Dreaming the Digital Future

[TygrBright]

Do you need an iPad? Or a Kindle? Or both?

Some other digital reading device? A netbook?

Do you still need your desk-based computer at home? At work, even?

AND your smartphone? How smart does your smartphone have to be?

What about your iPod? Regular, Nano, Shuffle?

Is your laptop obsolete?

Where do you get the content for on that 50" screen in your living room?

A cable? A cable box? A digital HD/Internet connection?

How many ways can you access the Cloud, and how much time and effort do you have to put into syncing all your devices so that you're not missing something or getting three of something?

HOW MANY GADGETS CAN WE SELL YOU?

I have it narrowed down to four, actually. Four devices that I really want. And I know how they should fit together, sync, trade and store information, etc.

We are part of the way there, but we have a long way to go yet.

1. My desktop computer, with peripherals (BIG monitor, printers, portable storage devices, user interfaces, speakers, etc.)
Sorry, all you good folks who are touting the "death of the PC." I work from my home, and I want a machine with major processing power to run multi-media apps and databases and keep a fast broadband Internet connection up and running simultaneously and even let me game in high-definition while sitting comfortably and using grown-up size keyboard, mouse, and joystick.

This is not to say I wouldn't like my desktop machine redesigned to have a smaller profile, more efficient cooling system, etc. But I'll always need something that will be the hub of my digital world, and for me, the desktop PC fits the bill. I spend upwards of five or six hours, average, daily, working at my desk. The PC is my digital home.

And "hub" is the function I want my PC to play in relation to my other three digital devices. I want my PC to be the storage location for everything, managing multiple portable storage drives full of books and videos and music and pictures and files and data. They should be mine, absolutely. If I pay for a piece of media-- a song, a book, a video, a software application-- the digital copy thereof should be just as durable and my rights to access it, copy it, use it on any device present or future I will ever own, as absolute if it were stored as a paper book or a music CD or any other static, dedicated storage medium. I will never be able to let half a ton or more of wood pulp depart from my life until I am absolutely confident that the digital copies are there and mine and durable and accessible now and always. It's okay if I have to transfer them or copy them into new formats (so long as no cost is involved,) but once I buy them I better never have to shell out again, period.

I don't necessarily want to read books on my PC as a regular practice, but I want to be able to do so if that's where it happens to be convenient for me. If I'm working on a project and a reference is in a digital book, I want to be able to open it easily on my PC and look at it while I'm working. I also want to be able to have music playing from my PC while I work. And sometimes I want to watch a video at my desk, too. So my PC has to be able to access all the media I own, effectively and easily.

It also needs to be a communications device. When I work at my desk, I don't want to have to answer a separate phone. I want to be able to answer calls and converse right there with my headset or my camera/mic/speaker setup, as needed, both video calls and audio calls. With excellent call quality.

The PC will be the "Master Device" for me.

That said, I want three portable devices:

2. My Audio Thang
This device has to be SMALL. Because I want to be able to slide it in my pocket or clip it to my lapel or have it in my purse and be able to listen to music with wonderful sound quality, and receive and make audio phone calls with the same. SMALL. Not TOO small, because I want a small screen to navigate playlists and contact directories and voice memo functions and suchlike. Maybe get and send SMS messages, once the technology for voice transcription reaches the point where I can "talk" a text message into my phone ("Running late, 15 min") but that's not essential. About the size of an iPod Nano, ideally. I don't need a lot of screen, I'm mostly going to be using this for LISTENING and TALKING. With a wireless headset with super hi-fidelity sound. I'd pay extra for a decent camera integrated with it, but it's not essential.

3. My Book Thang
I read a LOT. When I'm not working, I am likely reading for recreation. I want a reading device that is designed to optimize the reading experience, no other priority. I want it to be the right size (just slightly larger than a paperback novel, but much thinner, say, 1/2 inch or less) and lightweight, but not so lightweight that it slides around or is easy to forget, lose, drop, etc. Long battery life because I will probably be taking it to places where recharging may not be an easy option. It needs to be e-ink based with type scaling and touch-screen page manipulation, mostly monochrome but with a color option that can be enabled for viewing pictures, magazines, graphics, etc., (that may eat into battery life, which is why it should not be default mode.) It doesn't need to access the Internet directly but it does need to sync quickly and easily to swap book files with my PC and my Mobile Connection Thang (see below.) I'm only ever gonna use it for reading. It doesn't need to do anything else, BUT-- I would pay extra for an option that would let me store music playlists and plug in a headphone connection, because then if I'm off to the beach or on a long plane ride I can leave my Audio Thang turned off in the purse and still have music and reading.

4. My Connection Thang
Smaller than a netbook, larger than a smartphone. Maybe the size of the Book Thang, but a bit thicker as it will need to have a good screen AND a slide-out keyboard big enough to actually type on, AND an array of I/O ports in case I want to plug in a larger keyboard or anything else. It should be able to connect wirelessly or wired to the PC, to my teevee screen, to the Audio Thang, to the Book Thang, and to other devices as needed. It should have a fast processor and enough storage to run some basic applications and keep a bunch of Internet windows open. Optimized for communications (email, SMS, audio and video) and Internet connectivity. I'll need an integrated wireless headset, and a camera for video calls and other sharing apps. Its OS and user interface should not be all that different than what I'm used to on the other devices. I should be able to read books, watch videos, or listen to music if I want. It should be able to sync automatically with all the other devices if I enable that, but the default should be one-touch. Not sure I want auto all the time. It should be robust enough that when they finally shove me into the Old Peoples' Warehouse, all I need to pack is my Connection Thang and my portable storage drives with all my books and videos and music stored on them.

Stuff I don't want or need:

A palm-sized device that "does everything." Too small to read books on, WAY too small to watch videos on, too large and/or awkwardly-shaped to talk comfortably into as a phone or to clip to a t-shirt neckline to listen to music as you jog. Too small to manage email on.

A laptop-size computer. Too big, too heavy. Once I have my Connection Thang that will sync to my desktop PC as needed, I can grab any document or file I need to view, fileshare in a web conference at meetings, and so forth.

A specialized teevee content machine. I don't watch a whole lot of teevee now. I can watch all the videos I want out of storage drives plugged into my Connection Thang, and access all the streaming content on the Tubes. Might keep one cable connection in the living room, but I'm betting that after a while I won't hardly use it anymore and can save a few bucks kissing it off.

It's only a dream of course.

But we're getting there. I think we've gone down a few side roads and blind alleys. The market is still hopefully creating devices configured for various combinations of usage and applications and hoping they can sell us one of each, but it's starting to shake out. The Cloudmeisters are still hopefully touting a store-everything-with-us pipe dream, but I think it's losing steam. The media parasites-- publishers, producers, recording executives, etc.-- will fight tooth and nail to keep us from being able to buy a piece once and have it for ever, unlimited usage rights. That may be a stiffer fight, but in the end we will win.

I just hope we get close before they shove me into the Old Peoples' Warehouse. I'd like that half-ton of wood pulp to be packaged nicely in a portable storage device the size of a deck of cards by then, so I'd never, ever have to worry about having nothing to read.

wistfully,
Bright

[kenny blankenship]

1. You can be your own "cloud" but don't expect corporations to tell you how

or to make it easy for you. They want to own your data and force you into monthly subscriptions to access your own documents. They want to harvest information about you through your email, and sell it to advertisers.

It would be trivial to give your netbook or tablet device secure filesystem storage to your home PC, so you can automatically transparently store all your stuff collected or generated away from home in one central location which you would never have to pay rent on, or be concerned about anyone's "Terms of Service" which change the terms of contract you agreed to at a moment's notice and with no recourse for you.

The same thing can be done with email, and so on...

But that's not a path by which corporations can invent a revenue stream leading from your mobile devices to their bank accts. So they don't empower you this way but instead lead you to further dependence on them.

[TygrBright]

2. I remember reading a sci-fi novella in the 1980s based on the premise...

...of a society where everyone had the right to secure data storage. There were some interesting implications for how the society was organized and how the government functioned. I wish I could remember the author's name and the title.

speculatively,
Bright

[truedelphi]

8. This household uses an external drive that we bought for

around $ 120. stores hundreds of gigs of information.

The Cloud lost my interest when Google bought YouTube. I can no longer access my YouTube account,a s the format that my user name was in is not acceptable to the Google protocols for user id names. So all my "faves" were wiped out. I can't afford to have that happen to the stuff I need at the cloud.

[dtexdem]

3. Hear, hear! Except number 3 for me.

My book thing is a rectangular object made of paper, with pages that I can turn.

[TygrBright]

4. I have several thousand of those.

I'm pretty sure they won't let me bring them all to the Old Peoples' Warehouse, so I'm planning ahead.

But yeah, real pages to turn are the best.

wistfully,
Bright

[onehandle]

5. The PC part will go away. Everything will become centralized. You will have small things...

...that connect to bigger screens (and eventually produce their own from thin air).

The 'Cloudmeisters' are winning, with Apple leading the way. They broke the media monopolies on music, then movies, and now books.

[jmowreader]

6. I also have it narrowed down to four, but they're a different four

I neither need nor want a "little music thing that will entertain me anywhere." There are times I want to listen to music. There are other times I want to hear the music around me...which might be the cars going by. Besides, I hate little bitty speakers, noisemaking things shoved in my ears and all that. (The only "things" I want shoved in my ears are decorative, okay?)

I also don't need to surf the web as I walk down the street.

So...my four "digital things" are:

1. A laptop computer. Some people have Word on a phone, Word on a laptop and Word on a desktop. Which means they potentially have three versions of every file, all different. With a laptop as my One Computer, that problem fades away.

2. A "digital desk." My laserwriter, second monitor, keyboard, mouse, scanner, Internet connection and so on are at this desk. I put the laptop there, plug four cables into it and voila! Desktop!

3. A cell phone. Not a smartphone, a regular, boring old cell phone. "You can watch MOVIES!!! on a smartphone! Gotta get one!" Good for you. I am not going to watch movies on a four-inch screen.

4. A big-screen HDTV with a Blu-Ray player, a receiver and a pair of JBL 4312 studio monitors. Those stupid "subwoofer and satellites" systems that have 6-inch drivers in the subwoofer? You gotta be shitting me, okay? When they made real speakers, a 6-inch driver was called a midrange.

[truedelphi]

7. As far as the "Cloud" = I might someday use it for backup to my

External HD back up system.

But my big worry about the Cloud is this: should whatever company that owns whatever cloud that I decide to use, go bankrupt or get bought out by another company, then what?

Last thing I wanna find out, at a crucial moment in my life, is that all of my everything, data wise, is not accessible because the company behind the Cloud is no longer there.

[Capitalocracy]

12. In broad terms, we're on the cloud right now

But I was doing a transcript the other day of an interview with the Salty Droid, a blogger who exposes Make Easy Money Online frauds. He started out on Twitter, got false accusations of TOS violations by the fraudsters, and ended up getting banned, losing years of work and followers. He says always back up your own stuff, never depend on the cloud.

[Kumbricia]

9. devices

I'm the sort of customer Apple, Motorola et al wouldn't like. Right now I'm content with my 2-year-old laptop (my only computer) and my dumb phone (voice and text). Oh and a 4 GB mp3 player. I don't need the other crap but I have a feeling I'm going to have to end up buying it eventually as all the formats move over to the new devices. I'm not out of my house enough to need constant internet connection. But obviously a lot of people are or think they are. A lot of someones must be buying a new phone/computer/mp3 player every year (probably a lot of the same people who would still say organic food is too expensive)

[NICO9000]

10. I had an interesting experience at the beach last week

I was going for a walk along the shore and decided to turn my iPod on ('cos there's nothin' like a little death metal while you're digging on nature!). As I pulled it out, it dawned on me: I can listen to music anywhere, so why should I ignore the beautiful sound of the waves in favor of something I do all the time anyway? I put it back in my pocket and enjoyed nature all on its own.

I love my iPod, but I also love my 2,000+ CDs and my 500+ LPs. The iPod is great for convenience, but I'm an old fart who remembers the vinyl days and want something more than an MP3 file for my enjoyment.

I will hold off on the e-reader until my eyesight gets even worse than it already is. I have a feeling I'll be blowing up the font to about 20 pt just to read the goddamn things.

[Capitalocracy]

11. Connection Thang... I've got my eye on one of these hybrid tablet/laptops

The ones that run Windows instead of a smartphone operating system. That way you get the keyboard, but you can put it away and just hold it like a tablet

What I really want to splurge on is a keyboard. I want to get a mechanical keyswitch keyboard (non-clicky) and open it up and fill it with sound-absorbing padding, see how quiet I can get it.

Unfortunately I'm broke.

I've never had a cell phone. Never saw a reason for it.

[bhikkhu]

13. Good run-down - I've been thinking about that too

I think net access may, to some extent, replace quite a bit of general consumption and material goods...why have music on disc or tape or whatever, when you can listen on the web? I loaded most of my cd's to the computer years ago, and haven't touched a cd in ages. Same goes for movies - why buy when you can watch anytime? And there's quite a bit of consumerism related to entertainment that looses some of its value in the same way.

I'm pretty stuck on my desktop PC. I built it from parts years ago, and have replaced much of it piecemeal in upgrades and repairs since. Nothing can go wrong that I can't fix, which is nice.

I'd like an e-book reader, and I think I would use one quite a bit if I had it, but so far I just have books on my PC and read at my desk. Elsewhere I have real books, being a library regular still. I used to be a collector of books, but those have gone the same way as much else - why own the real thing it if I can find an electronic copy that takes up no space and gathers no dust? I haven't bought a book in ages.

I had an MP3 player I used for a year or so, but I decided I don't like things in my ears. My recreation is cycling, which is often long hours outdoors. I brought it with me every trip for one summer, but it seemed more of a distraction than anything else - its hard to think when somethings going in your ear, and being out in the world is a great time to think. I listen to music on the PC, just in the evenings.

I haven't watched tv for ages, so that's not an issue, though a decent sized flat screen would be good for movies. I don't plan on getting one anyway...the kids have to settle for the old 25" tube tv that the dvd players is attached to.

I'm not much at talking on the phone, so I have an $8 tracphone, and pay for minutes every two or three months...

[ejpoeta]

14. i have most of what i want already.

I have an ipod. It has practical purposes. I use the calendar to keep track of appointments and it syncs with my google calendar (when I get in wifi range) and that way I can keep better track of my appointments. I don't double book myself as much as I used to. I also use it to read books. I would rather read ACTUAL books, but since I have three kids who don't seem to think I need to do anything but respond to them all the time I haven't read a book in ages until I started reading books on my ipod. It still took me a month to read the last book I read. I listen to music on it, mostly in the car plugged into the radio or at home plugged into the radio. It allows me to play music we all like instead of having to listen to kids music all the time. I ended up using money I got from my dad after he died for this. The only time I have bought myself anything frivolous like that.

We do have two flat screen tv's we bought with tax return money to replace our tv's. HDTV's. Not 50 inch. one is 42 inch and the other is 37 inch. They came in handy when we dumped directv and went OTA and also bought a roku to do internet streaming. I find I don't really watch much tv anymore since we did that.

I did buy my daughter an ereader when her mp3 player was stolen because I figured she could read on it and it had the ability to play music too. She prefers to read actual books. I still do buy books for her. Have bought her many books. I don't mind. It isn't that cheaper to buy ebooks. While ebooks are convenient they just aren't the same. To me it isn't the same as mp3's. I don't feel the same about music digitally as I do books.

My phone is just a plain old regular cell phone. I would like a smartphone, but am not sure why that is. I had one for a month but it was just too much so I went back to a regular phone. Then I tried to figure out WHY I felt the need to have one so bad. I have my ipod. I don't really NEED the smartphone. I think it's just because everyone else has one and that is a stupid reason to want something!!!

[swilton]

15. Is this a dream or a nightmare?

I know I may sound like a fuddy duddy and show my baby boomer years by critiquing this paradigm but I will try....I'm frustrated by the fact that one cannot communicate in this digital age unless one has the right paraphernalia.

I prefer the notion of if it isn't broke don't fix it. I also prefer the simpler world where I don't have to read a book of instructions in order to talk to friends or family on the phone, to tell time, and to seemingly live a normal life. It is equally frustrating to try to find out how to operate this technology and to spend time in doing so only to find out that the latest technology has been superseded and I have to go through the process all over again just to keep up with the latest updates - the process goes on ad nauseam...Has anyone considered that this 'got to have' junk puts people out of work and creates solid waste in land-fills - it also distracts people from functional social relationships by replacing humans with machines.