Since the end of last year the tech press has been full of prediction about Apple’s next big product announcement — The Tablet. By mid Wednesday this week we will all know if the predictions are correct, and if so, what the device will be all about. This post is not about my predictions, but more a déjà vu moment I had.
Reading an article which predicted that the tablet would allow the reading of news as tailored and delivered specific for each family member, it reminded me on a book I read in 1995 by Nicholas Negroponte (founder of the MIT Media Lab and One Laptop Per Child). The book was titled “Being Digital” and was both a look back and a look forward on technology. Since the publication some predictions have come true and some are not yet reality. Sidebar: For a list of quotes from the book click here.
Negroponte believed that technology should be smart so that, for instance, television and news content would be based on past history, work schedule, and so on. This intelligent information would be shared amongst the various devices and applications. Devices would work for you and you alone, giving you exactly what you wanted.
Negroponte’s belief that wired technologies such as telephones will ultimately become unwired by using airwaves instead of wires or fiber optics, and that unwired technologies such as televisions will become wired, is commonly referred to as the Negroponte switch.
He has not been wrong, over the air TV has indeed given way not only to cable and fibre but also delivery over the Internet. Telephone landlines are disappearing in favor of mobile phones. I for one can’t wait for the day that technology becomes smarter and can assist to provide me what I really want.
Could it be that Apple’s Tablet will fulfill many of Negroponte’s ideas by delivering to us the multimedia content delivery solution we are all waiting for? We will know in about 48 hours.
Pingback: Are we ready for a Multi-Media Revolution? | Klaus' Korner