Roughly fifty ago (circa 1960), the preceding paragraph would not have made sense to most residents of the United States. And if it did make sense, it would largely be considered science fiction. Today, new college graduates and new consumers take it for granted. Interaction with digital devices is taken for granted. (Conversely, most of this group has never seen a typewriter, or have ever heard of a slide rule.)
--o0o--
Actually, I wrote the above two paragraphs over two years ago, in late 2010. They were part of a set of class notes I was preparing on an introduction to computing and digital technology. When I looked around at curriculum which introduced computing, it was largely based on personal computers. In an age of mobile smart devices like iPhone or Google Android devices, the approach of the year 2000 already seemed very obsolete.
It is now 2013. Smart phones are now taken for granted. The current battleground is the tablet. The emerging battleground to come encompasses devices like self-driving cars on city streets and unmanned aerial vehicles integrated into the US National Airspace System (NAS).
This blog is intended as a combination of computing technical content as well as observations and interpretations of what is happening around us. I get asked frequently how to do something or to assess the impact of technology changes. I have notes in lots of different places. I'm hoping to collect them into fewer places, and make the useful to myself and others.
If past experience is any indication, this is going to be a long journey with lots of surprises. The map in five years will not likely resemble the map of today. Speed bumps are completely uncharted.
So it begins...
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