Bean Blog

Multitouch is hot. Kids and grandmas grab an iPad and within seconds know how to use it. What is it about this new technology that just works? Maybe it’s just because it is very, very old technology.

While it is a long-standing internal joke that every bad article/speech begins with “Webster’s dictionary defines X as…” (or more currently, “Wikipedia defines X as…”), I will nonetheless resort to this hackneyed technique. Paraphrasing Webster’s online dictionary, technology can be defined as “a manner of accomplishing a task, especially using specialized knowledge.”

So, if I were to drop a bunch of photos on a desk in front of you and ask you to sort them out, what “technology” would you use? If you were particularly far from the desk, you might whip out your extendable Grabber 2000 and manipulate its pincers to move the photos around. But most likely you’d skip all that extra effort and simply reach out with your hand, the oldest technology we humans have for accomplishing many physical tasks. And that’s why my four year old can play games instantly on an iPod Touch (ditto for iPhone and iPad). The modern system emulates the ancient interface of grab, move, tilt, and more.

Another new technology out now (using “technology” now in another way, meaning more precisely “electronic gadget”), is 3D TV. Big companies are spending a lot on this banking that homes across US and the world will adopt to watch 3D in their living rooms. At this time, there seems to be little in the way of media for these TVs, so unless you plan to watch only “Avatar” another six or seven thousand times to recoup your 3D TV investment, expect some pretty lame 3D experiences mixed in. (OMG did that flying arrow come RIGHT AT ME AGAIN FOR THE SEVENTY EIGHTH TIME AIIIIIYIIIIII! OK, I am bored). There seems to be no killer app for 3D TV, and in lieu of that, no breadth of real content that makes it worthwhile to buy. Ok, part of the Master’s will be in 3D… what will that get you? You’ll be ducking fairway shots in your living room? Not how I imagine a golf lover like my Dad spending a Sunday.

What really is wrong with the current iteration of 3D TV, and why this version will fail, is that it inserts a layer between the observer and the comfortable, old “technology” of observing: the 3D glasses. Is the average TV watcher really going to sit around in their living room looking like those 1950s photos? Maybe, maybe not, but it is probably not the fashion statement that is the problem – it is really a problem that the glasses make you decide between watching the 3D TV or taking part in the real 3D world. You need to take those glasses off again to plug back into reality. And that makes no sense.

But changes are on the way, even in the fledging world of home 3D… Glasses-free 3D is in the works. Of course, it has been in the works since around 2001, but with 3D TVs in your local Best Buy, there is finally a mass-market reason to step up the development of glasses-free 3D. It’ll still need a lot of content and a killer app to make people flock to it, but glasses-free 3D could finally bring new technology back in step with its old technology roots: just look, and you shall see.