Popcorn, Pepsi, Petabytes…

When it comes to technology, reel can become real and fiction can turn into fact, asserts an old-timer.

AD: Hey, guess what? I unearthed a couple of Tintin comics that you had gifted me when I was a kid - Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon...

BC: Did I? They were so futuristic… Can you imagine a moon landing being described in such detail almost 16 years before man set foot on the moon?

AD: Absolutely!

BC: Talking of the moon, there’s a 1929 silent movie titled Frau im Mond – that’s German for ‘Woman in the Moon’. It introduced the concept of counting backwards – or the countdown, as we know it now – to the world...  

AD: And rocket launches were never the same again. Who would have thought technology would be inspired by entertainment?

BC: Hewlett Packard’s Model 200B audio oscillator was a result of the 1939 Walt Disney film ‘Fantasia’.

AD: Really?

BC: Walt Disney Studios was exploring a novel audio system – Fantasound. And Hewlett Packard was commissioned to create new Oscillators that could handle low frequencies. They would be used to record and test the Fantasound systems. Both the movie and the Oscillators were a big hit....

AD: So that was the earliest avatar of surround sound...

BC: Right. And each time you see a re-run of Avatar on TV, you can’t help but admire James Cameron for his vision. He had to get visual effects software developed to achieve the kind of look he had in mind…

AD: Amazing how people can visualise imagery using technology that doesn’t even exist!

BC: Star Trek is the most popular example of that. There are so many devices used in the series that inspired inventions in the coming decades.

AD: I haven’t seen the 60s version…

BC: They show characters using ear plug-ins that look like the present Bluetooth headsets.  Captain Kirk also uses a flip open communication device that resembles the flip type mobile phone – only mobile phones had not been invented then.

AD: And the flip phones came almost four decades later.

BC: If a forty year period surprises you, what would you say to predictions made 125 years ago?

AD: You’re kidding…

BC: There’s a book titled Looking Backward: 2000-1887, written in 1887 by Edward Bellamy. It describes life in the year 2000, where electricity would be used for domestic chores and talks of ‘direct to home’ music through telephones...

AD: Did he also predict music piracy?

BC: No, he painted a pretty rosy picture of the future, like people retiring at 45...

AD: That’s a fantasy that even Spielberg cannot bring to life...

BC: Taking of Spielberg, remember the Tom Cruise starrer Minority Report? The movie showed personalised ads in 2054...

AD: We’re getting there. When you do an online search, send an email or leave a post in a social networking site, you see ads relevant to the key words you have used.

BC: Perhaps it’s natural that most science fiction fantasies acquire a cult following and soon companies and inventors try to cash in on the craze...

AD: The latest craze is obviously brought about by the man the nation refers to as the ‘Superstar’.

BC: Bullets that don’t need a gun?

AD: No, a website dedicated to him that doesn’t need an internet connection.

BC: How is that possible?

AD: Well, there are two powers in this world that can make the impossible happen – the other’s technology. 

On the seventh day of Facebook...

They’re radical, they’re temporal, but they’re not optional... An old-timer tries to come to terms with the latest developments on Facebook.

BC: Hey, you had posted an article about the falling Indian rupee on Facebook.

AD: Interesting one, right?

BC: I wouldn't know, I couldn't read it...

AD: Why not?

BC: I clicked on the link, but it took me to a window that not only asked me to add the app to Facebook, but also ‘required’ my description and likes. I declined...

AD: That's Open Graph...

BC: With Facebook, life became an open book – but an open graph...?

AD: Open Graph allows you to share what you read, with your Facebook friends...

BC: So the world will know everything that I read online?

AD: No, you can decide who will see the list of articles you've read.

BC: Listen, half my Facebook friends are people I don't know too well. So what happens when I'm working on a project related to sexually transmitted diseases? Can you imagine the list of articles that people will find me reading?

AD: Look at the brighter side – Open Graph helps publications drive traffic to their content, it helps marketers understand your preferences and it also helps Facebook build your profile based on your reading and listening habits...

BC: Why is everything on Facebook slowly tending towards collecting information about users?

AD: It's not! For starters, what would Facebook do with that data?

BC: You tell me, you're the tech guru here. Incidentally, do you know about that Austrian law student who requested Facebook for all the personal information they had on him? He got a response - over 1200 pages of information on him, his Facebook activities, posts, messages, likes... And the scary part is that even posts he thought he had deleted were part of the document.

AD: Hey, aren't you getting a little too hyper about this?

BC: What if someone hacks those servers and retrieves information and photographs about...

AD: Why are you worried about such things, unless you have posted a photo of you dancing away on New Year's Eve in a hula skirt, and have forgotten all about it...

BC: Don't worry, there's neither any incriminating evidence nor a colourful past...

AD: Think again, because Timeline's on its way...

BC: I shudder to ask - what's that?

AD: Timeline is Facebook's new way of organizing all your information - comments, messages, links and photos - in a chronological fashion, the most recent ones showing up first.

BC: Another change? Oh c'mon... Can I just stick with the existing layout? I just about got used to it...

AD: Right now, Timeline's optional, but it may soon become mandatory and you may not have a choice.

BC: I don't understand it... Why is change being forced upon us?

AD: Technology's all about evolution... The trick is to ride the wave and embrace change ahead of the rest...

BC: Ahead of the rest? If Timeline's going to hit all of us at some point, why rush?

AD: Because if you opt for it now, you have seven days to 'purge and purify' - in other words, edit out all those shocking posts and photos and also review your settings so that your newfound friends don't have to see your older posts...

BC: Seven days... how dramatic! Like God made the world in seven days?

AD: Well, He rested on Sabbath, but with our hectic weekly schedule, we might be working overtime on Sunday, going through older posts...

STAYING CONNECTED - OR CONFUSED?

The ‘zen’ in ‘senior citizens’ needs to be taken more seriously when you configure the internet for them, avers an old-timer.

AD: Does familiarity breed contempt or comfort?

BC: Neither. It creates conflict, if you take the two of us…

AD: You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?

BC: No, but I will, in a minute. I can’t see you walking away without lecturing me on some aspect of technology each time you see me.

AD: It’s just my way of trying to making you see the merits of technology. But then, as they say, we live in hope.

BC: And why this metaphysical analysis on familiarity?

AD: A friend of mine was telling me how his Mom was having a problem with the way websites were frequently changing their look. Her mail service provider had replaced the trash button with an icon of a trash can and she was pretty confused by the new layout.

BC: I know that feeling. For most senior citizens, the computer is as alien as musical notations are to someone who has never studied music. We tend to forget the fact that most of them have not used computers or the internet in their education or at work.

AD: But it’s so easy to learn to use a computer…

BC: Well, the simplest operation or command can be so complicated for those who are not familiar with a computer. Do you realize that almost every word – like mouse, shift, cookie, cursor, menu, icon, browser, folder, file or scroll – has a different meaning in the cyber world? Actions like download, upload, right-click and double-click could leave a beginner all at sea…

AD: Never thought that these terms would be so difficult to understand…

BC: Imagine their reaction when they receive a message asking them if they wanted to ‘kill’ unresponsive pages...  

AD: It would probably send a shockwave through them.

BC: These things happen in a flash, you see.

AD: What about GUI? They should find it easier to handle, right?

BC: Small icons, buttons spaced faraway, subtle colour variations – all of these could confuse senior citizens.

AD: What about the convenience factor? Websites offer a lot of valuable medical information and health tips. Most paperwork and payments can be done online now.

BC: In an age where everyone is wary of phishing and internet security, how do you expect the older generation to be comfortable with online accounts? 

AD: But the speed at which you can get work done…

BC: The internet can alternate between being really fast and painfully slow. And this affects the behavior of websites.

AD: I still don’t understand it… What’s so complicated about these websites?

BC: The pop-ups and annoying ads that explode on your screen and cover the web page… Can you imagine an 80-year old looking for the tiny x in a corner of the pop-up to close it?

AD: I’ll have to admit, they are pretty irritating…

BC: Even useful features like the auto-fill facility and Google's auto-complete feature that completes your search entry before you do, can confuse first-timers. I know a few senior citizens who were spooked because words appeared before they typed them.

AD: Can I never get you to look at the internet as a boon?

BC: The internet also brings with it lots of trouble - spam, malware, spyware, virus, trojans and other unfavourable by-products of modern technology…

AD: Are you not going to trust anything new?

BC: Why not? I'll give 2012 the thumbs up. After all, be it a New Year or new technology, don't we all live in hope?