Categories
-Inventing the Future 1.7 Inventing the Future: Tomorrow Never Knows 15.1 Thinking About Thinking Machines 15.5 Question-Answering Machines

SciFi Invents the Future

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?

Categories
-Updates 1.4 Computer Connections: The Internet Revolution 8.6 Inventing the Future: The Mind-Machine Connection

The Internet Isn’t Just for People Anymore

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

Categories
-Cross Currents 1.3 Computers Today: A Brief Taxonomy Working Wisdom: Green Computing

Can a Laptop Be Too Cool?

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.

Categories
-Inventing the Future 1.5 Into the Information Age 1.6 History of the Future 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age

A Bright Future Ahead?

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

Categories
-Context -Updates 1.0 Creating Communities on the Living Web 8.7 Social Networks

Putting a New Face on Facebook

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.

Categories
-Updates 1.3 Computers Today: A Brief Taxonomy 10.6 Inventing the Future: Evolving Technology, Evolving Security

Supercomputers and Superpowers—the Great Race

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.

Categories
-Context 1.4 Computer Connections: The Internet Revolution 1.6 History of the Future 8.2 Wireless Network Technology

From Desktop PC to Mobile Connectivity

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

Categories
-Context 1.0 Creating Communities on the Living Web 13.0 Jeff Bezos Takes Amazon into the Cloud 2.0 Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and the the Garage that Grew Apples 7.0 The Google Guys Search for Tomorrow

The Battle of the Digital Giants

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

Categories
-Multimedia 1.4 Computer Connections: The Internet Revolution 5.0 Doug Engelbart Explores Hyperspace 6.0 Tim Berners-Lee Weaves the Web for Everybody 9.2 Inside the Web

Where Did the Web Come From?

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]