Last night, I found myself pondering the purchase of an Amazon Echo Dot. I know someone whose daughter has one, and here I am pondering the purchase of one. I could sure use a digital assistant always connected to the Internet, and ready to make my every wish come true, couldn't I?
Now that few of us could imagine a life without the Internet, it can be informative to look back and see the types of predictions that were made in the 1980's and 1990's about online life (yes, there was online life before the Internet).
Check out these predictions from 1990-1995.
But what seems to be missing is the realization that evil hacks into what we now call The Internet of Things could change our world in an instant. Or that technology could take us over if we weren't careful. Imagine a homicidal Dot. Go to Amazon's Echo Dot page and read the comments. Interesting.
Or, read a book called 1984.
Or just think of the possibility that hackers influenced the outcome of our recent Presidential election in the United States. At this time, all that is certain is that all our elections need to be audited, according to some experts, although at least one state has agreed to a recount. Electronic elections are just too vulnerable not to have safeguards. But just the fact that we are having this conversation tells us something.
The future is here, whether we like it or not. And we'd better pay close attention.
Finally:
I originally blogged about Newspapers Circa 1981 - Cutting Edge! in January of 2010. Just think - newspapers trying to position themselves online. Little could they have known....and perhaps it is best that they didn't know.
Now that few of us could imagine a life without the Internet, it can be informative to look back and see the types of predictions that were made in the 1980's and 1990's about online life (yes, there was online life before the Internet).
Check out these predictions from 1990-1995.
But what seems to be missing is the realization that evil hacks into what we now call The Internet of Things could change our world in an instant. Or that technology could take us over if we weren't careful. Imagine a homicidal Dot. Go to Amazon's Echo Dot page and read the comments. Interesting.
Or, read a book called 1984.
Or just think of the possibility that hackers influenced the outcome of our recent Presidential election in the United States. At this time, all that is certain is that all our elections need to be audited, according to some experts, although at least one state has agreed to a recount. Electronic elections are just too vulnerable not to have safeguards. But just the fact that we are having this conversation tells us something.
The future is here, whether we like it or not. And we'd better pay close attention.
Finally:
I originally blogged about Newspapers Circa 1981 - Cutting Edge! in January of 2010. Just think - newspapers trying to position themselves online. Little could they have known....and perhaps it is best that they didn't know.
Too bad the reporter didn't have a crystal ball. Or a link into the future. If he did, he'd hear a lot of laid off newspaper people screaming to him "Don't do it!"
Watch the person dial into an online service (CompuServe?) using a rotary phone and then reading a paper online. It only took two hours to download.
If the man in this clip is still around he may be wondering "What was I thinking? I should have waited for 2016 and bought an Echo Dot!"
Did the late Steve Jobs know something the rest of us didn't? You decide.
But, as for that Echo Dot - I'll let you know.
Day 29 of NaBloPoMo.
