The last class
session we viewed a few clips on how the ages have changed and the
predictions made over the past 40 years on the state of technology. I
found it fascinating that the companies such as AT&T and Corning
were able to incorporate their ideas with the developing desires of
consumers in the next 15 to 20 years. Some of the ideas were
initially off but came very close in concept and a few designs and
especially in the AT&T clip with the
international video conference calls. Another strong point in class
was watching the Corning: A Day Made of Glass video. You could really see that the next possible booming market
will be in glass technology. And the point that brought it all home
was the video Dr. Sistrunk showed the class about the GoogleGlasses Project and the ever growing smart technology. To
make a long clip short, there is a glass technology that Google has
paired with to create a pair of glasses that would interact with our
everyday life functions.
There are some features that were great such
as the weather function where all you have to do is look up in the
sky and a pop up appears with the local weather. Also the GPS
function is a great addition to the glasses with the directional
arrows to point you to your destinations. A few things that didn’t
make sense to me were the voice capabilities, how awkward is it to be
in a store and say to yourself (out loud) “where’s the music
section?” Also just curious as to how you would be able to select
the messages and phone calls when you’re doing something active
like, let’s say driving? I feel like there’s got to be a feature
with that that allows it to be turned off or only have an audio
feature while behind the wheel. The design could be tweaked a little
more, but other than that the glasses seem to be a hot item as soon
as the price comes down about $1,200 from its retail price of $1500.
Overall I enjoyed the past industry insight and the concept theme of
the class lesson on Monday.
George G. Browne
I absolutely agree. Technology is definitely booming. I think that the age we are in is test driven by technology. There are always improvements to be made on the things we create to help us. It is just cool to have such technologies made available to us at this point in time. The general idea of what we can create is out and about. It is only a matter of time before we perfect these ideas made available to us, today.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree anymore with you Philip. The Google Glasses are in their infancy stage and will probably never be mass produced to any audience. What it has done on the other hand is paved the way to where the technology road will lead us. The Google Glasses are awesome and advance, but in 5 years the Google Glasses 3 will be practical and the necessary. I believe the evolution of this technology will be human processes and computer processes intertwined. The thought of this is exciting and scary.
ReplyDeleteIn the film "The Matrix" Morpheus said, "There can be many realities but there is ONE truth." Carefully examining the AT&T and Corning clips reinforced the impact of self-interest in the marketplace. It become very clear the future "realities" that each company forecasted was for sake of their own individual growth and development.
ReplyDeleteAs George mentioned, however, it was pretty interesting to get see the projections for the evolution of glass technology. This new technology boom has long way to go especially as the human culture continues to search and pry for leisure and escape routes from labor.
I agree with Kieran. The companies are forecasting the future out of their own self interest. AT&T forecast the future because they thought they would be at the helm of this digital video not apple. Likewise, Corning Glassware wants to pave the future for the rest of us by attempting to show us how glass "needs" to be incorporated in our daily lives in the future. On the flip side, this self interest is what makes the economy run efficiently. Adam Smith believed that the invisible hand would help the economy and I too believe if Corning effectively uses its R&D department coupled with its engineering/innovations unit they can pioneer the future while spurning competition and economic growth.
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing the video from the 1980s with predictions of technology such as the gps system I have no doubt this type of technology is in the works. It is important for companies to continue to stay innovative to stay ahead of the competition. Products have continued to get smaller in size but more efficient in function.
ReplyDeleteThese clips were intriguing because the majority of the predictions that companies were making ending up being accurate. I also believe the next big technology wil be the glass technology do to the video we watched because all of the initiatives presented by Corning seemed achievable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Blanks & Kinsey. It is rather convenient for the technology mentioned in the video to becoming to fruition. I'm glad companies are staying innovative, but I think it's important to avoid manipulation with messages like this. As far as the Google glasses project, the technology is amazing, but it will be interesting to see everyone wearing glasses whether they're needed or not.
ReplyDeleteThis class discussion was interesting. I've seen video of the Corning Glass future products before. It appears that technology like that is quite possible and not far off. However, at the rate that the company is developing new products we may be waiting roughly a decade before we see most of those this come to the average consumer.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cultofmac.com/186017/this-video-showing-how-tough-the-iphone-5s-screen-will-be-will-make-your-jaw-drop/
The iPhone 5 utilized one of Corning's newest products which is their Gorilla® Glass 2. essentially it is more flexible and durable than the previous version. Yet, it's not quite the future tech. that we see in the video.
As far as the Google Glass, I'm not sure Google is using their resources properly. Google is attempting to "innovate" too many products and should stick to a few products and make them amazing. Apple's success was based from just that logic. They consolidated their products and offered one ipod, one series of mac's, and one series of macbook's. I also worry about the software that the glasses will use. If the software it's not amazing, it will be the doom of their product.