I'm really interested in the time line of technologies that have come into existence, become horrendously popular household necessities, and then faded into oblivion (especially those which have completed the cycle in the course of my lifetime). It's probably the slightly awkward nostalgia it inspires that peaks my interest. In thinking back, I can't help but also imagine 10 or 20 years (or months or weeks or days) into the future. Changes in size, shape and aesthetics of what is desirably "modern"; requirements for usability and portability; how personal and social aspirations are fulfilled/fueled by products and, especially, by marketing; these are all recurring patterns.
Even recent technological innovations have their own time line, their own essence, their own life. And when they die, I think we all collectively weep a little ... at least on our way to the next set of shiny toys.
A trip down memory lane ...
Showing posts with label modern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label modern. Show all posts
Filed under:
aesthetics,
gadgets,
innovation,
mobile technology,
modern,
nostalgia,
technology death
Perhaps integrating similar and/or related services will improve Google Street View?
Geovector, Cybermap local search solution for mobile phones
Geovector, a provider of pointing based search solutions, and CyberMap Japan, owner of mapping services provider Mapion, have launched Mapion Pointing Application 2.0, called Mapion Pointing Appli, for mobile phones in Japan. This upgrade reportedly transforms Mapion's existing Geovector pointing mobile search service into a fully commercial application. Mapion Pointing Application allows users to easily find and launch content by pointing and clicking mobile phones at retailers, restaurants, historical sites or any of Mapion's 700,000 Points of Interest (POI) across Japan. The service combines Mapion's POI data with Geovector's pointing based technology and spatial search engine. The new release include features such as user driven opt-in advertising, sponsored categories and preferred placement. The service was initially launched over the KDDI network in January 2006, and is now available for download with Sony Ericsson models W32S, W41S, W44S and W51S phones, the W41K by Kyocera, the W42CA by Casio; and in July, with the W52S from Sony Ericsson. [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Geovector, Cybermap local search solution for mobile phones
Geovector, a provider of pointing based search solutions, and CyberMap Japan, owner of mapping services provider Mapion, have launched Mapion Pointing Application 2.0, called Mapion Pointing Appli, for mobile phones in Japan. This upgrade reportedly transforms Mapion's existing Geovector pointing mobile search service into a fully commercial application. Mapion Pointing Application allows users to easily find and launch content by pointing and clicking mobile phones at retailers, restaurants, historical sites or any of Mapion's 700,000 Points of Interest (POI) across Japan. The service combines Mapion's POI data with Geovector's pointing based technology and spatial search engine. The new release include features such as user driven opt-in advertising, sponsored categories and preferred placement. The service was initially launched over the KDDI network in January 2006, and is now available for download with Sony Ericsson models W32S, W41S, W44S and W51S phones, the W41K by Kyocera, the W42CA by Casio; and in July, with the W52S from Sony Ericsson. [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
advertising,
awareness,
Cybermap Japan,
Geovector,
Google,
hyper-connectivity,
maps,
mobile phones,
mobile technology,
modern,
POI,
public,
street view,
wifi,
Wii,
wireless
YouTube.com co-founder Steve Chen has said that consumers in many areas of the world will be able to access videos from YouTube through mobile phones by next year. He made his comments to a group of enthusiastic Web users at a forum on Internet developments in Taipei. The Taiwan-born entrepreneur said he expected that clips between 30 and 60 seconds would attract commuters on subways or buses.
As for those who travel by train, clips of up to 10 minutes will be most popular to pass the time, he believes. He said that as technologies continue to develop at a rapid pace, web sites should keep up by offering richer content and greater mobility so users can access the content from almost anywhere.
Chen and his family emigrated to the United States from Taiwan when he was eight years old. In 2005, he setup the video-sharing website in San Mateo, Calif., with colleague Chad Hurley. The company, which was once run mainly out of a garage, sold to Google for $1.65 billion last year, and all because Chen and Hurley needed to find a way to get videos to each other that were too big for email. [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
As for those who travel by train, clips of up to 10 minutes will be most popular to pass the time, he believes. He said that as technologies continue to develop at a rapid pace, web sites should keep up by offering richer content and greater mobility so users can access the content from almost anywhere.
Chen and his family emigrated to the United States from Taiwan when he was eight years old. In 2005, he setup the video-sharing website in San Mateo, Calif., with colleague Chad Hurley. The company, which was once run mainly out of a garage, sold to Google for $1.65 billion last year, and all because Chen and Hurley needed to find a way to get videos to each other that were too big for email. [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
hyper-connectivity,
media,
mobile phones,
mobile technology,
modern,
TV,
video,
YouTube
Why is this taking so long to achieve?
Wireless energy promise powers up
A clean-cut vision of a future freed from the rat's nest of cables needed to power today's electronic gadgets has come one step closer to reality. US researchers have successfully tested an experimental system to deliver power to devices without the need for wires. The setup, reported in the journal Science, made a 60W light bulb glow from a distance of 2m (7ft).
WiTricity, as it is called, exploits simple physics and could be adapted to charge other devices such as laptops. "There is nothing in this that would have prevented them inventing this 10 or even 20 years ago," commented Professor Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London who has seen the experiments. "But I think there is an issue of time. In the last few years we have seen an exponential growth of mobile devices that need power. The power cable is the last wire to be cut in a wireless connection." Professor Moti Segev of the Israel Institute of Technology described the work as "truly pioneering".
Energy gap
The researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who carried out the work outlined a similar theoretical setup in 2006, but this is the first time that it has been shown to work. "We had a strong faith in our theory but experiments are the ultimate test," said team member Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic. "So we went ahead and sure enough we were successful, the experiments behave very much like the theory."
...
"These results are encouraging. The numbers are not far from where you would want for this to be useful," said Professor Soljacic. The system exploits "resonance", a phenomenon that causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied. When two objects have the same resonance they exchange energy strongly without having an effect on other surrounding objects. ... Instead of using acoustic resonance, WiTricity exploits the resonance of low frequency electromagnetic waves.
HOW WIRELESS POWER COULD WORK
1) Power from mains to antenna, which is made of copper
2) Antenna resonates at a frequency of about 10MHz, producing electromagnetic waves
3) 'Tails' of energy from antenna 'tunnel' up to 2m (6.5ft)
4) Electricity picked up by laptop's antenna, which must also be resonating at 10MHz. Energy used to re-charge device
5) Energy not transferred to laptop re-absorbed by source antenna. People/other objects not affected as not resonating at 10MHz [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Wireless energy promise powers up
A clean-cut vision of a future freed from the rat's nest of cables needed to power today's electronic gadgets has come one step closer to reality. US researchers have successfully tested an experimental system to deliver power to devices without the need for wires. The setup, reported in the journal Science, made a 60W light bulb glow from a distance of 2m (7ft).
WiTricity, as it is called, exploits simple physics and could be adapted to charge other devices such as laptops. "There is nothing in this that would have prevented them inventing this 10 or even 20 years ago," commented Professor Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London who has seen the experiments. "But I think there is an issue of time. In the last few years we have seen an exponential growth of mobile devices that need power. The power cable is the last wire to be cut in a wireless connection." Professor Moti Segev of the Israel Institute of Technology described the work as "truly pioneering".
Energy gap
The researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who carried out the work outlined a similar theoretical setup in 2006, but this is the first time that it has been shown to work. "We had a strong faith in our theory but experiments are the ultimate test," said team member Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic. "So we went ahead and sure enough we were successful, the experiments behave very much like the theory."
...
"These results are encouraging. The numbers are not far from where you would want for this to be useful," said Professor Soljacic. The system exploits "resonance", a phenomenon that causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied. When two objects have the same resonance they exchange energy strongly without having an effect on other surrounding objects. ... Instead of using acoustic resonance, WiTricity exploits the resonance of low frequency electromagnetic waves.
HOW WIRELESS POWER COULD WORK
1) Power from mains to antenna, which is made of copper
2) Antenna resonates at a frequency of about 10MHz, producing electromagnetic waves
3) 'Tails' of energy from antenna 'tunnel' up to 2m (6.5ft)
4) Electricity picked up by laptop's antenna, which must also be resonating at 10MHz. Energy used to re-charge device
5) Energy not transferred to laptop re-absorbed by source antenna. People/other objects not affected as not resonating at 10MHz [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
experimentation,
hyper-connectivity,
irony,
mobile technology,
modern,
networking,
society,
technology,
wifi,
wireless
MADRID -- The Prado museum unveiled a modernist new annex of red brick, granite, oak, and marble yesterday, giving a first look at sorely needed exhibition space for one of Spain's main tourist attractions.
...
"This extension lets the Prado breathe. It brings us in line with other major modern museums," said Gabriel Finaldi, the museum's director of conservation.
[source]
Add to del.icio.us
...
"This extension lets the Prado breathe. It brings us in line with other major modern museums," said Gabriel Finaldi, the museum's director of conservation.
[source]
Add to del.icio.us
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
