What new technology don't you need?

You should fill out the survey below, and we can figure out if there's any where technology doesn't really need to take us.

Interview with an Engineer

Intelligent, well spoken, and the father of a newborn baby, this engineer lets us know how technology has become a staple of his daily job--although from time to time it does let him down.


How do you use new technology at your job?
For my job, almost every piece of documentation can be found on a shared drive or "intranet" system. Also, equipment and power station manuals that would take up an entire wall of bookshelves can now fit on two DVDs and be accessed through Adobe pdf files. We also use internet/email/blackberries to communicate quickly and efficiently among industry and company peers. This helps us collaborate on issues while we may be working geographically far from one another.

Is there any new technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that you cannot live without?
Email is a must for my job. A lot of times the people within my work group are traveling to various power stations and some times even traveling over seas. Email is one way we can all colaborate quickly and efficiently on an issue. It alows us to have a record of our conversation as well as be able to share documents. 

Using BlackBerries helps us utilize email even more. I can take a photo of something while on a construction site, email it to a colleague and get a reply within minutes.

Videoscopes are a must for our job. A videoscope is a camera on the end of a long thin tube that you can "snake" into a machine. This allows us to check the condition of the unit during regularly scheduled maintenance or to check out potential problems without unnecessarily disassembling the machine. Unnecessary dissassembly can cost the company 100s of thousands of dollars.

Is there any new technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that seems useless to you?
Hmmm, good question. I am not that technologically savvy or up to date so I am not sure. I can think of things that never really took off like the "lazer video disc" or beta video tapes but besides that, no.

What do you wish you could do with technology that you can't do now?
Yes, I'd like good cell phone and mobile internet coverage EVERYWHERE! Right now I commute to rural [county name] everyday and it is almost impossible to make a phone call during the drive due to bad cell coverage.

Microsoft Kinect: The Justin Bieber of Motion Gaming?

You  may be wondering what Justin Bieber has to do with motion gaming. Stay tuned.

Don Reisinger posted an article on Slash Gear that explains his disillusionment with the new Microsoft Kinect, a new device that uses your body's motions to communicate control commands to the video game. He argues that he's not interested in games that make him stand up and act out what his character does on screen. Just because it might be more realistic to swing your arms than to push A or B on the controller, the gaming experience does not necessarily improve, he says.


I'm with you, Don. Sometimes the less "realistic" controlling systems--ye old classic controller--are best for breaking down the wall between the mind of the gamer and the mind of the character. For years I've been telling my kid brother that a turn-based RPG is in fact more realistic than their early "action" counterparts. If the goal of gaming is to make less obvious the disconnect between sitting on a couch while staring lifelessly ahead and slaying well armored fire ogres with my +50 sword of might, then selecting "Attack" and my hero swinging the blade are two actions both fluid, reflexive, and well controlled. Perfect. On the other hand, trying to master A+B << V > Start  X and wondering why my battle-hardened on-screen warrior can't draw arms in the face of danger doesn't make me think, "Now I'm doing it. I'm vanquishing evil."

Of course, Don is saying that this new technology works well, so maybe the intentions of the gamer won't as easily mismatch with the hero ("Swing the sword, dang it! No! Block! NOOOOO!!!"). What do you other people think?

And what does Justin Bieber have to do with motion gaming like the Microsoft Kinect? Both devices are used by major American corporations to connect with a younger audience by offering the illusion that the walls are coming down between themselves and their fantasies. And both try to make you dance like a fool on the living room floor. Well I for one will have none of it.

Interview with a Game Designer

A graduate of a major Virginian college, he packed his stuff to begin his new job at a major video game developer out on the West Coast. A few years later, he is recently married and has begun a new job at a software developing firm for social media.

How do you use new technology for your job?
We use Google to sync all of our emails, calendars, documents, and spreadsheets. It makes collaboration very easy at a fast moving company.

We use technology in many other ways as well to make our games, but I can't talk about it. :-)

Is there any technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that you can't live without?
Facebook. Cotton may have trademarked "the fabric of our lives," but that honor actually goes to facebook. Not just for time wasting antics; it has fundamentally changed how the entire modern world population interacts with the people closest to them on a regular basis. If you magically removed facebook from the world now you would remove a great deal of friendship and family interactions that carry enormous value and wouldn't happen otherwise. That's only going to become even more true in the next few years.

Is there any technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that seems useless to you?
This is a hard question, because technologies that disappear are quickly forgotten. Yahoo Answers and Hunch are equally useless; how often do they come up in search result answers to questions, only to act as a depository for hundreds of people who don't know what they're talking about?

What's one thing you wish you could do with technology but can't yet?
I wish that every application I interacted with was aware of all the data that I use in my entire life and then decide ahead of time what information I'd probably like to access. This is coming in the next 5-10 years through cloud computing and the social web but it's not here yet.
Some examples:
- When I look for dinner recommendations my phone, it should automatically tell me if any of my friends are eating nearby, or which ones nearby my friends recommend, and also know that I like variety and so I probably won't want Mexican tonight, since I had that last night
- When I'm shopping at the mall for something, I should be able to browse the shelf by what things my friends have bought and what products are recommended to me based on my past purchases in every store I go to. This should also happen on the mall directory, suggested stores for me to visit
- My mom should get notifications of websites that me and my brother have visited recently and tagged as interesting that are cross-referenced with her own interests and demographic, presented in "These are sites your sons were looking at that you might like" form
- When I wake up in the morning to get breakfast, my mobile device/computer/fridge from the future should be aware that I have recently become interested in longevity and nutrition because of books I've looked at online or at the store, and also aware of the fact that I normally eat breakfast at 10:30am, and print out a suggested grocery list for me to pick up. Better yet, my favorite grocer already has the list and all I need to do is go to the store and get it.
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You can read more about this game designer at his very own blog, seen here: http://thegameprodigy.com/