Walter Mossberg - Walt Mossberg writes two columns and edits a third for the Wall Street Journal. He also publishes periodic interviews for the Journal and occasional blog posts on their site.
With Kara Swisher, he co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference.
Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Mossberg discusses the future of the internet and the rise of the cell phone at the 2008 Aspen Ideas Festival, forecasting the fate of the PC and exploring the implications of the iPhone and other smart phones.
Thanks for sharing this presentation. It's not everyday one gets to listen to Walter Mossberg. Also, it links to the speech Eric Schmidt gave this year about the Internet.
Walter Mossberg did a good job of summing up where we are, but he didn't add much describing the connected world of even a few years from now will be. In a world of devices that can see and hear, all objects and information about them will be connected.
Very informative. Many good questions were asked following the presentation. Walt is a master at communicating in a way that the average tech end user can understand.
Walter was completely wrong about the future of the PC. I can't use an iPhone for many things. For example, I can't possibly use an iPhone to do Photoshop, the Digital Audio Recording software I use, and many more. People who use large spreadsheets can't do them on an iPhone, either. He obviously doesn't use this kind of software or he wouldn't make that claim. iPhones are for people who do other kinds of computing. I won't be abandoning my PC for an iPhone any time soon. It just can't do the things I want a computer for.
The questions at the end were dreadful, I felt so bad for this guy. Asking how to get out of a contract and the gent who completely missed the point of what "The grid" was referring too. Poor poor Walt.
8:16 re: [we no longer say in the course of mundane activities for example ] hey I'm on the electrical grid -
we may not, but that only describes the new mundane.
We still complain about the cost of gasoline and repairs, and we still complain about potholes.
Unlike science, Technology is a truth, you cannot argue a hammer out of being a hammer, microprocessors are the underlying technology, the truth, not the programs that run on them.
14:25 Re: microwaves attached to the Internet - [so you can let the software bind the cooking time to the manufacturer's instructions]
just push a button and the food is cooked for you.
(Pc since 1977) It is 2009 but we are still pushing buttons. The technology has not changed since the 1940s.
The shape of the technology is different and its capacity to add subtract and compare have greatly increased.
But without a programmer, even the most advanced computer is still as dumb as a bag of hammers.
It still all comes down to two things:
our five senses
and
our personal behavior.
16:02 Re: 160 characters [old technology] - good points.
"iPhones" the Internet use the delivery system designed in the late 1960's.
New technology will be unexpected and most likely attributes of experiences for which we have no extant context.