Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
I've heard that claim from across the spectrum of futurists for close to three decades now, and I personally remain skeptical of the absoluteness of that prediction - less maybe, but gone. There are many, myself included, who can only take so much of the WWW, radio, and TV, and who prefer to sit and quietly read their newspapers and newsmagazines. I foresee changes, certainly, but not the end of all print news as we know it now...especially if we remain a destination much sought after amongst the world's migrant populations.
Hypothetically - for those who bundle their multi-media access services through their TVs - does this mean watching a newscast through the WWW on a TV screen means they are actually not viewing any reporting on a TV? 
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I spent the first half of this decade working for the R&D lab for
P****** Electronics. From that experience in the salt mines, I learned that the consumer electronics (CE) and the 'business solutions' (BSD) electronics industry are furiously working to find the golden chalice: digital convergence (DC). (In other circles, the chalice goes by different names: netcentric warfare, the strategic corporal, the post-partisan politician are three variants.)
I am of the growing conviction that when it comes time to write the history of this god awful economic crisis, the unintended consequences of the quest for digital convergence will be a primary cause.
In CE/BSD the quest proceeds along four intertwined paths. Those paths are:
- The network and the servers in the 'head end' tying the pieces together [Want to make a small fortune? Design, build, market, and sell a component in this network that is indispensable but does nothing. The support, licensing, upgrade, and training fees alone will keep you flush for years.]
- The platform (hardware). The race is on to determine if form of DC will be a 'lean forward'--closer to a computer--or lean back experience--closer to something with a remote control:
- a computer,
- a cable set-top box,
- a console (that the Playstation can be used for gaming is the tip of the iceberg).
- a media receiver attached to a plasma,
- the plasma itself,
- a personal media device,
- a cell phone,
- or will it be something else .
- (My two cents are that as OLED technology matures and when nanotechnology fulfills its promise, the solution is going to look like a piece of clothing. I should start saving now for what the guys at TAD Gear may come up with.)
- The 'software' (SkyNet, anyone?)
- the user interface (UI),
- the format of the content,
- the AI driving the programs,
- the plug-in applications,
- the database
- the languages used to write the applications (Java is the front runner for reasons that leave developers and software engineers in alternating states of disgust, despair, disbelief, and drollness.)
- the encryption.
- The content and the business model for its production and distribution. As the ongoing labor dispute between the actors' unions and the film and television producers illustrates, there is as of yet no sustainable business model for 'new media.' 'New media' is an anachronistic, imprecise term returning to everyday use thanks to the MSM. Other catch words and phrases of interest (read: grave concern).
- compression
- format
- on demand (not to be confused for pay per view)
- a la cart
- bundle
- tier
The quest for DC is mired in discourse that is increasingly fetishsized (Bjarne Stroustrup is a terrible writer
). While much of this discussion must remain...non disclosed...one can see the public side of the conversation.
When one hears the buzz among fanboys, bloggers, traditional journalists trying (vainly) to keep up, and new media journalists trying to carve out a niche centers, it is about the 'wow' factor of the latest iteration of the Holy Grail, its features, its bugs, its patches, its skins, its upgrades, and its hacks.
This focus on the 'wow' factor is changing everyday life. Not so long ago, people would notice what paper you were reading on the train or bus. If a person seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, observers might strike up a conversation that started "Hey, what are you reading?" Now, the conversation is "Hey, is that the new Blackberry?"
We are forgetting that the truest test of a tool is the performance of what that tool is used to build.
Linear Mode
