Making Sense of ‘Intertwingled’
Personal technology gear has been around since the dawn of, well, personal technology. But our forefathers didn’t need a weekly column that reviewed the latest gear--one black desk phone was pretty much like the rest.
Then came Dictaphones, facsimile machines and car phones; Instamatics and Polaroids. Cassette recorders, Walkmans and camcorders. And a device of initially dubious value, the personal computer.
And today? We have supercomputer-grade PCs, laptop and hand-held computers, Web-enabled cell phones, global positioning system receivers, digital camcorders and cameras, and an asteroid belt of accessories orbiting each.
In the midst of this mayhem, some trends stand out--themes that will play out each week in this space.
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Hype is alive and well. In every category of personal technology, several standards are vying for dominance. Mac versus Windows, Palm versus Pocket PC. Wi-Fi versus Bluetooth. Every company wants you to believe its answers are the right ones. To avoid buying into a dead end, you’ll need advice on personal technology products and trends.
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Things are getting smaller. Like you need me to tell you that. But have you heard about the key chain that stores one gigabyte? Or the new video camera that fits in a shirt pocket and can also send and receive e-mail? I’ll review these and other miniature marvels in future columns.
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Everything is “intertwingled.” Today’s gear must labor in the shadow of an eight-syllable word: “interoperability.” Our phones and hand-held computers can talk with our laptops and desktops, and vice-versa. We can access the Internet with our cell phones and make phone calls over the Internet with our PCs. We can watch TV on our PCs and access the Web on our TVs. The lines between devices are blurring, and that can complicate the process of choosing the right tool for the job.
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All the world’s a bit stream. Much of the information and entertainment that we consume and create now exists in the digital domain. Satellites are beaming digital TV and radio streams to homes and even cars. Digital cameras represent about one-third of new camera sales. Camcorders are storing scenes as bits and bytes, and portable music players are bringing new meaning to the phrase “play it from memory.”
All these devices are computers unto themselves, but they haven’t rendered the personal computer obsolete. Quite the contrary: The computer has evolved into a hub for managing the gigabits from our work and play. And that makes it increasingly important to understand the technologies that underlie the digital age.
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Wires are disappearing. At the turn of the previous century, communications went from wired to wireless. It’s happening again. The wires that tether computers to each other and that tether accessories to computers are being replaced by wireless radio links. You can create networks without stringing wires, and your laptop can tap into the Internet from the local Starbucks. And new technologies such as the long-ballyhooed Bluetooth are promising to eliminate desktop cable clutter by allowing wireless communications between devices.
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Optical is in. You can’t buy a personal computer that doesn’t include a CD-ROM drive, DVD drive or CD burner. DVD burners are even becoming popular. You can create your own DVDs of everything from training sessions to home movies. Optical storage is also replacing tape in some audio and video recorders. Its playback quality, durability, and random-access convenience make tape seem as archaic as 78-rpm records.
Maybe we don’t need every digital doodad to do our work. But we definitely need some of them. And we may just want the others.
Gear can be awfully seductive to some people. You know who you are, and I’ll see you here next week.
