15 Years Ahead

postedPosted in Tech Bytes on November 14th, 2008 by glennm

I have often remarked how technology innovations are frequently 10 years ahead of the marketplace. Well, here’s one that was 15 years ahead. 15th Anniversary: How General Magic Engineered Our World [Wired.com]. When the folks at General Magic said we would have a handheld device that would make calls, send email, play music and do almost everything else that makes today’s iPhone so drool-worthy, they were right on, just 15 years too soon. But that’s probably not too much to expect from a group that later founded eBay, architected the iPod and wrote Flash. Wow … impressive.

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ET Phone Home

postedPosted in Business, Rants, Rock Me Baby, Tech Bytes on May 12th, 2005 by glennm

Microsoft’s Bill Gates says the raging popularity of Apple’s iPod player is “unsustainable.” Gates Sees Mobile Phones Overtaking iPods [Reuters.com].

Yeah, right. Just like the “Tablet PC” was going to make laptops extinct and Microsoft’s “Media PC” is going to take over the family room entertainment centers of the world. Can I have some of what he’s smoking?

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Lost in Translation

postedPosted in Business, Rock Me Baby, Tech Bytes on March 1st, 2005 by glennm

Twenty years ago Sony was the king of consumer electronics. No more. Thus, it was rather surprising to find this headline in a UK online publication. Say Goodbye to Your iPod [ThisisLondon.com].

Seems that Sony will soon introduce a cellphone that can hold (wow!!) 12 whole CDs of music. Ah, folks, that’s hardly 1GB, which the tiny iPod Shuffle does for $99. Maybe Japanese teenagers want their phones to hold a few songs, but any serious music fan knows that carrying one’s whole music library in a small, white container is WAY better than some second-rate cellphone gadget. The company that invented the Walkman has lost its way. For the Londoners to say Sony has developed “the phone that could mean the end of the iPod” is just plain crazy.

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