When one considers all the technology that may come down the pipe, it is difficult to really imagine what our lives will be like in even 5 years. Suffice to say every advance in technology will reap an unexpected and sometimes unwelcome harvest. Look at how quickly our habits change. Next time you are standing in a Starbucks line-up notice how many people have their heads buried in some sort of mobile email device, most likely a BlackBerry. Access to email has become such a part of many people’s day to day lives that they are more addicted to their email than to the coffee they are lining up for! Just ask any one if they would rather go without their BlackBerry for a day or no coffee; no question, they will forgo the jolt of java in favour of being connected.

There is a really compelling new direction our wireless world is taking. From a technology perspective it is compelling, that is, not necessarily from an ease of use perspective.

Many of our mobility devices are now designed for hybrid networking. These devices work on more than one network. For example I am testing out the Blackberry Bold, a new Blackberry that actually looks almost exactly like the older Blackberry. The difference is the Bold has WiFi built in. So you can log onto your home or office network and use the Wifi connection. 

It is not very often in this forum that I choose to write a whole column on a single piece of technology, not when that technology is a printer - make that a multifunction device. Blackberrys, or iPods yes, imaging devices, not so much. That is going to change because I am smitten with a peripheral: HPs PhotoSmart C8180 All In One.

I have probably shown a few dozen multifunction printers on my show over the years, and I have to tell you, the bar is pretty high when it comes to today’s crop of AIO (all-in-one) devices. Each time I look at a new one I am impressed with the innovations in print technology, price and interface. The manufacturers are constantly challenged to come up with better, less expensive, more innovative technology, and the bar keeps climbing higher.

This week brought the much anticipated MacBook Air into the Dotto Tech studios for our first look at the somewhat controversial new notebook from Apple. Once again Apple is leading the way in innovation with a new class of notebook.

It is not really a subnotebook and it is definitely not a full sized notebook. The MacBook Air is ultra light - only 3 lbs - but it still has a large 13” screen and a full sized keyboard. Thin is in, and as the TV commercials pay testament to, the Air will slide nicely into a manila envelope. 

As they did with the first iMacs, Apple has eschewed removable storage on the Air. There is no optical drive - the Air is designed to be fully self-contained - and in fact there is only a single USB port and a headphone jack, plus a mini DVI video output to allow peripheral connections.

New interfaces are tough to come by. I spent several days recently with Apple’s iPod Touch. It has an entirely new interface, which it shares with its more press-worthy sibling, the iPhone, which we are still waiting for in Canada.

For both the Touch and iPhone, Apple has developed an interface they are calling Multi-Touch. It is a touch screen that also understands gestures. For example sliding your finger will cause a different action than merely tapping. This opens up entirely new concepts of navigation and control.

One of the frustrations I have with the whole computing scene is the fact we are for the most part interfacing with our computers exactly the same way we did back in the late ‘80s.

Think about it, Apple (through Xerox) released the Macintosh (after the failed Lisa) and the graphical user interface was delivered to the mainstream. We were introduced to the mouse, to the desktop, to “point and click”, and ease of use became the buzzword.

One of the time-worn traditions in Canada is the post office tango - getting gifts ready to ship to our friends and family across the country and overseas. We have all been through the packing, the packaging, and the standing in line at the post office while the person in front of you counts out exact change at a painfully slow pace, while complaining that stamps used to cost a nickel!.
Canada Post realizes that time is precious, so they’ve come up with a bunch of new web based tools that is redefining their business. And thankfully, we are the ones that benefit.
Case in point, Ship in a click. If you visit Canada Post’s web site, you will see a ton of new tools, and Ship in a click is designed for you and I, you will undoubtedly use it year round once you see how easy it is.

You can ship anywhere, you want, if you have to ship to the US or overseas the software takes you through all the paperwork that needs to be in place.

I have had the pleasure of speaking to several educational conferences recently. The challenges our educators face in a highly evolving technical world is daunting.

Not only do today’s educators have the responsibility of providing a basic education to our children, they do so in a world that is rapidly changing. It is sort of like coaching a hockey team in a league where the rules change from game to game. OK, so it is not so different from what NHL coaches face, but teachers are paid a lot less!

Teachers and Parents are being overwhelmed by the changing social structure of youth. Understanding what the changing rules of communications are is critical to helping your kids, or students, make good decisions, and help them when they make bad ones.

Today a kid can have an ongoing dialogue, over several days using every medium except face to face. Text messaging on phones, chat on the computer and email all fold together seamlessly in their minds and lives. We need to understand the subtleties of these tools and realize that conversations are now multithreaded. They take place over time and space and become a living document.