Gates: "...software for the user...", your brain needs a memory upgrade... [Archive]

YourSurrogateGod

January 7th, 2006, 03:38 AM

Imagine a world in which you pick the information you are interested in and it follows you everywhere - your home, your car, your phone or your office.

To some, that may sound like science fiction, or about as likely as the eternally-heralded paperless office. But the Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates, said he believed it could be achievable within three or four years when he outlined his vision of a "connected future" at this week's annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Mr Gates, who became the world's richest man on the back of the personal computer explosion of the 80s and 90s, said he believed the next few years could herald another revolution in the way we use information.

In a demonstration to technology industry experts, he put forward a concept of kitchen-based video screens showing personalised information as well as TV and internet news, all linked wirelessly to mobile phones and office computers.

"Five or six years ago, if you'd said to people that software would make photos, music and TV better, they'd have been sceptical," Mr Gates told an audience of technology industry experts. "This really is the symptom of the great progress of the digital decade."

Thanks to the rocketing growth in mobile phones, computers and broadband internet connections, he said the potential to link up the disconnected streams of information in people's lives was greater than ever.

"My preferences, my interests are reflected on those devices," he said. "It's not just software for the PC, software for the phone, software for the video game - it's software for the user."

-snip-

http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,16559,1680105,00.html

Nice, now I'll have to figure out how to remove spyware and viruses not only on my computer, but now my TV, blender, car, etc.

/obey the Redmont overlords, for they shall conquer...
//not kidding...
///me likes making funny headlines...

kairu0

January 7th, 2006, 05:46 AM

This is almost as prophetic as his Digital Photo Frames. Heck, and I've already seen 0 of them since he announced the vision!

And, seriously, he should be more imaginative for a visionary. This article isn't even original. Software in kitchen appliances? Can you say Be corporation? (Others before that even?)

All we need now is AOL to jump on the kitchenware bandwagon, so we can get advertisements in places never before thought possible. Before we know it, we'll be in the 7th circle of Hell.

pojo_65

January 7th, 2006, 07:00 AM

All we need now is AOL to jump on the kitchenware bandwagon, so we can get advertisements in places never before thought possible. Before we know it, we'll be in the 7th circle of Hell.

I can't wait for my AOL toaster to be able to brand the AOL logo into one side of my bread and then have some pointless celeberty news that I don't want to read on the other side.

May I mention it will be under cooked and I'll have to tear off the corners of the bread to make it fit in the toaster in the first place. (recent issues with toasters)

kairu0

January 7th, 2006, 07:28 AM

I can't wait for my AOL toaster to be able to brand the AOL logo into one side of my bread and then have some pointless celeberty news that I don't want to read on the other side.

May I mention it will be under cooked and I'll have to tear off the corners of the bread to make it fit in the toaster in the first place. (recent issues with toasters)

Right on. And don't forget about the ziplock-bagged trial loafs of bread that arrive in your mailbox every morning.

JimmyJazz

January 7th, 2006, 07:43 AM

heh heh AOL toaster

Derek Djons

January 7th, 2006, 08:38 AM

Oh and do I believe it's coming. Now 2006 and beyond mankind has the tool and knowledge to achieve this kind of total automized houses of the future.

But there still are some flipsides.
1. Many applications are connected by internet. With modern routers / modems there still not a human on earth which can say. I never have been disconnected.

2. The need for all kinds of information is also a very important something. I'm not interested in having conversations with my fridge about it's depresive long freezing shedules. I know manufacturers make fridges who know themselves what to do.

3. How much is all this gonna cost. Since we won't be buying Microsoft Windows Blender upgrade packs I wonder what other products they will make more expensive.

kairu0

January 7th, 2006, 08:55 AM

2. The need for all kinds of information is also a very important something. I'm not interested in having conversations with my fridge about it's depresive long freezing shedules. I know manufacturers make fridges who know themselves what to do.

We definitely need more smart information, and by smart information, smart advertising is only a small fraction of the whole pie. I don't need my fridge to talk to me or sell me magazines, but it would be convenient to know what is going rotten, what is missing in order to cook X, etc. I'm not saying that I need these features and, in fact, I really like my fridge the way it is.

BSDFreak

January 7th, 2006, 09:19 AM

prizrak

January 7th, 2006, 01:13 PM

When i'm leaving work i want my fridge to send me an SMS if i need to buy milk on my way home.

Downloading recepies and having the oven heat up to the exact temperature and cooking it for exactly as long as it should would also be great, knowing the exact amounts of each nutrient in the meal would help me adjust my intake of them so i get what i need, no more no less. (you could automate your entire diet by hooking up a sonic bodyfat meter to it that measures your increase or decrease in fat and adjusts the recommended meal sizes according to that over time).

Sure would be easier than using a skin fold caliper, fast Jackson-Pollock, measuring every ingredient and calculating the percentage of every nutrient in it and finally adjusting meal sizes accordingly. Especially since i tend to go with what i already know so my diet gets extremely boring over time.
Get a wife they automate that stuff like nothing, you can't turn off the damn feature though :( Reminds me of Windows ;)
P.S. I don't want to offend anyone I'm just joking around, although the qualities listed above are the ones my mother would LOVE to see in a girl of my choosing (which is why it would never happen).
Automation might be a good thing, but at the same time all the automation tends to take away from using our brains. I never had to look for phone numbers before I got a cell phone with a phone book in it, I did all the math in my head at 3 times the speed of an average person with a calculator until I started using one myself (cuz it was programmable so I wanted to play with it) now I can't even calculate tip. There is a flip side to everything but it seems that computers are taking over alot of our human functions making us supplemental wetware rather than users (Matrix anyone?) :)

lotusleaf

January 7th, 2006, 03:59 PM

BSDFreak

January 7th, 2006, 09:46 PM

Get a wife they automate that stuff like nothing, you can't turn off the damn feature though :( Reminds me of Windows ;)
P.S. I don't want to offend anyone I'm just joking around, although the qualities listed above are the ones my mother would LOVE to see in a girl of my choosing (which is why it would never happen).
Automation might be a good thing, but at the same time all the automation tends to take away from using our brains. I never had to look for phone numbers before I got a cell phone with a phone book in it, I did all the math in my head at 3 times the speed of an average person with a calculator until I started using one myself (cuz it was programmable so I wanted to play with it) now I can't even calculate tip. There is a flip side to everything but it seems that computers are taking over alot of our human functions making us supplemental wetware rather than users (Matrix anyone?) :)

I used to have wife 1.0 but it was too buggy (the nagware was horrible and it installed rootkits left and right (bonus for everyone who gets the last part)) i doubt i will get wife 2.0 even if that is an option. F-Buddy 3.0 is the best version yet so i think i'll stick with that for a while. ;)

Anyway, it's the one thing i could really use, to automate it and create a nice diagram for me. Dieting for contests is pure hell and i wonder which kind of shape i could be in if i took the guesswork out of it.

mstlyevil

January 7th, 2006, 09:53 PM

I used to have wife 1.0 but it was too buggy (the nagware was horrible and it installed rootkits left and right (bonus for everyone who gets the last part)) i doubt i will get wife 2.0 even if that is an option. F-Buddy 3.0 is the best version yet so i think i'll stick with that for a while. ;)

Anyway, it's the one thing i could really use, to automate it and create a nice diagram for me. Dieting for contests is pure hell and i wonder which kind of shape i could be in if i took the guesswork out of it.

ROTFLMAO :D

I have been using F-Buddy 3.0 since scrapping Wife 1.0 back in 97. Wife 2.0 is definitely not an option on my system.

BSDFreak

January 7th, 2006, 09:54 PM

"Imagine a world in which you pick the information you are interested in and it follows you everywhere - your home, your car, your phone or your office."

Imagine a corporation who wants to be into everything and everything: government, your life, his life, their life, our lives.

Yikes, on with the tinfoil hat, eh?

Imagine one corporation which DOESN'T want that. Profitable companies are always about expansion, this isn't about MS controlling your life, it's about selling software.

Without MS pushing this technology you won't be able to replace it with Linux/BSD in your car/fridge/cell/whatever.

BSDFreak

January 7th, 2006, 10:01 PM

ROTFLMAO :D

I have been using F-Buddy 3.0 since scrapping Wife 1.0 back in 97. Wife 2.0 is definitely not an option on my system.

Yah, the problem with F-Buddy 3.0 is that you can't be sure you are the exclusive user as it is such an open solution, you might catch a virus if you are not careful. I recommend Rubberwall 5 for protection. :D

prizrak

January 8th, 2006, 01:05 AM

BSDfreak, mstlyevil: you guys made my day I'm cracking up at the laundromat (yeah we got wi-fi here) and scaring people :)
Damn I ain't never been married and sorta got the rootkit joke :)

lotusleaf

January 8th, 2006, 02:20 AM

Yikes, on with the tinfoil hat, eh?

None for me, thanks. If yours gets warm just reverse it.

this isn't about MS controlling your life, it's about selling software.

You must be new. :)

BSDFreak

January 8th, 2006, 02:27 AM

None for me, thanks. If yours gets warm just reverse it.

I'm not the one who's expressing fear over the "MS conspiracy".

You must be new. :)

If by new you mean being old, both in this discussion and in age then yes, you are correct.

BSDFreak

January 8th, 2006, 02:27 AM

BSDfreak, mstlyevil: you guys made my day I'm cracking up at the laundromat (yeah we got wi-fi here) and scaring people :)
Damn I ain't never been married and sorta got the rootkit joke :)

*takes a bow*

I do my very best. :D

BWF89

January 8th, 2006, 02:53 AM

BSDFreak

January 8th, 2006, 08:23 AM

I don't like the idea of the whole world being connected and computerised the way Gates and those other tech people invisions it. I don't want to have tv advertisements targeted at me based on my interest, I don't want to watch streaming video on a cellphone, I don't want to buy DRM ridden music off of iTunes, I don't want to have to be logged onto the internet inorder for Half-Life 2's DRM program steam to verify that I'm running a legal copy, I don't want my car when I start driving to have a control mechinism to make sure that I don't go over the speed limit, and I don't want any of that other crap that the future's sure to bring.

There is an extremely simple solution to your problem, it's so simple it's just two words. "then don't"

If you don't want to watch streaming video on a cell phone (i assume you include video conference calls in that since that is what it is) then don't, if you don't want to buy DRM ridden music then don't, if you don't want to play Half Life 2 then don't buy it (but for gods sake, if you DO buy a program with that kind of verification procedure, then don't complain about it. Money talks and if you buy it you can complain all you want, you are still supporting it by giving them your money for it), if you don't want your car to have such a control mechanism then don't install one (assuming you can even get one).

Everything you mentioned except the chip in the car registrering your speed isn't really in the future, is it?

BoyOfDestiny

January 8th, 2006, 08:32 AM

There is an extremely simple solution to your problem, it's so simple it's just two words. "then don't"

If you don't want to watch streaming video on a cell phone (i assume you include video conference calls in that since that is what it is) then don't, if you don't want to buy DRM ridden music then don't, if you don't want to play Half Life 2 then don't buy it (but for gods sake, if you DO buy a program with that kind of verification procedure, then don't complain about it. Money talks and if you buy it you can complain all you want, you are still supporting it by giving them your money for it), if you don't want your car to have such a control mechanism then don't install one (assuming you can even get one).

Everything you mentioned except the chip in the car registrering your speed isn't really in the future, is it?

In regard to the car thing... This is U.S only, but some nations like to copy bad decisions. Not that it's guaranteed, but they are thinking it up.

http://news.com.com/E-tracking,+coming+to+a+DMV+near+you/2010-1071_3-5980979.html

mstlyevil

January 8th, 2006, 08:37 AM

I agree with everything you said, but the thing about cars. This is U.S only, but some nations like to copy bad decisions. Not that it's guaranteed, but they are thinking it up.

http://news.com.com/E-tracking,+coming+to+a+DMV+near+you/2010-1071_3-5980979.html

The UK is way ahead of us in the tracking Idea. Every car in the UK is going to be tracked and a database kept for five years in the name of safety. They are going to use their extensive camera networks to log all license plates and eventualy they plan to have GPS installed in every new vehicle. I honestly think it will be much harder to emplement in the US because civil libertarians will tie it up in court.

lyly

January 8th, 2006, 08:44 AM

knowing the exact amounts of each nutrient in the meal would help me adjust my intake of them so i get what i need, no more no less. (you could automate your entire diet by hooking up a sonic bodyfat meter to it that measures your increase or decrease in fat and adjusts the recommended meal sizes according to that over time).

Sure would be easier than using a skin fold caliper, fast Jackson-Pollock, measuring every ingredient and calculating the percentage of every nutrient in it and finally adjusting meal sizes accordingly. Especially since i tend to go with what i already know so my diet gets extremely boring over time.

Why don't you just eat when you are hungry? the very exact calaculation is already done by your body, why want you some thing much more complicated?

BSDFreak

January 8th, 2006, 08:50 AM

Why don't you just eat when you are hungry? the very exact calaculation is already done by your body, why want you some thing much more complicated?

Try this, eat 1000 kcals worth of fast carbs, you can do that every hour and still be hungry in between meals. Your suggestion only works if the food you eat is good non processed well balanced food and only eat it when your body needs it (actually your body WILL want you to eat more than you need and it WILL want you to eat foods that it can store easily, we're not made to eat what we expend, we are made to eat more than we expend so that we can use the stored energy in periods of starvation, of course, we don't starve at all these days so we just get fat).

For me it wouldn't work anyway, my diet is part of my job and it's a very exact science.

lyly

January 8th, 2006, 09:06 AM

Try this, eat 1000 kcals worth of fast carbs, you can do that every hour and still be hungry in between meals. Your suggestion only works if the food you eat is good non processed well balanced food and only eat it when your body needs it (actually your body WILL want you to eat more than you need and it WILL want you to eat foods that it can store easily, we're not made to eat what we expend, we are made to eat more than we expend so that we can use the stored energy in periods of starvation, of course, we don't starve at all these days so we just get fat).

For me it wouldn't work anyway, my diet is part of my job and it's a very exact science.

Well of course it won't work if your aim is not to have a healthy alimentation... But making a lot of calculation wont help much, because every day your needs change, and all the sugar you don't burn today won't wait tomorrow. Moreover if you starve for a week, your body get acustomed to it and your metabolism will change, making your daily energy consumption lower... So when you eat more again, you'll get fatter than before... how bad!

Simple curiosity question: what is your job?

BSDFreak

January 8th, 2006, 09:21 AM

Well of course it won't work if your aim is not to have a healthy alimentation... But making a lot of calculation wont help much, because every day your needs change, and all the sugar you don't burn today won't wait tomorrow. Moreover if you starve for a week, your body get acustomed to it and your metabolism will change, making your daily energy consumption lower... So when you eat more again, you'll get fatter than before... how bad!

Simple curiosity question: what is your job?

It doesn't work either way, you really have to eat less than what you want to to get as much as you need but no more and you will need to eat well balanced meals. Sugar, starch, any simple carbohydrate will be cleared from your bloodstream rapidly, this will lead to two things, you will get hungry and you will develop insulin resistance over time (diabetes type II). The key is to never eat ANY carbohydrate alone, never eat white rice, pasta, bread, cereal (regular pasta and white rice are both sources for fast acting carbohydrates, it doesn't matter if it comes from sugar or white rice, the end result is the same) without adding some fat to it, preferably essential fats but any fat will do. This will slow down the absorbtion rate of the carbohydrates.

If i know what i need to eat in forms of protein/carbs/fat then calculating the constituents of every meal will allow me to get what i need, no more, no less.

My point was that your body don't want you to be "healthy" if you were to rely in your instincts alone you would eat highly processed foods with loads of simple carbs and you wouldn't move out of your chair if you didn't absolutely have to, the only reason to visit a gym would be to try to score with the women in there.

I'm a professional bodybuilder.

lotusleaf

January 9th, 2006, 02:11 AM

I'm not the one who's expressing fear over the "MS conspiracy".

Oh, great, another "no yuo!"'er, how satisfying. :P

If by new you mean being old, both in this discussion and in age then yes, you are correct.

Facts speak louder than redundant discussions, study the history and motivations of the company and it becomes obvious. I, for one, have better things to do than speak favorably about a convicted monopoly.

BSDFreak

January 9th, 2006, 02:49 AM

Oh, great, another "no yuo!"'er, how satisfying. :P

Following your example, that's all. ;)

Facts speak louder than redundant discussions, study the history and motivations of the company and it becomes obvious. I, for one, have better things to do than speak favorably about a convicted monopoly.

It isn't about speaking favorably about MS or not, i may loathe their business practices but i don't really believe in the vast "MS conspiracy" ruling our governments and lifes like you do.

Facts are that MS want to sell as much as they can in any way they can, not that they want to take over the world.