Lessons from 10 years of technical reviews
That week was 10 years old, as I lead a technical column in The New York Times!
Among all the decades of technical progress, the latter was especially incredible. Since I wrote my first article in 2000, the world of technical innovations has been developing not so much as rushing forward with cosmic speed. Think about the now familiar technologies that did not even exist 10 years ago: HDTV, Blu-ray, GPS, Wi-Fi, Gmail, YouTube, iPod, iPhone, Kindle, Xbox, Wii, Facebook, Twitter, Android, online music stores, video streaming, etc., etc.
Now is a great time to take a look back and confirm - or refute the predictions made during the first decade of the 21st century.
Some technologies do not replace others - they complement each other. You have no idea how tired I was to listen to the endless prophets who predicted the release of "the killer of Aifon" or "the killer of Kindl." Listen, guys: the history of consumer equipment is the history of additions, not substitutions.
')
Television was supposed to kill the radio. DVDs were supposed to replace cinemas. Instant coffee was going to be a substitute for freshly brewed.
But here's the thing: this never happens. Want to know the future? Please: there will be iPhone and there will be phones on Android. There will be satellite radio and there will be AM / FM channels. There will be paper books and there will be electronic books. Some things do not replace others.
Sooner or later, all information will be provided on request. Over the past 10 years there has been a sharp transition from storing information on paper and tape to the consumption of data in digital form. Music, television programs, films, photos, and now books and newspapers. We want to have convenient and quick access to them from everywhere.
Our grandchildren will laugh at how the representatives of the current generation, in order to watch the film, got into the “car”, went to the “shop” and rented a plastic “disk”, which still needed to be “returned”.
For some people, self-esteem is directly related to the technique they use. Being the author of technical reviews is like standing on the stage: reader reviews are instant, emotional and incalculable.
All these years, I was struck by the heat of passions accompanying these reviews. One guy in 2006 wrote, for example: “It seems to me that you should be fired for such prearranged articles from your (kind of) respectable newspaper. Yes, if you think that I work in the microsoft or I am ungrammed, know that I am 15 years old! ”. Over time, I realized what was happening. Modern devices cause strong personal affection. Your phone, camera and music player speak for you, reflecting your views on life and your character. It is not surprising that some perceive the criticism of the devices they purchased as criticism of their own choice and, therefore, criticism of themselves.
Which leads us to the following conclusion:
People pass information through the filter of their own emotions. Some cultural differences in America have an ancient history and have no solution. The right to bear arms. Abortions. Justin Bieber (popular Canadian singer - approx. Lane.).
However, the emotions raging in the field of technology are no weaker. You cannot use the words "Apple", "Microsoft" or "Google" in your sentence without causing an emotional response.
When I tested iPad, I tried a new article format: it consisted of two separate reviews of the same length. One was positive, the other was negative. I wanted to show that this device can be viewed in different ways, depending on your technical level and experience.
But in the comments, Apple haters laughed at the “love letter” I wrote to Aipad, and Apple fans were furious when they read my “crushing” article. Surprisingly, these two camps completely ignored the part of the article that coincided with their opinion.
It is not so difficult to predict which technology will conquer the market, and which - no. The best thing about my work is the opportunity to meet really amazing technologies and attract everyone’s attention. Some examples: GrandCentral, Readability, Line2, the Canon S95, LightScoop, OpenDNS. I admit: I feel secret pleasure when I find out that the servers of some small company could not withstand the influx of visitors during the next Poug effect.
The truth is that it is usually not difficult to distinguish winners from losers. Anyone can do this. Some failures have become epic.
There was such a thing - Microsoft Spot Watch (2003). These wireless wristwatches displayed information about your affairs and messages - but they cost $ 10 a month, required daily charging and did not work outside your city, unless you filled out an application on the site in advance.
Or Akimbo (2005), a prefix to the TV, with which you could get access to any program - any, from a tiny catalog. The choice consisted of AdvenTV, “the first Turkish program that works on request”, Veg TV (“vegetarian recipes”) and Skyworks, “video filming of the most beautiful views of Great Britain from a helicopter”.
Incredibly, not a single employee of that company seemed to realize that their king was entering the market completely naked.
The time of some ideas will never come. The same "revolutionary" ideas appear from year to year.
Have mercy, people, nobody needs videophones! When we talk on the phone, we don't want to think about looks. We want to clean the dishes from the table, roll our eyes, turning to those who are sitting next to us, pick our nose. Of course, when we want to show a newborn baby, we use Skype or FaceTime. But not every time. If you try to sell us a phone specially sharpened for video calls, you will fail.
Teenagers do not need “communicators” who can only send text messages (AT & T Ogo, Sony Mylo, Motorola V200). People do not need a browser on the TV (WebTV, AOLTV, Google TV).
And forget about “refrigerators with Internet access” (3Com Audrey, Netpliance i-Opener, Virgin Webplayer). No one will ever buy such a thing.
Forget about eternal technology - no one will last longer than a year. Of the thousands of devices that I have tested over these 10 years, only a few still exist in the form in which they appeared.
Oh, of course you can remember the gadgets, the heirs of which are still here: iPod, BlackBerry, Internet Explorer and so on. But the skin is covered with goosebumps when you think about the millions of dollars and man-hours that were spent on the development of the now defunct technologies: Olympus M-Robe, PocketPC, Smart Display, MicroMV, MSN Explorer, Aibo. All these PlaysForSure players, handhelds, GPS modules for which you need to download maps through a computer.
Everyone knows that this is the path of any technology. The trick is to come to terms with the fact that you are buying an outdated thing and not to feel disappointed when it is taken out of production next year.
(Another trick is to know about the cycle in advance: new cameras in September and February, new iPods in September, new iPhones in July ...)
No one can keep up with the development of technology. Everywhere I go, I see the same reaction everywhere to the development of the consumer devices market: too many new products appear too quickly. It is impossible to keep up with all the trends, to know exactly what you need to buy, not to feel at the tail of progress.
It's true. There has never been a period of such grandiose changes in history. Unable to keep up with everything.
Finally, I will reveal a little secret: I also do not always have time. Damn it, it's my job to be in the know! And even I feel as if I'm trying to drink from a fire hose. I try as best I can — I read blogs, leaf through magazines, attend conferences and listen to PR people — but sometimes I feel like I’m trying to balance tsunami on top.
In other words, if you feel overwhelmed, then you are not alone, and that's fine. Just relax.
Among all the decades of technical progress, the latter was especially incredible. Since I wrote my first article in 2000, the world of technical innovations has been developing not so much as rushing forward with cosmic speed. Think about the now familiar technologies that did not even exist 10 years ago: HDTV, Blu-ray, GPS, Wi-Fi, Gmail, YouTube, iPod, iPhone, Kindle, Xbox, Wii, Facebook, Twitter, Android, online music stores, video streaming, etc., etc.
Now is a great time to take a look back and confirm - or refute the predictions made during the first decade of the 21st century.
Some technologies do not replace others - they complement each other. You have no idea how tired I was to listen to the endless prophets who predicted the release of "the killer of Aifon" or "the killer of Kindl." Listen, guys: the history of consumer equipment is the history of additions, not substitutions.
')
Television was supposed to kill the radio. DVDs were supposed to replace cinemas. Instant coffee was going to be a substitute for freshly brewed.
But here's the thing: this never happens. Want to know the future? Please: there will be iPhone and there will be phones on Android. There will be satellite radio and there will be AM / FM channels. There will be paper books and there will be electronic books. Some things do not replace others.
Sooner or later, all information will be provided on request. Over the past 10 years there has been a sharp transition from storing information on paper and tape to the consumption of data in digital form. Music, television programs, films, photos, and now books and newspapers. We want to have convenient and quick access to them from everywhere.
Our grandchildren will laugh at how the representatives of the current generation, in order to watch the film, got into the “car”, went to the “shop” and rented a plastic “disk”, which still needed to be “returned”.
For some people, self-esteem is directly related to the technique they use. Being the author of technical reviews is like standing on the stage: reader reviews are instant, emotional and incalculable.
All these years, I was struck by the heat of passions accompanying these reviews. One guy in 2006 wrote, for example: “It seems to me that you should be fired for such prearranged articles from your (kind of) respectable newspaper. Yes, if you think that I work in the microsoft or I am ungrammed, know that I am 15 years old! ”. Over time, I realized what was happening. Modern devices cause strong personal affection. Your phone, camera and music player speak for you, reflecting your views on life and your character. It is not surprising that some perceive the criticism of the devices they purchased as criticism of their own choice and, therefore, criticism of themselves.
Which leads us to the following conclusion:
People pass information through the filter of their own emotions. Some cultural differences in America have an ancient history and have no solution. The right to bear arms. Abortions. Justin Bieber (popular Canadian singer - approx. Lane.).
However, the emotions raging in the field of technology are no weaker. You cannot use the words "Apple", "Microsoft" or "Google" in your sentence without causing an emotional response.
When I tested iPad, I tried a new article format: it consisted of two separate reviews of the same length. One was positive, the other was negative. I wanted to show that this device can be viewed in different ways, depending on your technical level and experience.
But in the comments, Apple haters laughed at the “love letter” I wrote to Aipad, and Apple fans were furious when they read my “crushing” article. Surprisingly, these two camps completely ignored the part of the article that coincided with their opinion.
It is not so difficult to predict which technology will conquer the market, and which - no. The best thing about my work is the opportunity to meet really amazing technologies and attract everyone’s attention. Some examples: GrandCentral, Readability, Line2, the Canon S95, LightScoop, OpenDNS. I admit: I feel secret pleasure when I find out that the servers of some small company could not withstand the influx of visitors during the next Poug effect.
The truth is that it is usually not difficult to distinguish winners from losers. Anyone can do this. Some failures have become epic.
There was such a thing - Microsoft Spot Watch (2003). These wireless wristwatches displayed information about your affairs and messages - but they cost $ 10 a month, required daily charging and did not work outside your city, unless you filled out an application on the site in advance.
Or Akimbo (2005), a prefix to the TV, with which you could get access to any program - any, from a tiny catalog. The choice consisted of AdvenTV, “the first Turkish program that works on request”, Veg TV (“vegetarian recipes”) and Skyworks, “video filming of the most beautiful views of Great Britain from a helicopter”.
Incredibly, not a single employee of that company seemed to realize that their king was entering the market completely naked.
The time of some ideas will never come. The same "revolutionary" ideas appear from year to year.
Have mercy, people, nobody needs videophones! When we talk on the phone, we don't want to think about looks. We want to clean the dishes from the table, roll our eyes, turning to those who are sitting next to us, pick our nose. Of course, when we want to show a newborn baby, we use Skype or FaceTime. But not every time. If you try to sell us a phone specially sharpened for video calls, you will fail.
Teenagers do not need “communicators” who can only send text messages (AT & T Ogo, Sony Mylo, Motorola V200). People do not need a browser on the TV (WebTV, AOLTV, Google TV).
And forget about “refrigerators with Internet access” (3Com Audrey, Netpliance i-Opener, Virgin Webplayer). No one will ever buy such a thing.
Forget about eternal technology - no one will last longer than a year. Of the thousands of devices that I have tested over these 10 years, only a few still exist in the form in which they appeared.
Oh, of course you can remember the gadgets, the heirs of which are still here: iPod, BlackBerry, Internet Explorer and so on. But the skin is covered with goosebumps when you think about the millions of dollars and man-hours that were spent on the development of the now defunct technologies: Olympus M-Robe, PocketPC, Smart Display, MicroMV, MSN Explorer, Aibo. All these PlaysForSure players, handhelds, GPS modules for which you need to download maps through a computer.
Everyone knows that this is the path of any technology. The trick is to come to terms with the fact that you are buying an outdated thing and not to feel disappointed when it is taken out of production next year.
(Another trick is to know about the cycle in advance: new cameras in September and February, new iPods in September, new iPhones in July ...)
No one can keep up with the development of technology. Everywhere I go, I see the same reaction everywhere to the development of the consumer devices market: too many new products appear too quickly. It is impossible to keep up with all the trends, to know exactly what you need to buy, not to feel at the tail of progress.
It's true. There has never been a period of such grandiose changes in history. Unable to keep up with everything.
Finally, I will reveal a little secret: I also do not always have time. Damn it, it's my job to be in the know! And even I feel as if I'm trying to drink from a fire hose. I try as best I can — I read blogs, leaf through magazines, attend conferences and listen to PR people — but sometimes I feel like I’m trying to balance tsunami on top.
In other words, if you feel overwhelmed, then you are not alone, and that's fine. Just relax.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/109181/
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