The music industry, as you’ve probably noticed, is in the midst of a cosmic shift. As with books and movies, the arrival of the digital era has demolished the old ways of doing business. MP3 sales recently beat CD sales for the first time ever, and it won’t be long ’til all music is digital. … Continue reading
Some parts of being a kid never change. Best friends, schoolyard bullies, and after-school snacks will be around for another century at least (speaking from my experience here in the US). But new technology forces us to adapt, and children are not exempt. At the risk of sounding like an old fogey before my time, … Continue reading
Two news items for you today, both about the constantly shifting media landscape. First, a short piece from the Atlantic on the approaching end of cable TV. It’s a sharp observation of the internet’s ability to empower consumers and demolish traditional revenue models. As a consumer, I say the useless and overpriced “cable bundle” can’t … Continue reading
One day soon, there will be more people who have read Remembrance of Things Past on an e-reader than people who have hefted a physical copy. Do you think the digital readers are missing out on anything? I do. Specifically, they’re missing the sheer weight of the thing. Whether you find the extreme length of … Continue reading
Google Wallet May Be Lame… Many of Google’s projects have earth-shaking potential (see here and here), but at first glance, Google Wallet doesn’t seem to fit the bill. Here’s a news article if you need to catch up. The short version is, it replaces all your credit cards with a smartphone. You load your bank … Continue reading
This topic isn’t strictly future-related. In fact, it made its rounds on the web 6 months ago, which on the internet might as well be last century. But it’s so awesome I had to make sure you didn’t miss it. Behold the cinemagraph (click through for the hi-res original): This novel effect is the offspring … Continue reading
We’re discussing the world-changing potential of effectively infinite data storage. If you’re just joining us, start with Part 1 to see how we got here. Here’s the question: Supposing we have a hard drive with enough capacity for anything we can imagine – what should we plug it into? There are many incredible possibilities; here … Continue reading
The traditional paper book is approaching the end of its nearly 600-year lifespan, soon to be usurped by its young electronic cousins. This will impact our world in a variety of ways, but it’s hard to think of any institution with more at stake than your friendly neighborhood library. Can it be saved? Should it? … Continue reading
Cosmic Revolutions 