Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
 |
Comments on MacBook Air: What Vision Is This?
Oh, yes, you can buy your own MacBook Air and take it home. But why are you going to? (Read
the complete story)
| "I think that is a very thoughtful and articulate summary of what the MacBook Air represents. So many Luddites are clinging to artifacts, and while there is some value in them, most of the time you are dead on, we just want the content.
Less packaging, fewer objects. Its what the world needs." ( 2/1/2008 4:19:55 PM) |
| "It may be a step in the right direction, but it has to be fast and high fidelity, which is isn't truly yet, if it is to replace my experiences with "things". Being portable is mildly helpful in that regard.
I can't write in the margin of my Kindle--yet." (dug 2/2/2008 7:16:04 PM) |
| "Portability comes second place to accessibility. Most of the information available to us isn't remotely portable (it's housed on huge server arrays which are for practical purposes immobile), but to which we have constant access through a sophisticated medium of communication. The only artefact which needs to be portable is the one which provides accessibility.
Perhaps the McAir is part of a new trend shifting back to the much maligned 'thin client' of the older days. This would be in keeping with the old sci-fi vision of people walking around with tiny electronic tablets which gave them access to the huge storage and processing capacity of much larger machines (Asimov's 'Multivac' for example). As PDAs/Smartphones grow larger and 'laptops' grow smaller, they seem to be converging on this ideal." (Fortigurn 2/3/2008 4:24:48 PM) |
| "All good points - I hadn't thought about less packaging, but that's absolutely right. Re dug's remarks - I was kind of hoping apple would introduce a multi-touch tablet that was 8x11. The home row for the virtual keyboard would appear when (and where) you put your fingers down. You'd need a stylus of some sort, though, if you wanted to jot things. I hate styli - they always get lost." (Bill Christensen 2/3/2008 4:51:11 PM) |
| "There are plenty of sfnal references; for some reason, I liked the article better without them. But, consider the Newspad (Clarke, 1968), transmit paper (Herbert, 1972), the mediatron and runcible (Stephenson, 1995) and the touch tablet (Bear, 2003)." (Bill Christensen 2/3/2008 5:07:53 PM) |
| "This reminds me of an experience I had on a bus here in my city; A young woman sitting next to me was writing what appeared to be notes on e-book technology in two columns "Advantages" and "Disadvantages". I started a converstaion with her on this, and made a comment that with the correct software and desire, that information in such books could be manipulated and changed to reflect new political 'realities' or even just to disguise corporate incompetence; Making history maleable, just as in Orwell's "1984". She was impressed at this thought and thanked me for it, then wrote down "Censorship-Chnaging data at will across all users".
In the "Advantages" column.
Anyone scared yet? Or are some of us so bored of the past that we want it erased?" (DFStuckey 2/7/2008 3:34:30 PM) |
Get more information on MacBook Air: What Vision Is This?
Leave a comment:
Tediously, spammers have returned; if you have a comment, send it to bill at this site (include the story name) and I'll post it.
More Articles
Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
'Better late than never.'
Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets
'The first revelation of the new Soviet bore-pellets.'
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
Heart Patches Grown In The Lab Repair Hearts
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
Humanoid Robots Spotted In Homes Performing Household Chores
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
Musk Proposes Sites For Martian Cities
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
Bambot Open Source Cheap Delivery Robot
'Not since the time he rewired the delivery robot...'
Robot Collective Acts Like A Smart Material
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
Vipera Electric Skis From Frigid Dynamics
'JOAN strapped on her power-skis...'
Pixel Watch 'Loss of Pulse Detection' And Philip K. Dick
'He carried on his person a triggering mechanism sensitive to his heartbeat.'
Nuclear Plant Restarted To Power AI To Feed Us Dreams
'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
SpaceX's Starman Tesla Roadster In Space
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
Pivotal Blackfly Electric Aircraft Lifts And Hovers
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
CORLEO Robotic Horse Concept Looks Ready To Ride
Imagine digging your heels in to a steam horse!
Who First Thought Of A Tin Foil Hat?
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
Warp Drive Tech Back On The Menu
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone
Why can't we get more innovative phone configurations?
