1. PC's have been out of vogue for 20 years now. Ever since their invention people have been predicting their demise. With that out of the way, I can get on to other more important things. 2. The "brain interface" on slashdot a few months ago. Pretty similar to "jacking in" with the Matrix. Hmm. 3. Head-mounted displays- small LCD panels that project in front of you. Maybe we'll all LIKE wearing glasses if there's a computer built into the frames. Also gives somewhere for an ultra-mini camera to do face recognition, etc. 4. "Virtual Keyboard", yeah, not as good as the real thing, but the glasses could project a keyboard onto a wall, your lap, or midair. Type away. Voice-activated commands aren't going to be any more popular than cell phones.
I think it's important to not say "to make a geek happy, he needs bandwidth". I recently moved to San Diego from Portland, OR, and I've spent some time in the Seattle area, so I'll be using those cities as a reference. While bandwidth is nice, most hard-core geeks work long hours, and might even "play" long hours at the office since the bandwidth there is almost always a lot better. Geeks often want to get "away" in their communities. What influenced where I moved to in San Diego? Of all things, the availability of a garage. A non-geek hobby of mine is to obsess over gas-powered vehicles, and I can't bear the thought of living in an apartment without a full garage. Is this a geek thing? No. But it attracted me to where I live. Most geeks have one or more non-geek hobbies. Winter sports (snowboarding/skiing), auto sports (racing, autocrossing), and "birkenstock" sports (hiking, camping) all come to mind. So maybe the thing is to encourage variety- in communities and workplaces. -ted
The big problem with online drug sales is that the entire medical industry is stuck about two decades back. Think about the last time you walked into a doctor's office. With a few exceptions, what are you going to see? A waiting room where you are expected to wait an hour or so, huge filing cabinets full of PAPER records, two administrative assistants per doctor who spend all of their time making appointments, talking to patients on the phone, filing, updating records, etc. How rediculous is that? Some large innovative hospitals have started to computerize things (like Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD), but even they have only done so in one building. I'd be a lot more inclined to get prescriptions online if the few doctors I deal with wouldn't give me a paper prescription. It seems that they are incredibly hesitant to "call in" or fax in a prescription. Instead, they had me a scrap of paper with illegible writing. I'd need to fax it myself (no, I don't have a fax at home), or mail it in to a online pharmacy in order to use it. Then it'd be a few days to a week until I'd see any prescriptions. Online drug dispensing is a good idea, but the rest of the profession has a lot of catching up to do.
I went and saw GalaxyQuest last night, too. Enjoyed it- although it was a bit slow. Having the entire Star Trek/trekkie parody was great- as a non-Star Trek fan, it's funny to see them poking at the trekkie type. Kept us laughing, but it _was_ a hollow movie. -ted
So we're paying $1000 for a robot that combines a Red Flyer[tm] wagon with the Clap On/Clap Off[tm] gadgets? I think $2500 for an Aibo is a much better deal. And yes, we have one in the office, too.
Rude to leave a cell phone ringer on during dinner? Some of us have our cell phones for good reason- as an emergency contact number in case of system problems.
I'm not in IS, but an engineering department. When a project goes wrong that I'm responsible for, I get called, whether it's at lunch, dinner, or 3:30 in the morning.
Slashdot Mirror
1. PC's have been out of vogue for 20 years now. Ever since their invention people have been predicting their demise. With that out of the way, I can get on to other more important things. 2. The "brain interface" on slashdot a few months ago. Pretty similar to "jacking in" with the Matrix. Hmm. 3. Head-mounted displays- small LCD panels that project in front of you. Maybe we'll all LIKE wearing glasses if there's a computer built into the frames. Also gives somewhere for an ultra-mini camera to do face recognition, etc. 4. "Virtual Keyboard", yeah, not as good as the real thing, but the glasses could project a keyboard onto a wall, your lap, or midair. Type away. Voice-activated commands aren't going to be any more popular than cell phones.
Technology changes fast enough that we can't etch a law into stone before the technology makes the law obsolete (not to mention the technology!).
I think it's important to not say "to make a geek happy, he needs bandwidth". I recently moved to San Diego from Portland, OR, and I've spent some time in the Seattle area, so I'll be using those cities as a reference. While bandwidth is nice, most hard-core geeks work long hours, and might even "play" long hours at the office since the bandwidth there is almost always a lot better. Geeks often want to get "away" in their communities. What influenced where I moved to in San Diego? Of all things, the availability of a garage. A non-geek hobby of mine is to obsess over gas-powered vehicles, and I can't bear the thought of living in an apartment without a full garage. Is this a geek thing? No. But it attracted me to where I live. Most geeks have one or more non-geek hobbies. Winter sports (snowboarding/skiing), auto sports (racing, autocrossing), and "birkenstock" sports (hiking, camping) all come to mind. So maybe the thing is to encourage variety- in communities and workplaces. -ted
-ted
I went and saw GalaxyQuest last night, too. Enjoyed it- although it was a bit slow. Having the entire Star Trek/trekkie parody was great- as a non-Star Trek fan, it's funny to see them poking at the trekkie type. Kept us laughing, but it _was_ a hollow movie. -ted
So we're paying $1000 for a robot that combines a Red Flyer[tm] wagon with the Clap On/Clap Off[tm] gadgets? I think $2500 for an Aibo is a much better deal. And yes, we have one in the office, too.
So maybe the Slashdot way of life is taking hold..
Rude to leave a cell phone ringer on during dinner? Some of us have our cell phones for good reason- as an emergency contact number in case of system problems.
I'm not in IS, but an engineering department. When a project goes wrong that I'm responsible for, I get called, whether it's at lunch, dinner, or 3:30 in the morning.
-ted
"DMV will require license plate numbers on the tops of vehicles." Makes me glad I own a convertible :^) Unless they require it on the hood (!)