A Technology Epiphany
I was cleaning up after a holiday dinner with the relatives, who were sitting around a football game on the wide-screen television. My spot in the kitchen gave me an unusual perspective, and I happened to catch something that got my attention like a rifle shot.
During a commercial, a voice presented a new feature for its credit card program, which he called a “Blink,” an embedded data link that takes the card to a new level of utility. The contact-less technology, called radio frequency identification, allows one to simply wave the card past a scanner to make a purchase, buy a burger, or get one’s meds refilled.
In that instant, I knew I had just witnessed a shift in the universe, and the world had changed in a way that would never go back. I doubt anyone else in the house noticed it, but I saw a change in the modern shopping experience.
Coincidentally, we recently moved to a new home, which forced me to go through a lifetime of personal stuff. I packed my trusty hand-bearing compass, my handheld RDF, my Plath sextant, and the reliable but mechanical Walker knot log I used aboard my first big boat, a Tahiti ketch, years ago. These relics are what remain of my early days on the water, and I have no interest in parting with them, although I doubt they will be used again. These tools deserve space on a mantel, tribute to a time where technology was actually feared, and where it was common philosophy that electricity and boats do not mix.
Young people see many changes during their lives–as those of us on the flip side of 50 certainly know. The Jack Paar Show and today’s reality television programming have little in common beyond the faintest thread of entertainment.
Back in the 1970s, when I worked on mainframe computers, I envisioned a future where the then-new personal computer, the television, and the telephone would someday disappear, the three technologies morphed into something different, a new device that presented integrated performance and service. Well, we’re about there, and the big communications, cable, and entertainment corporations are juggling for position to win the lead, as all know there is no second place. The losers will evaporate, obsolete dinosaurs of the Old World.
Information, entertainment, and communications are becoming the same thing.
In what direction, and how far, will it take us in my lifetime? I am convinced that Internet 2, or as some call it, Web 2, will be a more advanced service-oriented Internet than what we see today. This will bring enormous change to all areas, including PMM. The new Internet will allow us to bring you closer to your passion, with deep, custom, interactive technology that will provide you the information, entertainment, and resources specific to your needs. PMM will not go away, but will instead have richer, deeper content that spans technology.
I see a time when you can come on a boat tour with me, virtually, and take side trips to learn, share, and enjoy the unlimited details we may touch on in print, but for which there is so much more. In all areas, the magazine and its Internet 2 siblings will change the way you receive information, interact with your interests, and share your experiences. It is an unlimited horizon, on both an individual and a community plane.
Instead of reading the description of a fuel system on a screen, why not come along with me as a fellow drop of diesel fuel as we travel from fuel dock to injector and beyond? It is easy to imagine, and I am convinced it will make for a superior path to enlightenment. Such technology is coming, and the world will continue to change, forever young with creativity and imagination. Yes, I’ll still caress my sextant on occasion, when nostalgia reminds me of earlier days, but my focus now is on the future, and how to spin it all.
Enjoy the new year and all its promise.
Bill Parlatore
Editor-In-Chief