HOME
TOPICS
ABOUT ME
MAIL
In 1983 I started writing this newspaper column. A lot has changed, but I'm still here.
|
| technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983
T e c h n o f i l e
20 years of looking into the mirror of technology: 5 significant changes
Nov. 23, 2003
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard
Twenty years ago I started writing a weekly newspaper column about consumer technology. In the early years, I wrote mostly about audio and video. Computers were too new for general interest.
In 1983, the first IBM PC was just two years old. Apple's revolutionary Macintosh hadn't even been introduced. To most consumers, computers were big things that banks used to tally up your statements every three months.
The world is a different place now. When wrote that first column, I didn't even have a name to describe what it was about. It wasn't just about gadgets or TV or hi-fi. It surely wasn't about computers, at least not then.
I suppose I thought readers would be able to store those articles for reference later, in real filing cabinets. Because it was going to be written by an avowed lover of technology, a "technophile," the column quickly found the right name, one that combined the lure of technological things with the need to keep track of information.
And so Technofile was born. It has become one of the longest running newspaper columns about consumer technology worldwide. Because it was available online from the start, it is also the record-holder for online newspaper columns, continuously available online since 1983. Every article I've written for the newspaper has been online, first on the Technofile Bulletin Board System (BBS), then on my own Technofile Web site and on the newspaper's site, www.syracuse.com.
The anniversary gives me a chance to look back on some of the changes of the past 20 years. This week, I'll explore some of the most important changes in areas in personal technology. Next week I'll look at how personal computers have changed us and how we've changed them.
Here is what I see as the five biggest changes in personal technology since 1983:
1. Pocket cell phones with super-long-life batteries. There were no cellular phones at all in 1983. The portable phones available then were radiotelephones. They weighed as much as the toolbox I carry in the trunk of my car. These days some cell phones are smaller than a candy bar and can run for a month without a recharge.
2. Digital photography. The Polaroid instant camera was popular 20 years ago (and is still used today), so viewing a picture right away was no big thing. But there was no way for consumers to take photos digitally. We can now take pictures and see them on a screen in a second or two, then send them electronically to any computer in the less time that it takes to reload film on an old-style camera.
3. The MP3 audio format. Sony's Walkman was the rage 20 years ago. Cassette tapes are still popular, but life was changed forever by the development of MP3 recording, which trims the bulk from audio files so they can be transferred quickly from one computer to another. What's more, they can be played by small devices with no moving parts. MP3 was the first widely adopted audio format that rose from below, from listeners, instead of being handed down by recording companies.
4. Global positioning. GPS receivers, in vehicles, in your coat pocket or even on your wrist, let you find out exactly where you are, night or day. I expect to see GPS devices built into credit cards or ID cards before long.
5. Instant text messaging. The beepers of the 1980s turned into text-message receivers of the '90s and then into two-way text communicators of today. This is too often thought of as part of cellular phone communications, but it's a separate technology. Your watch, your earrings or your eyeglasses might have text messaging built in by the end of the decade.
Next week: What we owe to computers and what they owe to us.
| |