe that's because some people still judge information based on substance not flash

 

Can you imagen we might actually need real exorcists in the near future!

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In stead of the devil it might be the programmend quircks of the previous owner you want to remove

 

In truth the "advertisement" is likely meant for potential shareholders to invest in what the company is aiming to do in the future. Obviously it's just artistic fluff and there are a lot of teething problems that such concepts will have.

In the majority of any future endeavours it's usually a good idea to have a "Manual Override" fitted to equipment that either needs to be functional in times of a software crisis or needs to be shut down.


For instance:

As for Luddite's and Ludditism in general, You could look at the posed change to the London Tube system. It's planned to Automate completely the trains to no longer need the drivers. Now this obviously undermines any Union or Strike problems (Unless the FAT[32] Controller decides to put all the computers on strike)

However there is still question as to whether someone would still be placed onto the trains because of Health and Safety, as if there is a breakdown or someone has a heart attack or goes into labour they are going to need at the very least a first-aid competent Human on board.

Just remember the history and fundamentals of the Luddite movement is actually down to the loss of jobs incurred by technology, not necessarily people that only fear or dislike technology. (That's Technophobia)

 

*Ahem*

Regardless of how it look now, we are undoubtedly headed for something similar. I was among the first to carry a cell phone and found myself subject to lots of teasing and annoyance. ("Hey, can I call China on that thing?. etc, etc.)

My only answer was "Wait 10 years and you and everyone else will have one in their pocket as well." Hmmm... Guess I got that one right

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What seems fantastical and perhaps even ridiculous today often becomes common place tomorrow. Look to the the "self powered buggy" (automobile) for an example.

 

Indeed, most of what that video showed was how durable touch sensitive glass surfaces can be used to make information more accessible and, importantly, less of a solitary activity as unlike most uses of the internet today are a one on one activity, but here much of the information was being shared collaboratively. The second point was the information was available wherever you were, bedroom, kitchen, store, office, car etc, not just where your computer was. The third aspect was how the displays could be integrated into other surfaces and not hinder their use.

All of these natural advances of the informatioin age will become common very soon.

Arthur

 

20 years ago it wouldn't of been dreamed of to have a "Mobile phone" mainly because your handset with it's coiled wire would be connected to a box weighing greater than a car battery and a rather abrupt antenna protruding out of it.

The obvious difference was that the cellnet infrastructures hadn't been put into place, requiring greater antenna's to deal with the range.

I would query as to what the level of Cancer was 20 years ago compared to the modern Matriced times. It's possible to get various statistics like applied in this PDF (http://iddd.de/umtsno/cancertrends.pdf) however it should be noted that the further back you go, the less information about cancer existed and the less amount of tests were done on the general populous. So while the graph's look like a trend skyrocketing into the future, the actual trend might not be at oblique.

 

Good post, but you're off by a decade...

Motorola Brick (1984)

 

Just when one has the future tied down and securely invested in to the hilt--in walks innovation to turn everything before it into a useless dinosaur. That is why there is so much "technology propping" going on today, letting the investors protect their investments...because they can.
There is more stagnating technological evolution than technological hurdles.

 

You can't look at just Cancer mortality rates unless you look at life expectancy.

The fact is the longer you live the more likely you are to die of Cancer as the cause, but that doesn't mean that Cancer is more prevalent.

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds...ntry:SWE&dl=en&hl=en&q=life expectancy sweden

Consider the median age of death from these cancers (US Stats)
Breast Cancer = 68, with 37%>75
Lung Cancer = 71, with 39%>75
Prostate Cancer = 80, with 71%>75

Arthur

 

The thing about cancer rates: almost always too many variables to pinpont one specific cause usually, unless there's a geographic cluster.

Though there's this:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=left-sided-cancer-blame-your-bed-an-2010-07-02

Yep, a scientist in Sweden is convinced your bedsprings are irradiating you.
Time for a aluminum foil mattress cover???

When I hit 65, I'm taking up regular skydiving, that's all I know...

What I've found? the difference between it getting done automagically and getting done manually?
Manually works consistently every time. Press button, turn crank, whatever. No BSOD.

I like things that do what I tell them to do when I tell them to do it, and the more "automated" something is, the more it does things for me whether I like it or not. Just my personal $.02.
Computers are powerful...but also frustrating and complicated.
My wife's a programmer, and for her, computers are powerful, but also frustrating and complicated. She doesn't trust them as far as she can throw them (and she has thrown them-well, at least a keyboard)
You can feel free to enjoy all the bells and whistles, just leave me my manual modes and my hand-crank car windows and stick-shift transmissions.

 

OK, I got halfway through that, and then had the urge to go Edgar Friendly on their ass.

 

I recall Bill gates had a house engineered with voice controlled everything - he ended up spending the night in a motel because there was some problem with the volume on the tv

 

And you believe that story? That Bill fucking Gates couldn't switch the thing off, or unplug the damned thing? Couldn't find a breaker? Jesus.

 

EXACTLY. Everybody has experienced the precariousness of software, but there are still people who will go wow! when they see presentations like this.

As mentioned by another poster most if not all of the things presented already exist, some in a slightly lower tech form. A friend of mine has a lovely glass top cooker that makes cooking a nerve-wracking experience because it would at times increase the heat to max at random, or worse, switch other hobs on at random, and there are no real manual controls just little touch screen dials than dont always respond. Not innovative, just plain dangerous.


=======

 

The portable telephone wasnt merely a cosmetic innovation, but the tech presented here is.

Much of the video is about things that are portable already, like photographs, so the added usefulness introduced is slight. Other parts of it are on things that are dangerous to make too portable, like cookers.

Not to mention that this sort of tech is extremely wasteful....and expensive. couldnt even afford plain sheets of glass for our sliding doors recently.