In the early 20th century, the radio was cutting edge technology. Today, the radio is at the risk of extinction, threatened by the many websites that stream music for free. The outmoding of the radio shows the insufficiency of having a single, new, marketable idea. To survive in this age of innovation, a company must continuously have new, profitable ideas. The company then has to market these ideas before someone else does. The newest ideas may become outdated at any time. Surviving the changing tides and currents in this technological world is a constant struggle. Some inventions are footnotes, fads forgotten as quickly as they become popular. Other inventions are building blocks, quickly reverse engineered and abstracted away into insignificance. We are truly in the age of innovation. Those who refuse to change will not survive.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/19/internet-radio-fm-pandora-streaming/
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
A Race Condition
In today's world, people want the newest technology in an expeditious manner, and the first company to provide that service, wins. Google thrives in this competitive environment; they are today's Microsoft. They know what the public wants, often when the public doesn't know itself. Google's new translation technology can translate a spoken sentence into a synthesized voice in a different language. Translation software has been around for a while, but the people who use these translators know that they're best suited for vocabulary. When the software has the task of translating meaning or grammar, sentences can come out anywhere from ambiguous to laughable. Getting an spoken, intelligible, foreign response was unthinkable until Google thought of it. That's what it takes to flourish in the world of computing: coming up with unprecedented ideas and marketing those ideas first.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The Lives of Our Children
When considering the technological progress made in the last 20 years, the future seems to be a nebulous blur. I have often worried about the world in which our children will grow up. Today, people often spend their free time in front of the TV or on the internet. No one can fathom how things will change for the next generation. The enigmatic 'worse' world of 20 years from now is difficult to face at this moment. However, one must consider the reverse of the situation. When I look at my parents, I feel blessed to have grown up surrounded by technology. Perhaps instead of fear, the reasonable emotion should be jealousy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)