Technology Futures

I'm appalled at my own computer. The box itself is fine, sitting on the floor next to my desk, but the complete rat's nest of wires next to it is just awful. Counting power cables that power numerous peripheral devices, there are more than thirty cables that are needed just to type an email or print a piece of paper.

But things are changing slowly. As computers become a necessity of daily life, the geek design ethic (that is to say, no design, pure function) is slowly giving way to technology that is largely hidden from view. The Apple G5 iMac has been described by many reviewers as the "most beautiful computer ever made." The G5 iMac effectively has hidden the computer by concealing it entirely in the LCD screen. No boxes, no sprawl of cables, no ugly little speakers cluttering up desk space. If you buy the wireless keyboard and mouse option, the G5 iMac is completely functional with just ONE cable--the power cord.

The PaperHub is obviously inspired by the new iMac, and its styling is clearly derivative, but it would look just as good on the desk of a Windows user as a Mac user. It clever conceals a FireWire and USB hub in the form factor of a paper tray. It cuts one power supply out where you would otherwise have two, and puts all the cables in the back, behind the tray itself, where you don't have to look at them. It's simply beautiful.

"Put your thinking cap on" may acquire real meaning if the brain beanie these researchers have developed comes to pass. It could be a major breakthrough for those with serious physical impairments, but it is easy to imagine all sorts of other uses as well. Unfortunately, I keep thinking of applications related to improved ways to change channels--with a "channel beanie," you would not even have to pick up the remote and stab a button...you could just think the channel changed.

A large German study of computer use in schools found that computers were overused in the early grades, and not used well enough in higher grades, like high school.

The study also found that students who spent too much time on the computer had LOWER reading and math scores. This does not surprise me, as it is entirely too easy to waste time, mostly on the Web, and parents and teachers have been too quick to assume that any time on the computer is good time.

I've had many opportunities to observe K12 technology use for a decade, and I continue to see two big problems.

• First, as I noted above, there is this almost religious assumption that kids can use computers and technology better than the adults supervising them. This is utter nonsense. They are kids, and they need guidance and direction in their work activities. Teachers, parents, and school administrators are abrogating their responsibilities when they repeat things like, "Kids know a lot more about computers than we do." Kids may be more facile manipulating the interface, but it does not mean they have learned anything meaningful, like how to add, subtract, or write a grammatically correct sentence. It also does not mean they know how computers and the internet works, although I run into adults all the time who also make this grossly incorrect assumption.
• Second, I have yet to find a school that has a thoughtful and meaningful definition for what I call "technological competency." I've written about this before--our schools teach our kids to do use Word and PowerPoint. These skills-directed curriculums reward the wrong things and teach the wrong things. The ability to use PowerPoint says NOTHING about your competency to stand up in front of a group and give a thoughtful and informed talk using presentation software. There are lots of software that can be used to make presentations. Some products are better than PowerPoint. Our kids need to learn how to give a talk, which is very different than knowing which buttons to click to put a heading on a page.

Computer use in the schools is a big mess. Teachers don't get adequate training, they don't have the right equipment in the classroom (e.g. an LCD projector), they lack adequate tech support, and they don't have, most of the time, appropriate teaching materials.

I see too many parents who simply count the number of computers in the school and make the incorrect assumption that if there is a computer in the classroom, their kids are getting the appropriate instruction. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The final tragedy is that our schools are sucking huge amounts of our tax dollars for technology that is either not used at all or used in inappropriate ways. It's an outrage.

According to a CNet article, BellSouth plans to provide higher capacity broadband to most of its customer base in the next five years.

Video is driving the plans. The cable companies have not only captured about 75% of the broadband market, compared to the phone companies' paltry 15%, but the cable companies can offer the fabled triple play--voice, data, and video.

The phone companies are terrified. VoIP is sapping traditional landline customers all over the country, and most of those VoIP users are getting that service over cable broadband, not DSL broadband. So the telephone companies want to offer the same thing--voice, data, and video--but their weak point is the 100 year old design of the telephone infrastructure. Most phone users in this country are still getting their dial tone the way Alexander Graham Bell designed it, but those copper cables won't haul video all the way from phone company video head ends. So BellSouth has decided to go with fiber to the node (i.e. fiber to the neighborhood), and deliver the first mile (last mile) connection over copper.

This may sound like great news, but most communities are still stuck with the same two monopoly service providers they had twenty years ago; that's not choice, and two oligarchies aren't likely to drive prices down. Continuing to overbuild private networks does not level the playing field and will not attract real competition.