Lover’s Pointe
"We’ve already fallen behind in areas like alternative energy, better batteries, and nanotechnology. Instead of racing to catch up, we’re buying seeds and garden gnomes on Facebook. This won’t end well."
— Newsweek: The Sad Truth About Facebook - Friends Without Benefits
Announcing the iMicrowave
What would a Microwave look like if it was built by Apple?
Much like how it revolutionized the music-player, Apple has just revolutionized the Microwave. The iMicrowave was announced in a press conference earlier today.
We got rid of all those buttons, and gave you a seamless and intuitive interface. You’re gonna love it.
-Steve Jobs
Much like the iPod and iPhone, the iMicrowave has replaced the buttons we’ve come to expect on a microwave with a touch interface.
The standard interface will consist of a virtual click wheel for setting the time:
Here’s a standard Microwave for comparison (note the VCR-like interface):
No word yet on whether it runs the iOS running on iPods, iPhones, and the iPad.
Bazinga!
Michael Stonebraker’s name probably doesn’t jump very high in many minds outside computer science, yet it was Stonebraker’s quick thinking 40 years ago that paved the way for the industry these better-knowns call home.
MapReduce, Hadoop, MongoDB, Cassandra, etc. Stonebraker responds with VoltDB and now SciDB keeping ACID and improving speed.
“In the 1980s, the ‘answer’ was if all you wanted to do was business data processing, then it was relational databases. Try to stretch SQL to do everything, though, and that’s an unnatural act.”
Being Moderate sucks
No one pays attention. It’s not interesting. It’s much more interesting to compare people to Hitler (or threaten to burn holy books), than to have an actual nuanced, complex position on things. Nuanced is boring. Extremist is exciting. In this case maybe boring is the better option.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future
(Source: en.wikiquote.org)
Apple TV
The new Apple TV announced today looks really great:
- Built-in wifi, ethernet, power unit
- All streaming, HD content
- Rent TV shows for 99 cents, movies for around 5 bucks
- YouTube, Netflix, other connections
- Stream music and movies from your PC or Mac
- Look at your photos on your computer
- Rotten tomatoes reviews
- Price: $99
- Really small
[Update] Limitations/issues:
- Limited to ABC and Fox shows only for now.
- Doesn’t run iOS Apps
- No hulu, face-time, or web-surfing?
Double dip?
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’m not saying I have any special powers to predict the future. In fact, who knows? Maybe the economy will come roaring back tomorrow. But here are a few data points that say otherwise:
- You don’t have to like Tony Robbins to watch this video. He makes a good argument that we might be facing another down-term before things get better.
- Texas July home sales collapse.
- George Soros slashed his exposure to US securities.
I’m just saying, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Be prepared for a setback in the economy.
Tech Predictions
Every one has their own ideas about what’s coming next, and I don’t claim to have any insider knowledge into the future, but I’d like to share my thoughts. Take them or leave them. I’m always interested in what’s coming in the future, especially technology.
All new technologies develop in S-shaped waves (exponential growth that slows to a plateau). In fact, these waves are so predictable, that once a technology has started growing exponentially, it’s fairly simple to extrapolate its growth into the future. Some waves move faster than others. Currently, technologies I believe to be on the upward slope are smart-phones, tablets, multi-core processors, 3D, electric cars, solar, and the smart-grid.
Smart-phones and Tablets
The iPad has helped define the Tablet category, although it’s been around for a while. Microsoft has had tablets out for a long time. This area has been covered fully by so many others. Suffice it to say: the iPad is big deal and apps for the iPad are only beginning. There will be eventually be an Android and Windows answer to it, just as in the smart-phone market. Just as the laptop has replaced the desktop for many people, the tablet may eventually replace the laptop. Another big trend will be the increase in multi-core processors, even in these small devices. Already, Android and iOS devices can do multi-tasking and even with the limited smart-phone processors of today, Android 2.1 comes standard with voice recognition. Windows Phone 7 is just getting started, but soon it will be another big contender in this space. Chrome OS, which is basically a thin OS layer for running the Chrome web browser, as well as HP/Palm’s Web-OS might also become players in the tablet market. However, I think eventually Android will take the majority of the market, much like Windows took the PC market from Apple.
Right now we expect these tiny devices to be a GPS, music player, movie-player, camera, video-recorder, gaming-system, phone, and be constantly connected to the web. In the future, we’ll expect this and so much more. I think the smart-phone/tablet will be a very important trend. Ignoring it would be madness.
3D
Here’s a 3D movie list. Clearly there rate of 3D movies is increasing, and the recent increase in 3D-movies is only the beginning. This is mainly due to the technology making 3D more visually appealing and easier to produce. Avatar helped to define this category. So, with all of these great 3D movies out there, people will eventually want to watch them in their home, just as the home theater went from blank and white to color to HD. So at some point soon, 3D TV will be ubiquitous. What’s next? Video games. The Nintendo 3DS has already begun this phase, putting 3D in a tiny hand-held device. Can smart-phones/tablets be next? Probably.
Electric Cars, Solar, etc.
Several car makers have already announced electric cars to be launched in the coming year: GM Volt, Nissan Leaf, Tesla’s Model S. Of all these, I think Tesla is the most interesting and will be the winner in this market. Innovation often comes from small companies outside of the mainstream. The big companies are too slow to change. However, the Nissan Leaf also looks interesting.
No matter what your opinion on climate change (if it’s true I think we’ll probably have to resort to geo-engineering), the world will have to start moving away from fossil fuels. If not for any other reason, for the simple reason that it’s getting more and more expensive. Solar power is one of the promising sources of renewable energy. The neat thing about solar is that unlike other alternative energy sources (geothermal, hydro-power, wind, nuclear), solar can scale both large and small. The optional solar panels on the new Prius is a good example of this. As solar technology improves, I think we’ll see more of them everywhere.
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The political chemistry of oil
As oil washes up against the coast of Florida, does anyone really think BP could ever undo all of the long term damage that is done? The cost in lost tourism alone is huge. It will take a long time before tourists feel it’s safe to return to those beaches. I see commercials from west-coast towns just trying to reassure everyone: “Don’t worry, there’s no oil here.” Of course, this is to say nothing of the fishing economy, and animals killed, many of them endangered species.
We need to get down and do the gritty work of reducing our dependence upon this fuel and these molecules.
Lisa Margonelli: The political chemistry of oil
I just watched this TED talk arguing the cost of gas at the pump does not reflect the true cost. She makes a good point that we keep getting distracted by new technologies, like solar and wind-power, while nothing really changes and the easiest gains could be had by a simple price-signal. We tax things that are bad for us in this country, cigarettes for example, so why not oil?
