Review: FutureHype: The Myths Of Technology

Author: Bob Seidensticker

ISBN: 1576753700

In an age where there is considerable hype about the wonders of modern technology, Bob Seidensticker prods us to take a step back and put everything into a more realistic perspective or as he most aptly states, we should vaccinate ourselves against hype.

Seidensticker's principal theme in FutureHype: The Myths Of Technology Change is that the pace of technological change does not increase exponentially. According to Seidensticker, although we may be living in an era of fast change, this does not imply that we are the only ones to have experienced this phenomenon. In earlier times people had their own examples of fast change and to discover if our times are really unique, it is necessary that today's social change be compared to that of the past. In fact, as Seidensticker warns us, "the popular perception of modern technology is inflated and out of step with reality."

Divided into two parts, the book first illustrates how we fall into the trap of incorrectly and myopically seeing technology. Seidensticker underlines his contentions with several concrete examples that are elaborated upon throughout this first section.

As an example, we are reminded that a technology might be innovative, but the product that we build from that technology does not necessarily have to be revolutionary, particularly if our predictions are off the mark. It is to be remembered that predictions are often more of a picture of the present rather than the future and there is often a danger of careless extrapolation.

The Internet may be able to provide us with a great deal of information, however, will this lead us to being better informed. Probably not, as the downside is that much of the information is unreliable and pure garbage!

One of the hypes we are all bombarded with daily is that we should blindly trust modern technology and put all of our eggs in one basket. This is all great until the basket breaks, as we become increasingly dependent on software that sometimes is filled with bugs or where we have fragile and brittle technology. No doubt, all of this has created much of the insecurity we feel today in our modern world.

The second part of the book takes a look at the constancy of change in a broad spectrum of areas-popular culture, health and safety, fear and anxiety, personal technologies, and business. We are provided with an excellent survey of the history of technology that is illustrated with stories from thousands of years of human advance proving to us that technological change is not unique to our day.

FutureHype: The Myths Of Technology Change immerses readers with a challenging study wherein technology is to be considered neither good, nor bad nor neutral. As Seidensticker states: "a technology isn't inherently good or bad, but it will have an impact." It is the impact that is important, as it will have a good side and a bad side.

Bob Seidensticker has spent twenty-five years in the technology industry and he holds thirteen software patents. His broad experience is quite in evidence with his insightful and compelling study, as he alerts his readers to the dangers of technology infatuation. He also cautions us that we should never lose sight of the myths that surround technology and the unexpected ways it evolves and affects our lives, while at the same time examining its downsides. As he concludes his book, he leaves us with a very important warning, "don't be bullied into buying a particular technology because a vendor, an advertisement, or your nephew you tells you to." Ask yourself if the product is right for you?

Norm Goldman is editor of the book reviewing and author interviewing site http://www.bookpleasures.com and the travel site http://www.sketchandtravel.com

Bookpleasures is a global Internet book reviewing and author interviewing village. Reviewers come from all over the globe and review all genre. There are over 6500 sites that link to Bookpleasures and many of the reviews are listed within the first 3 pages of the Google Search Engine.

Norm also offers his own personalized express review service where you can have a quick review within 15 business days from the receipt of your book. To learn more about this service go to bookpleasures.com

Norm is ranked among the top 1000 Amazon reviewers and he contributes his reviews to several other Internet sites.

In addition, Norm and his artist wife Lily meld words with art focusing on romantic and wedding destinations, inns, and other hospitality properties. You can read Norm's travel articles and view Lily's art work that is always for sale at sketchandtravel.com

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Taiwan: Blogger fined $7K, jailed for 30 days over negative noodle review

(Photo: a delicious plate of noodles in Toronto by John Elmslie, contributed to the Boing Boing Flickr Pool.)

A court in Taiwan this week ruled against a female food-blogger who said a local restaurant's beef noodles "were too salty," and that she'd seen cockroaches scurrying around in the restaurant. She gets 30 days in detention, two years of probation, and must pay 200,000 Taiwanese dollars (about $7K US dollars) in compensation to the restaurant. The court didn't argue she was lying about the bugs, but ruled that "Ms. Liu should not have criticized all the restaurant's food as too salty because she only had one dish on her single visit."

From the Taipei Times:

After visiting a Taichung beef noodle restaurant in July 2008, where she had dried noodles and side dishes, Liu wrote that the restaurant served food that was too salty, the place was unsanitary because there were cockroaches and that the owner was a "bully" because he let customers park their cars haphazardly, leading to traffic jams.

The restaurant owner, who sounds like a total dick (I can say this because I'm not in Taiwan!), said "he hoped the case would teach her a lesson."

Again, from the Taipei Times:

Huang Cheng-lee (黃呈利), a lawyer in Taichung, said that bloggers who post food reviews should remember to be truthful in their commentary and supplement their comments with photographs to protect themselves.

(via LA Weekly)

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Review : Otterbox for Nokia N8

A while back we had reviewed the Otterbox for the Nokia E7. The case had fared extremely well in protecting the device. Today we test out the version for the Nokia N8. The N8 in itself is a very sturdy phone but then a little extra protection never hurt anyone , did it ?
Due to the uni body design of the phone , the guys at Otterbox have managed to give the phone a very durable double layered protection. An inner layer which wraps around the phone is thick silicon. While a hard plastic case engulfs the device over the silicon shell.
A thick but soft silicon layer is present inside on the inside to prevent any scratches on the phone. This works exceptionally well as even after repeated drops (for sake of testing :P) , the N8 in question did not show even one scratch.
The outer plastic layer provides further structural rigidity to the phone while keeping the silicon case tightly attached to the phone. Over all a very solid package which would not budge under normal usage.  The back of the plastic has a matte finish which makes the phone very easy to hold. The grip is extremely beneficial in the ...

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