Journey on the Information Superhighway : An Interactive Heaven for the Couch Potato, Computer Whiz
By the new millennium, Orange County residents will live in the electronic neighborhoods of cyberspace. Think of it as a heaven for computer nerds and couch potatoes--or rather mouse potatoes.
The county is likely to be divided like a patchwork quilt, with phone companies, cable- and satellite-TV broadcasters and their wireless competitors all claiming a section. They will offer services far more interactive than anything available today.
Video-game players will be able to do far more than shoot at targets moving across a screen. They will be able to execute sophisticated strategies against long-distance opponents who will be visible in a corner of the screen by videophone.
Movies will be non-linear, with no set beginning or ending. The viewer will be able to maneuver through the story line at his or her own pace.
TV viewers will be able to customize programming--tuning in to only their favorite channels, for instance, or editing a collage of favorite chase scenes from spy movies and changing the endings.
“You could push a ‘fav’ button to tell the smart software that a show should be on your favorite list,” said Doug Patton, president of Patton Design, an Irvine company that designs remote controls.
News shows could work the same way. If a viewer chooses not to watch certain parts of a broadcast, he or she will be able to skip to the next story.
And if all goes as planned, such services will be inexpensive and simple, rather than complicated by techno-babble.
“This should be so easy that 95% of the public can use it,” said Brandt Thompson, an industrial designer at Patton. “The challenge is personifying the information so that it’s usable.”
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Navigating through 500 or more TV channels could be nightmarish without the right tools, those in the communications industry say.
“People really want more control, not a greater volume of information,” said Bruce Ryon, multimedia analyst at Dataquest Inc., a San Jose market researcher. “Overwhelmingly, in our surveys, people already feel they’re inundated with information.”
Ease of access, however, raises social issues. If interactive sex--something like video 900 numbers--is available, will there be gatekeepers who require that remote controls be made childproof so that youngsters can only watch G-rated programs?
Aaron Goldberg, executive vice president of Computer Intelligence InfoCorp in Santa Clara, said he thinks the most popular services will be “late-night stuff,” or adult entertainment, and gambling or lottery systems.
Sex has helped to advance new technologies before. X-rated videos, for example, drove sales of the first videocassette recorders, analysts say, because they allowed people to watch explicit scenes in privacy.
Another concern is that grass-roots video programming such as local news and live coverage of city council meetings might be priced out of the market. That issue might be addressed as new regulations are developed to police traffic on the information superhighway.
“If the legislation is written right, small companies and individuals could put things out on channels even if there is no financial return,” said Rob Kling, professor of computer science at UC Irvine. “You could get more diverse programming than 300 different sitcoms.”
