How cool was that article?! I thought the introduction "from a cafe, on a computer that fits in an overcoat pocket" really summed up my take on this article. I learned, first off, a bunch of old acronyms, like PARC, and that Silicon Valley locals, Xerox, had a huge role in the development of some of the pioneering research that led to me having some seriously cool gadgets that make my daily life a ton easier...and waaaaay more fun!
I really liked (I think it was) figure 26.2, the one of the "mock dynabook." Nothing mock about that anymore, just ditch the keyboard and you've got an iPad! Lol. Sometimes the age of the writings gets to me, but then some like this hit a home run. The way things were predicted by forward thinkers of the past astounds me sometimes.
To conclude I'd like to mention my 6 yr. old son's Nintendo DSi. This is a gaming device my Mom paid $159 for to give to a 4 yr. on his birthday. I thought she was crazy, but my son now draws, writes, films short footage pieces, edits them with sound, sends instant messages to his buddies who also have WiFi, and of course plays video games both solo and versus others via the Internet on...and it fits into his coat pocket. Wow, when I was 8 I thought Pong was cool. 'Til next, Sharxjay signing off.
Sharxjay,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading your posts every week and it is so hard to decide which one of yours to respond to because I always want to respond to all of them! I think of of the things that makes me enjoy your posts is that we are clearly about the same age and roughly the same places in our lives (married, kids, managing school, etc.) so I can relate so easily when often times I read things from other classmates and am so beyond that point that I just don’t get it. Which by the way…not getting the “new things” is new in itself to me. I don’t feel old and yet I feel like an old granny sometimes because I just honestly don’t understand something because it is too new for me.
I think I am almost terrified of the idea of my son being able to do all of the things your son can do with a DSi. I have the DS and played with my sister’s DSi to see if I wanted an upgrade and I thought “these features are cool, but would I really use them?” So I just have the DS, but now I am realizing in a few years my kid is going to expect the next best thing every time it comes out and he will use those features. Perhaps it is just that I am not ready for him to get older. Hehe.