Ah Ha

     Score one for my side. Technology comes along and takes everything it can consume and tries to make it better. Things become more convenient, take less effort......sound better......or do they? Yes, I have discovered that no matter how many electric fittings, adjustments, controls etc. you put on a Violin, you cannot make it sound better than a good acoustic violin. There are some things you just do not mess with. Some things cannot be made better because we have become more technologically advanced.

     Thank you Antonio Stradivari.

Phat Phun Ho

     Those crazy Chinese, banning everything in sight. But this is after they get us to owe them zillions and convince us to import their throw away crap they call electronics and such. Then in a flurry of energy saving and security measures they ban Windows 8 from their government computers. Doh. At least promote something plausible.

     I can't really blame them, though. I banned Windows 8 from the computers in my house while it was still in CTP. I could not find my pleasant and soothing desktop and my extensive files strewn about my PC for 20+ years, because I remember Windows 3.1. Ok, Windows 8 is great, if you are a social butterfly. If you are a developer, you now have twice as much work to do to get stuff to run on everything before Windows 8 and then Windows 8 itself.

     Maybe we could ban Chinese food from smelling up our corporate lunchrooms via our Chinese manufactured microwave ovens.

Skills Minus S Equals Kills

     The thing about technology is that it does not care about people. It will leave you in it's wake, leaving you to scurry about trying to catch up. It can cost you your job. You could be replaced by a machine or robot, or you may say the wrong thing via our technologically advanced social media structure.

     For some people the technology is too much for them to grasp on to. I've seen older nurses at the onset of electronic medical records that have become displaced due to the inability to master a complex computer program. Younger people that grew up with computers in classrooms have no trouble, but people like myself had to learn it all our own. As a result, great healthcare individuals get replaced by lesser qualified people with better computer skills.

     You may counter that this helps the patient, but I can assure you people with small veins and heart conditions do not give a shit about your computer skills.

The Radio and The Camera

     I was watching Beach Blanket Bingo and lo and behold there it was, the small notepad sized transistor radio clipped on to a bikini bottom. Those were the days. We had a little radio, tuned it to our favorite station and carried it wherever we went. It had a little external speaker so you could set it down next to you. It wasn't heavy like boomboxes either. Now we have iPods and mp3 players with headphones stuck in our ears. No wonder people get hit by cars.

     And of course there was the classic Polaroid camera. Take a picture and a minute later you had the photo right there. You didn't even need batteries. Now you have to find your cord for your camera or dig out your card reader and attach it to your computer. Then you have to get your pictures on your computer provided it recognizes your device. After that you can spend hours figuring out how to use your "favorite" photo software program. All the while hoping the electricity does not go out or the camera batteries don't go dead.

     We took selfies back then, too.

What's A PC?

     So many smart phones, tablets, smart watch, etc. it looks like the home PC might be headed for a little rendezvous with cassette tapes. However, we are not there yet as tablets and smartphones have limited computing capabilities compared to a high end development box. There are some laptops that have high end computing abilities but they are lacking in some areas too.

     WiMax for tablets and laptops needs to be brought up to speed so internet access is available always no matter where you are.  These tablets and laptops need to be fast, with a lot of storage and able to do what your PC can do. They also need to have cellular connectivity capability. A Bluetooth connection to your tablet or laptop for answering  phone calls is a must.

     You roll all this into a go anywhere, always connected, do anything device and you have replaced the home PC. Then, your wife can't hack your computer when your not home to see what you have been doing on the Net.

Tech Underfoot

     Here's a freebie. Take it and run with it. Color changing carpet. Made with a blend of carpet fibers and fiber optics. Waterproof, connected with encased circuit traces underneath and run by a small processor yielding a wireless signal to the user remote. The user changes the carpet color as they feel it to be necessary depending upon changing furniture and wall colors and they will not have to replace the carpet.

     With a whole set of technology equipped appliances, furniture, carpets, etc. a person could change design and color at will eliminating long boring stretches of the same old same old. Changing colors and designs without having to but new furniture, carpet and appliances will save thousands. There might be some trouble with the sinks, showers and toilets.

     We might have to flush this one.

London Calling

     Ah, the telephone. A wonderful device created to save time in communicating with others while sitting on our asses. Until the mobile phone came along. Followed by the, only as smart as the person holding it, smart phone. And about the time the cell phone was popular I conjectured that someday we would have an implant behind our ear that we activate for calls. Which caused everyone that I told that it would happen someday to laugh. Then, we saw it in the movies.

     After that along came the idea that we might be able to jack in to our computers with a hard wire plug in to our heads. I had never mentioned that previously as I really was not up to the ridicule. The thing is, these ideas are not so far fetched. We have the ability to make these things a reality however, once again, our government is not ready for the public to have and use these on a continual basis yet. For what reason we know not, we are on a need to know regimen.

     We have the technology, but do we have the spare parts?