Backlash
Making the blog rounds is
43 Folders: Organizing Your Hipster PDA. The "Hipster PDA" is nothing more than index cards held together with a binder clip, an idea thought up (I think) ironically half-ironically. That is, it's both ridiculous and smart, but it also knows it's ridiculous and knows it knows it's ridiculous. Hence, a whole discussion on the net about "hacking" the hipster pda. With colored index cards. And cards with graph paper on 'em. And rubber bands.
This reminds me, CES is the new Comdex, isn't it? I'm probably a year behind on this revelation, but it crossed my mind as I was filtering through dozens of blogs-on-CES. And then I read an article about
the porn industry influencing the next dvd standard, which of course has to do with the fact that the Adult Entertainment Expo happens at the same time and literally only a few doors down from CES. Once again, porn guides technology (
streaming video, VCR's, and so on). Anyway, back to the original point: hardware's where it's at right now, and a few years ago it was software... does that mean that in two years or less all the action will be in firmware? Bob Cringely says in his
2005 predictions:
7) The trend of repurposing Linux-based consumer electronics devices through revised firmware will expand dramatically as people realize the cost-benefit advantage, AND nerds realize that they can sell reprogrammed WRT54GS stuff all over town and over the Internet. Just look at Sveasoft's James Ewing, sitting on a little island off the coast of Sweden serving firmware upgrades to 44,178 users who each put $20 per year into his PayPal account. Do the numbers. The next killer app in this space will be a cut-down version of the Asterisk Open Source PBX. Imagine a $100 box that manages your telco, VoIP, and mobile phone lines, making them appear as a virtual three-line phone with common dialing rules and always choosing the cheapest route for each call.
Sounds right to me. The tech-hungry public will love the term "firmware" once they come to understand it. Then they can hold CES and the Adult Expo together and just call it "FirmDex." Ha ha.
* Ray, 1/10/2005 11:24:47 PM
