Technology: Where We're Headed and Where We've Been

I was listening to a Java podcast this morning while pulling weeds and got to thinking about how much day to day technology has evolved in the last couple decades.

It seems smartphone apps are the new CD-ROMS. Yes CD (not DVD or Blu-Ray). Remember those? You weren't anyone in the tech world if you didn't have a CD-ROM, whether it had clickable buttons and transitions or not. Yes, handing out stacks of platters for training or convention swag was the way. If it included wallpapers, or movies clips to keep, all the better. I still remember Billy Idol's Cyberpunk Album that did things like this on a 3.5 floppy disk. Pretty radical stuff for the time.

Now we have Apps, which essentially do the same thing and act in some instances as a hybrid website. Granted, you can get most of the same function from a simple bookmark to a website, but just like on a home PC, smartphones now have their own shortcuts of sorts.

Now don't get me wrong, there are stand-alone applications that have nothing to do with website mirroring or pointing, but, just as I have had to make this distinction, so much is the line blurred between the two. Translation: An App can be an app or a shortcut, depending on it's intent. Curious, no?

Speaking of blurring lines, the TV/PC convergence is gathering steam, particularly with ever-evolving chips and software for the menus. Java tech can and will be showing up more in this arena in the next few years, essentially turning the old 42-inch flat panel into a hybrid computer, especially with the current set top boxes whirring away beside it. Throw in touch screens, which are getting better via the smartphone market, and OLED displays and whatever 3D advances, and we'll all have something like Tony Stark's computer to geek out over. I can already see the glass cleaner market grinning over wipe sales, can't you?

Naturally, with any tech boom, there's a shake out time for what's truly useful and what's gimmicky at best. With all these advances happening, along with being mindful and careful of current limited resources, I think we'll see more efficient use of not only power, but materials and coding. Less bloated code means less compute time, means less energy used, means less horsepower needed, etc. Kind of alleviating the "drive a thumb tack with a sledge hammer" mentality. Ideally, simplified interfaces, devoid of multi-step profiles is just one of many answers. If you can do something in a couple steps, why spend extra energy and time to do the same thing in 6? Sound familiar? It should. This is how things were done and done smartly in the "old school" days. I see a trend returning to this, but, as with anything else, presented with a new buzz word and treated as a totally radical new concept. Kind of an Environmental Awareness getting re branded as Going Green thing. ;)

Just some observations from a tech enthusiast and admitted nerd. :)