At this years Oct-Stu-Beer-Fest, I was having a conversation with my mother and a few others about a conversation that I had with my mother the previous year.
Let me preface with this, my mother is not the most technically savvy person on the planet. In fact, I have been trying to teach her the basics of computing for over 10 years, and while she is finally starting to make progress, she has a long way to go.
That being said, I often talk to her about new technology when I begin using it and tend to get excited talking about technology.
Now back to the story. At last years fest, I was all hyped up about the power of my Blackberry. During our conversation about that, I said something along the lines of “you see, I have the whole world right here in my hands!”.
This is what I really wanted to post about today. The truth behind that phrase.
When I started on the internet, mobile phones were hardly available, hardly mobile, and hardly useful. Sure you could carry around a briefcase sized unit with a gigantic phone attached to it, but what was the point? They were mostly satellite phones with bad signals and VERY expensive. Plus, all you could do is make phone calls.
Today my cell phone is about the size of my wallet and has almost as much functionality as my desktop computer. Sure my desktop is more powerful and allows me to run some massive applications like Photoshop and Sonar, but while I am afk, I do not really need that much power.
What I do need, or want at least, is immediate access to my email, chat, internet search, and a GPS…oh, and to be able to make phone calls. 
While that may seem like I am asking a lot, that is hardly the full capability of current phones. For instance, the other day at Blimpie, my sandwich technician handed me his iPhone and told me to try out the new Madden 2009…on his iPhone! I played it for a while and it was a fantastic experience. The graphics and game play are just as good as any console version that I have ever played, and I did it all while standing in line waiting on my sandwich.
Back to the whole world. Not long ago, as some of you readers might remember, I decided to move all my of e-lifestyle over to google so that I could streamline everything. One account giving me access to a host of applications that I use daily, and available entirely online so that I could access them from any computer any time. What a fantastic idea that was. Little did I know that I would get my hands on a cell phone that would also allow me access to thesse online applications.
Currently, my blackberry proudly sports the Google Suite. I use gmail, google cal, gchat, docs and spreadsheets, search, and googlemaps on both my PC and my phone, sometimes at the same time.
With access to my email, at any given time, most importantly when I am afk and remember something that I was supposed to send to someone…I can send that message to anyone in the world.
Most of my good friends and family also use gmail and therefor have access to gchat, allowing me instant access to them without even having to call them. Not only that, but gchat supports AIM so all of my old chat contacts show up as well.
Before googlemaps on my cell phone, I would have to do all of my travel documenting on my pc, print out the pages, and run with that. While that is still better than old schooling it with a regular paper map, it is not as effective for me if I am already out on the town. While on tour this past year, we hit up a few cities that I had never been to. With ease we were able to navigate the cities, find the places we were looking for, and never once having to hit up a PC or a printer.
Top that off with the ability to search google for anything anywhere and I have access to the whole world, in my hands.
I am very excited to see where cell phones aka tiny personal computers are going to end up in the next 5-10 years. I think we are at the very begining stages of some great leaps in technology and will be seeing some very promising innovations in the very very near future.
Bret Phillips is a Musician, Audio Engineer, and Web Developer. 
I’ve got the whole world, in my hand…
At this years Oct-Stu-Beer-Fest, I was having a conversation with my mother and a few others about a conversation that I had with my mother the previous year.
Let me preface with this, my mother is not the most technically savvy person on the planet. In fact, I have been trying to teach her the basics of computing for over 10 years, and while she is finally starting to make progress, she has a long way to go.
That being said, I often talk to her about new technology when I begin using it and tend to get excited talking about technology.
Now back to the story. At last years fest, I was all hyped up about the power of my Blackberry. During our conversation about that, I said something along the lines of “you see, I have the whole world right here in my hands!”.
This is what I really wanted to post about today. The truth behind that phrase.
When I started on the internet, mobile phones were hardly available, hardly mobile, and hardly useful. Sure you could carry around a briefcase sized unit with a gigantic phone attached to it, but what was the point? They were mostly satellite phones with bad signals and VERY expensive. Plus, all you could do is make phone calls.
Today my cell phone is about the size of my wallet and has almost as much functionality as my desktop computer. Sure my desktop is more powerful and allows me to run some massive applications like Photoshop and Sonar, but while I am afk, I do not really need that much power.
What I do need, or want at least, is immediate access to my email, chat, internet search, and a GPS…oh, and to be able to make phone calls.
While that may seem like I am asking a lot, that is hardly the full capability of current phones. For instance, the other day at Blimpie, my sandwich technician handed me his iPhone and told me to try out the new Madden 2009…on his iPhone! I played it for a while and it was a fantastic experience. The graphics and game play are just as good as any console version that I have ever played, and I did it all while standing in line waiting on my sandwich.
Back to the whole world. Not long ago, as some of you readers might remember, I decided to move all my of e-lifestyle over to google so that I could streamline everything. One account giving me access to a host of applications that I use daily, and available entirely online so that I could access them from any computer any time. What a fantastic idea that was. Little did I know that I would get my hands on a cell phone that would also allow me access to thesse online applications.
Currently, my blackberry proudly sports the Google Suite. I use gmail, google cal, gchat, docs and spreadsheets, search, and googlemaps on both my PC and my phone, sometimes at the same time.
With access to my email, at any given time, most importantly when I am afk and remember something that I was supposed to send to someone…I can send that message to anyone in the world.
Most of my good friends and family also use gmail and therefor have access to gchat, allowing me instant access to them without even having to call them. Not only that, but gchat supports AIM so all of my old chat contacts show up as well.
Before googlemaps on my cell phone, I would have to do all of my travel documenting on my pc, print out the pages, and run with that. While that is still better than old schooling it with a regular paper map, it is not as effective for me if I am already out on the town. While on tour this past year, we hit up a few cities that I had never been to. With ease we were able to navigate the cities, find the places we were looking for, and never once having to hit up a PC or a printer.
Top that off with the ability to search google for anything anywhere and I have access to the whole world, in my hands.
I am very excited to see where cell phones aka tiny personal computers are going to end up in the next 5-10 years. I think we are at the very begining stages of some great leaps in technology and will be seeing some very promising innovations in the very very near future.