Convergence Is Crushing Gadget Functionality

An article on MSN’s Tech and Gadgets section caught my eye today.

Called ‘Converging on a big mistake’, the article points out that technology convergenge - specifically in gadgets - isn’t so great, and can really make the water murky when it comes to functionality, as well as some other points.

To some extent, I agree with her. By cramming many gadgets in one, you tend to lose the essence of some of the functions that you’re putting in as extras. If you look at - oh, say - a mobile phone, you can get a mobile phone loaded with extras like video recording, still camera functionality, GPS, WiFi, and others.

On a mobile phone, the video camera quality is poor, the sound is tinny, the GPS is a little hard to use, and most mobile browsers are - I find - depressingly complex to use, and have cluttered interfaces. This is because the mobile phone isn’t meant for this kind of use, meaning you do get reduced quality of the in-built kind.

Rise Of The Machines: Armies Of Real Transformers Coming Soon

It’s happened. Just like a science fiction film, innocently enough, 10 universities are collaborating with the European Union-funded Symbrion to create swarms of transformer-style robots for various humanitarian causes.

The scientists are aiming to create self-organising robots that will work in teams by 2013.

Researchers will create standards that will allow the robots to evolve, adapt, work together, and generally take over the earth, too - all with no human interaction or guidance.

I for one welcome our new automated, collaborative, and evolving robot overlords. However, if you want the full skinny on the actual developments planned for these robots, hit the link>

Video: Nanotechnology May One Day Make A Kickass Phone

In a video from Nokia, the Morph phone concept is based on nanotechnology.

Promising such advancements as touch-screen capability (of course), the ability to bend and fold the phone, stretchability, and a cool slap-bracelet mode too, this would make me chuck out a thousand iPhones to get one.

Check out the video after the jump>

Posted in concepts, videos. Tags: DRM, mobile, morph, nokia, OLED. No Comments »