Top Ten Disappointing Technologies, Part II
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on June 24, 2009 by admin in Technology
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009In part two of our list of Top 10 Disappointing Technologies, we find out why it’s cheaper to communicate with the Hubble Space Telescope than to text your mom.
See part one of this list here
| American Cell Phones |
 Can you hear me now? |
I have a friend in Chicago that can only use his iPhone in a four square foot area at the edge of his dining room that I call his “iZone”. Just today, my Verizon service repeatedly dropped calls and failed to send text messages in a major urban area. On the other hand, I’ve been in the middle of the bush in Kenya and had crystal clear, uninterrupted conversations with Europe. What is it that makes cell phone service in the states such a joke? Apparently it’s the plethora of protocols that are supposed to encourage competition, which is supposed to benefit the consumer. Which, as an occasional victim of the binding and punitive agreements providers feel compelled to enact because even they know their services suck, is definitely not what ends up happening. In fact, texting is four times more expensive than downloading data from the Hubble space telescope, which apparently amounts to a 4900% markup. Does anybody have the number for NASA’s sales department? I think I’m switching providers.
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Top Ten Disappointing Technologies, Part I
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on June 18, 2009 by admin in Technology
Thursday, June 18th, 2009Arthur C. Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I’m not feeling the magic.
| Anti Gravity |
 Stephen Hawking Understands The Gravity of the Situation |
This, for some reason, remains my single greatest disappointment regarding technology. Usually, when scientists develop detailed mathematical descriptions of natural phenomena, they’re able to – in at least some small way – demonstrate the truth of them. Although I once had to explain to an otherwise intelligent friend that the Vomit Comet was not in fact an example of anti-gravity, most of us know that anti-gravity remains a technological chimera. The closest science comes to demonstrating an understanding of anti gravity is to describe its opposite, by saying things like “See that thing that’s falling? I have some amazing math that will tell you how fast it will do so”.