parker quinn

the television is dead

the future is here, now. today, hulu released hulu plus, an application that allows you to watch every current season episode of shows on NBC, ABC and FOX. this comes just weeks after netflix released their netflix app, which allows you to watch movies and tv shows streaming from netflix. not to mention, the ABC app, which allows you to watch almost every show currently on ABC.

All of these applications have been released within just 3 months of the release of apple’s ipad.

the downside is that all of these things require wifi to work the way you want them to. well, at the moment.

the average internet speed being delivered to your home is roughly 3mbps. however, back in january, at&t began updating their network to HSPA 7.2 in 6 major markets. HSPA 7.2 delivers 7.2mbps, over twice the speed of your average home internet connection. eventually, the contract that apple has with at&t will run out, and when it does, devices like the iphone and ipad will be running on at&t, as well as other networks. verizon, also upgraded their network to HSPA 7.2 earlier this year.

but, what does the future hold?

upon further research i came across an article, which stated the following:

The future for all networks… is Long-Term Evolution (LTE), also known as 4G. It can hit speeds of as much as 100mbps downstream. Verizon Wireless plans to deploy it this year while AT&T and T-Mobile have said they will begin to deploy LTE in 2011 while maintaining their 3G networks.

100mbps! verizon will start deploying 4G network speeds this year, while at&t plans to have it running by next year. so, by 2011, we will have an internet connection, being delivered, over the air, 30 times faster than what we now have at home.

why own a television? everything you want will soon be delivered to a device that you can take with you everywhere. you’ll be able to download HD movies in minutes while driving in your car, or stream entire seasons of your favorite tv show, while sitting in a park.

i hate to say it, but the tv is dead. especially when the newest wave of television technology requires that i wear glasses. eff that.

the new internet

i’m beginning to realize that i prefer a curated web-browsing experience.

i was once in school for architecture. the projects that i enjoyed the most were the ones in which i’d have to design within a very specific space or lot size. i had the most trouble working within a large area and having too much freedom within a given space.

i’ve recently realized i enjoy the same principle when applied to the internet. not only as a designer, but as a user.

i don’t own an ipad yet, but have had the opportunity to use one quite frequently. i’ve even done some web designs geared towards the ipad. i’ve realized that i much prefer designing for a 768x1024px screen. in web design, you always have to keep in mind that the end user could be using any number of web browsers or screen sizes, which, in my opinion, limits your creativity. one user may view a site one way, while another user may view it completely differently. this sometimes causes you to dumb down a design or layout. yet, having a specific space to design within, you know that no matter what you design, it will always look how it was designed to look. 

this form of curated computing could ultimately end up creating a more user-friendly web-browsing experience, for both the designer and the user.

the internet vs. real life

i love technology. i love keeping up on what’s new and what’s changing. i like to know where things are going. but, technology is a double-edged sword. it’s so convenient and yet so destructive. destructive, in that, technology is single-handedly deconstructing the way we communicate. with every advance we seem to be losing more human interaction. and in the most hypocritical way, it is something i frequently complain about. ironically, i’m blogging about it right now.

anyway, the pointing that i’m very slowly getting to is: in this crazy, mixed up world of technology, we have a choice to either accept technology or reject it.

i was hanging out with my wonderful friend, and incredible musician, molly jenson, and since we obviously weren’t interesting enough people in real life, we pulled out our iphones and began discussing the different apps we had. she showed me tumblr. i had heard of it, but had never seen it in action or visited the site. the app, awesome. i thought to myself, if the actual site is anything close to the tumblr app, i’m in. it was, and i was.

so, we’re given a choice, and for now, i’m accepting technology. in doing so, part of accepting it, is evolving with it. until now i’ve been blogging elsewhere, and like any move in life, i’ll get rid of what i don’t need, but keep some of things i’m still attached to. so, over the course of the next few weeks i’ll be back-dating some older blogs and deleting the ones i don’t need anymore. simplifying.

hello tumblr.

it was a simpler time

i’m out with my friends. i meet someone that i’m interested in. i get their number.

what do i do now? do i call tomorrow? day after tomorrow? maybe i text something before the end of the night. maybe i text something the next day. ok, so i call the next day, she doesn’t answer. but my number shows up on her caller id. do i leave message? do i play it cool and not leave a message, knowing i can call again? but then, when i call again, my number shows up, again. now i have to leave a message. two calls. should i have texted and then called and saved the second call? should i have called then texted? should i have just left a message on the first call?

go back 30 years.

i’m out with my friends. i meet someone that i’m interested in. i get their number.

i call the next day, she doesn’t answer. doesn’t matter, she doesn’t know who the eff called. i can call all night and all day. she’ll never know. hell, i can keep calling til i get that broad on the phone. or i can leave a message,… and then keep on calling. ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.

if only it was that easy now.

it was a simpler time.

remember when your mom told you to be somewhere at 6? and if you weren’t there, at that exact spot, at 6 sharp, you either had a quarter for the pay phone or walked home? and even if you did have a quarter, hopefully she was home by the time you called. God forbid you don’t hang up the pay phone before the answering machine comes on (three rings or four? three rings or four? THREE RINGS OR FOUR RINGS?! crap, i don’t remember!!!),… or else you’re out 25 cents and you’re REALLY walking home.

remember when you had your first car and gave a friend a ride home for the first time and they gave you 2 dollars for gas money?… and you were psyched!!!

remember how upset you got when you rented a vhs tape from blockbuster, got home, popped it in, and the credits were rolling?! UUGHHHH!!! i have to rewind this before i watch it?! how rude.

it was a simpler time.