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
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Will Be Ready This August, 2024
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Moonwalkers AI-Controlled Electric Shoes
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
Steve Jobs: 'Capture The Next Aristotle - With AI'
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
No Tips! Robotic Food Delivery In Phoenix
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
Electric Catamaran 'Explorer Eco 40m' Has 'Solar Skin'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
Orbital Mechanics, The Liftoff, The Turnover, The Retrograde Burn
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
Harvest Power From Tears And Blinking With Smart Contact Lens
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'
Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.'
AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
'I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself'
Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'
DIY Robotic Hand Made After Loss Of Fingers
'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'
Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"
Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'
Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'
Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
Can one country take another's rain?
