Many of our biggest technological breakthroughs have their roots in science fiction. This Wired piece, and the book that inspired it, explores the SciFi/Tech link with several real-world examples. What futuristic ideas are likely to graduate into everyday tech over the next decade?
Category: Chapter 1 Exploring Our Digital Planet
The original Internet was designed to link people together using computers and networks. Today’s Internet has an exploding population of non-human connections that are changing the way our high-tech world works. This Huffington Post blog explains the basics of the Internet of Things (IoT).
huffingtonpost.com/w-david-stephenson/internet-of-things-mystery_b_1870659.html
wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/opinion-apple-retina-displa
Apple’s latest laptop announcements offer consumers a clear choice. According to this Wired opinion piece, consumers will be choosing between cool and green, and the choices they make may have profound environmental implications.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by bad news and lose hope for the future. In this fascinating and inspiring TED talk, Peter Diamandis makes a compelling case for a bright future fueled by technology, do-it-yourself ingenuity, and a global network of people working together to bring about profound change. Is he right?
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/peter_diamandis_abundance_is_our_future.html
The world’s biggest social network has a nasty habit of changing its user interface often enough to confuse and anger users all around the world. The latest Facebook iteration, the Timeline. presents your history (and may threaten your privacy) in a whole new way. This Macworld article tells you what you need to know to make the Timeline work for you.
www.macworld.com/article/164999/2012/01/your_complete_guide_to_facebook_timeline.html
Categories
-Inventing the Future 1.7 Inventing the Future: Tomorrow Never Knows 4.4 The User Interface: The Human-Machine Connection 7.5 Inventing the Future: Embedded Intelligence and Ubiquitous Computing 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 8.6 Inventing the Future: The Mind-Machine Connection 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas
Will Your Phone Read Your Mind in 2016? Ask IBM
asmarterplanet.com/blog/2011/12/the-next-5-in-5-our-forecast-of-five-innovations-that-will-alter-the-landscape-within-five-years.html
As noted in Chapter 1’s Inventing the Future, predicting the future isn’t easy. But when the predictions are backed by one of the world’s biggest technology innovators, they’re worth considering. In this short, clever video, IBM describes and illustrates “5 in 5″— five technological breakthroughs that could reshape our lives within five years.
www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/11/27/in-race-for-fastest-supercomputer-china-outpaces-u-s.html
For decades the fastest computers in the world were all American. Not anymore. In this short Newsweek article, Daniel Lyons describes the state of the great supercomputer race between China and the USA—and the high stakes of that race.
Not long ago “computer literacy” meant being able to use office applications on PCs. For a growing number of people around the world, smart phones and tablets are far more important than desktop—or even laptop—PCs. This article from The Economist illustrates the growing importance of mobile gadgets using clear prose and several illuminating graphs.
http://www.economist.com/node/21531109
Our digital planet is being transformed every day by new ideas and inventions. In this fascinating Fast Company article, Farhad Manjoo describes how Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon are battling for the future of the innovation economy. If you want to better understand how the “Fab Four” will change your life over the next few years, this feature-length essay is well worth reading.
fastcompany.com/magazine/160/tech-wars-2012-amazon-apple-google-facebook
In this NPR Fresh Air interview, Terry Gross talks to the article’s author, Farhad Manjoo.
npr.org/2011/11/03/141976518/the-war-between-google-amazon-facebook-apple
In this five-minute TED talk, Ian Ritchie gives one of the best short answers to this question we’ve seen. At the same time, he confesses to making a multi-million dollar misjudgment. Fascinating and fun.
[ted id=1244]