But in the meantime, this is cool.
I was on Skype so I could give notes on a production meeting in Portland, thru Dean's computer. I had to change offices, so I yanked my Macbook Air off its power cord -- pain in the ass to unplug it under the desk -- and wandered down to the conference room, still talking while I did so.
Using a computer thinner than a deck of playing cards, unplugged and on wifi, I was looking at and participating real time on video with a roomful of people in a different city. While going down a set of stairs.
Hey Warren, where's my goddam jetpack?
25 comments:
I LOVE stuff like that.
You actually don't even need a featherweight computer, either. When my daughter Skypes me with her 1 year old son in her lap, I yank my 5 pound Dell off it's power cord - because, yeah, it's a pain to reach under the desk - and walk over to wherever my 85 year old mother is in our home to show her the baby, talking all the way.
And this past summer, we just set the computer on the sofa and let my granddaughter in Las Vegas chat with her little cousin across the country until the battery was almost dead. They showed each other toys and dolls and clothes. One was 5 1/2 and the other was 3 years old. And they just accepted this as something fun, not at all amazing.
It's definitely great for work. But it really makes it a lot easier when you're away from family, as well.
What I'm really waiting for, though, is to be able to start doing this on our cell phones. I hear we'll finally be getting devices with 2 cameras that have been available in other countries. One of the cameras will be the equivalent of the webcams on our computers. Just. Can't. Wait!
Louis C.K.is right. We have to stop our whining.
"Hey Warren, where's my goddamn jetpack?"
The same place as my sonic screwdriver, on back order.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
And just think: we find this stuff amazing now. What tech advances will that 3 & 5 year old have at their fingertips when they get to be 'our' age? I'll be 65 and telling them to get their hoverbelts off my holodeck, I'm sure. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrFgRAcr0jg
An IBM commercial with Avery Brooks that just about sums up the response to "where's my (insert random flying cool thing)?"
Flying cars are keen, sure, but I happen to like that my future means that I can carry around this tiny little gadget that not only holds a huge chunk of my music collection, including some killer acts I only found out about via the web (Kutiman, K'Naan, AR Rahman etc) but also entire seasons of some of my favorite TV shows.
"I'm tired of this album... how about watching that episode of Monty Python where..."
Besides I don't have a driver's license ;)
@ Richard Jensen:
Sucker. My sonic screwdriver shipped yesterday from ThinkGeek.
I'm a Skype n00b, but my mum loves the video chat--she says it's like living in "Star Trek" but it always sends me to a "Max Headroom" place. However, I still ned to find a good plug-in to record calls so I can sue it to do international phoners. It's all a grand experiment at the moment.
I'm jealous! Just looking at the computer while walking down stairs is too complicated for me!
The wife and I use Skype pretty often to keep up with her family in Spain. A wondrous time we live in, to be sure.
I was looking at and participating real time on video with a roomful of people in a different city. While going down a set of stairs.
Soooo, not one of the days you started off with Bushmill's then?
Dave,
the Bushmill's was probably downstairs - hence the need for travel
Bah, you kids and your new toys.
Why, in *my* day ... Antique Tech In My Lifetime
Still, where the hell *is* my jetpack, dammit?whirta
@ Mary Sue.
"Slaps Head"
Damn, I thought it would be faster to order directly from the factory at Gallifrey.
Every day in Toronto I avoid being crashed into by some self-important mouth-breather on a cell phone. Sereral times. If fact, the cell phone isn't even a requisite.
Every. Single. Day.
I DO NOT want these people to have the ability to navigate in three dimensions when most of them haven't even mastered two.
The idea of flying cars scares the crap out of me.
Back when I did customer tech support for Apple, ranging from iPhones to iMacs, Macs, and Macbooks, we got ahold of a Macbook Air, just before release, and it was awesome to mess around with.
One of the Macbook Airs had a Solid State Drive, so we decided to hit the trailer site on Apple.Com and play a trailer, via WiFi, while spinning the Air on a tabletop....it was so cool, not a skip or an issue, just a trailer player as it spun.
Silly, I know, but damn fun. Plus, you can toss the thing back and forth, which is insanely cool, too.
when my wife was in China we used Skype constantly and my creative partner was in Germany when we began work on our comic book. We did the lion's share of the work virtually. Skype was and remains a major component.
Managing to photograph yourself while participating real time on video with a roomful of people in a different city while going down a set of stairs is also not too shabby.
Another fun "what has the IT revolution wrought" story.
Last night, a bunch of us were boozing on at beer garden attached to very popular hotel. We got hungry but the main menu was was on a blackboard in the very crowded and busy bar and so we’d all have go in and read it and then queue to place our orders.
“Nah, why don't you just photograph the menu with your camera, bring it back out and when everyone’s decided what they want, we’ll email ‘em.”
Worked a treat.
Doesn't look like Skype. Looks like iChat.
>>>The idea of flying cars scares the crap out of me.
Depends on who has one.
Alberto Santos-Dumont: First Flying Carwivestr
"so I yanked my Macbook Air off its power cord -- pain in the ass to unplug it under the desk"
Use the fat cable that comes with the computer. Run that to the power jack under the desk. Keep the transformer block on top of the desk.
From a commenter at Talking Points Memo, suggesting that TPM upgrade its weekend service because while..
"...this weekend I was hanging from a harness on Yosemite's Half Dome, but I had a fair bit of free time belaying and a strong 3G signal (coverage is very good in the valley, the RV/diesel generator crowd would stand for no less)
I guess if you go to the trouble of blog reading while hanging from a rope on a cliff in Yellowstone, you want to make it worth your effort.
What scares me is that the inset picture (of what I'm going to assume is Rogers) does not appear to show him using a camera or any other device to snap the picture and, thusly, I am assuming it's a POV shot taken WITHOUT A CAMERA.
HOW DID YOU GET BRAIN IMPLANTS, ROGERS? AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE THEM PLUGGED INTO?
It's times like this that I actually prefer Warren Ellis; at least his brain-melting future devilry is explicit, not hiding in the dark, readying to shoot you in the back with concentrated nanomites.
Yes.
I am afraid.
When does shooting start?
I freaking LOVE apple. We use macs or, awkwardly on a tiny iphone screen, in our production meetings as well, and it's awesome.
Are there any programs/apps that you just couldn't live without?
Wa Wolves is on SCIFI CHANNEL tonight.
It should have particular resonance for LEVERAGE fans.
Post a Comment