This is the fourth in an open series of posts to introduce my dear readers to my favorite TED presentations.
I love reading.
I'm a little picky on what I read, because I like the books I read to be like escape pods out of my current reality into worlds, situations and stories I'm unlikely to be in. That's why the books I enjoy the most are generally fiction.
The one thing I do not like about reading, though, is books.
Books are so fifteenth century! All that tree-cutting that they require, and inks and stuff... And they weigh a ton... And they use up space...
Unfortunately the technology to replace books by something more convenient doesn't seem to be here yet.
I believe that in the near future paper books will be produced in much smaller quantities in the developed world. Most printed material will be replaced by some sort of digital equivalent (not the Kindle, though.)
My view of the future of books will be a subject for a post in the future. For now, I give you a couple of TED videos that are right in synch with it.
The first video is of Erin McKean. A lexicographer that talks about her view of words and dictionaries and how today's technology: computers and the Internet, can already change books and languages.
Before the video and putting book-stuff aside, I particularly relate to this quote:
This is a little-known technological fact about the Internet: that the Internet is actually made up of words and enthusiasm.
I said above that the technology to phase out paper books is not yet here. Sure, there's the Kindle I mentioned before or the slightly-nicer-but-not-yet-there Sony Reader Digital Book, and you can read on PDAs or the iPhone and other such devices. But none of them is quite there yet. They're either not ergonomic enough, or too heavy, or too light, or too small, or too big, or... you get the picture.
People are working on making this happen though. Here's a Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo by Blaise Aguera y Arcas. I guess he's actually demoing Seadragon, the technology behind Photosynth, rather than the latter itself. But Photosynth has the advantage of being publicly available, while you cannot run the other demos he shows.
Imagine technology like that on a device about the size of a paperback. A single color screen with no buttons, just thick enough to hold comfortably. Extended battery life... But well, as I said, this is matter for a later post.
Have a great week.