Technology & the Future

It's been said before but it's true that the world is becoming smaller and increasingly interconnected every day. The way that we live, work and communicate has drastically changed in the past 10 years. I continued to be amazed by it all. A friend recently showed me how he accesses his 150 digital TV channels (from his house) on his mobile phone via the internet. The quality was perfect. I was stunned.

All this makes me wonder what the world will be like in 2015. Below are a few things that amazing me, along with a few predictions for the near future.

Wow! No Way!

I’ve sat in a coffee shop in Paris and received and proceeded to reply to an email that a friend in Zurich sent. Total time between him sending and my reply? Try 2 minutes. It’s funny how normal this seems today. Think back even 5 years.

I carry over 400 CDs with my on my MP3 player that is 2 inches by 2 inches. Think about that….400 CDs…well over 4000 songs.

I have over 5 years of documents, photos and videos stored on my computer. Image if it were to get destroyed, deleted or corrupted by a virus. It’s why I’m crazy about backing up all files on my computer. I don’t cry easily, but losing the past 5 years of files would make me weep like a baby. Do you have personal files on your computer? If so, what do you do to protect them? Do you have files on your computer that you have other copy of? Scary stuff.

I stay in contact, make plans and share files with friends from all over the world via instant messaging.

I don’t have a LAN line (house) phone, only a cell phone number. This is true of 90% of my friends as well.

There are entire generations that have never sent a fax or created a memo at work. Talk about generational gaps.

My thoughts, photos, videos and more are saved to this blog within minutes. Miraculously, my blog has been viewed by people in over 30 countries, speaking over 50 languages. This number continues increase.

Using Skype, I can talk with friends and family thousands of miles way in the United States for hours and hours and it’s 100% free. If we wanted, we could always see each other live via webcam.

My videos are captured using my digital camera, uploaded to my laptop and uploaded to YouTube for the world to enjoy (or hate). Totally time between capture and availability: 20 minutes. Imainge when video becomes more people on mobile phone. People will need to REALLY watch what they do in public. Imagine a stranger taking video of you hitting your child in a store and then sending it to child protective services instantly via the internet or to YouTube for the world to see. HHhmmmmm…

A 20 year old high school senior made $1,000,000 in less than 6 months by thinking of a new and unique advertising site. No lie.

The LoveBug virus was created by one person sitting in their basement and cost BILLIONS of dollars in damage and lost productivy.

I upload photos to my Flickr site and they can be seen instantly by anyone in the world.

I search for the best fare and book my travel online and print out my boarding passes from the comfort of my couch without any need to wait on line.

No way, it won’t happen!

The world is going to be a much difference place in 10 years. I hope that you can not only deal with change, but embrace it.

• Your refrigerator will tell when you your milk is too oldto drink. It will also tell you when you need more chicken and when you’re just about out of orange juice. It will recommend what to make for dinner based on the food you have available.
• It will be normal to view TV on your cell phone.
• Your cell phone will also become your wallet, digital camera and camcorder.
• Stores will no longer have cash registers that you’ll have to wait in line for because RFID will recognize what you bought, including the quantity and charge your credit card automatically.
• Your cell phone will be the next target for spam and othermalicious activity. This will create a boom for (mobile) security companies.
  

Is all of this a bit too much….a bit too intrusive? Maybe. Will the increase of information become unmanageable, or is it already? Maybe. Would I have it any other way? Not for a second. We live in amazingly interesting times. Smile, you’re alive.