Are you wearing?

On the way back from a week of vacation in Europe after Teched Barcelona I finished Rainbows End. In this book Vernor Vinge has influenced my view of what the technology should\can do in the future. A few trends from today that Vernor picks up on and extends:

1. Wearable computing – Will IPod and Zune grow up to full wearable computing power? I love how Vernor solved the user interface problem!
2. Ubiquitous hi-rate connectivity – My $20/month EvDo is just the starts
3. Search and Analysis of Information – With so much information in electronic format, finding information and correlating trends is more important than ever
4. Social Networking – What would sites like YouTube and Soapbox turn into with a good mix of 1?
5. Large truly local storage – We just released the first baby step there ;-)

 

Have other folks read Rainbows End? What trends did you pick up on?

 

My wife asked me if this was a positive or negative view of the future –It is a strangely hard question to answer. While there is something compelling about all the above, there is something scary as well, I guess that is what makes the book compelling.

 

BTW, has anyone cataloged all the literary references in the text? I'd love to check them out, if they are already published ;-)

Comments

• Anonymous
  November 19, 2006
  I've ordered Rainbow's End and am looking forward to reading it. If you liked it, I also strongly recommend Vinge's 'Fire Upon the Deep', 'Deepness in the Sky', and the brilliant 'Across Realtime' (containing both 'The Peace War' and 'Marooned in Realtime'). Vinge writes highly-technical "hard" SF, loved by every one of my geek friends to whom I introduce his works. Enjoy!

• Anonymous
  November 20, 2006
  $20/mo EvDO? Who, what, where?

• Anonymous
  November 21, 2006
  Have you read,  Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage by Nicholas G. Carr?  Interesting point of view regarding technology. Aloha, Kevin Davis