Amiga - What If It Were Today....

[the_leander]

Ah! I do and I appreciate that - although contextually, we're still talking about two entirely different things. Reading between your lines, I have surmised you can "suck" in different RSS feeds from varying places and sites of your choosing.

No, these are the peoples "tweets". But many blogs for instance have options to enable automated updates to their twitter account, effectively turning twitter into RSS by another name.

Forgive my ignorance. I had thought Twitter was another tweeny-bopper social site of sorts. You'll have to forgive me. I am programmed to think anything popular today must be incredibly stupid and unworthy. Not sure exactly where I picked that up, but it is what it is.  lol

Twitter is a lot of things, there is an huge amount of noise, but it offers you a robust toolset to filter it out to your specific interests/wants.

For a tweeny bopper, it's little more than a quick and dirty way to announce to the world their every waking moment and thought as it comes into their heads. For an Iranian dissident, it's a means to let the world know their government has just ordered in the imperial guard and is attacking unarmed civilians in the street they're standing in... Same tool, totally different usage.

And that's why I like Twitter. It is quite literally what you make of it.

[save2600]

And that's why I like Twitter. It is quite literally what you make of it.

Like most things in life, eh? Okay - thanks Leander. You've given me ample reason to check it out 'someday'. But for now, I'm quite content living without it. I appreciate you taking the time to explain it the way you did. Might be fundamental to some, but I've only been exposed to the tweeny/negative aspects of it. From what I've seen, read and heard: Twitter seems to be the laughing stock of the interwebs. Whatever. I still think it's a stupid name. lol

Great thread btw and sorry to all for the off-topic aspects  

[the_leander]

Like most things in life, eh? Okay - thanks Leander. You've given me ample reason to check it out 'someday'. But for now, I'm quite content living without it. I appreciate you taking the time to explain it the way you did. Might be fundamental to some, but I've only been exposed (through hearsay) to the tweeny/negative aspects of it.

No worries matey. Was good to be able to talk about it.

Great thread btw and sorry to all for the off-topic aspects  

Are you kidding, most of the greatest threads this place has ever seen has been off topic! :lol:

Besides, the discussion of the internet landscape in view of the original topic is fairly relevant I would have thought. Any new system would likely have to able to deal with these things in an effective manner, for better or worse

[Belial6]

I was referring to the claim that the root word of twitter is twit, as in an idiot.  Perhaps it was just a pun, but it is making a connection that just isn't there.

The problem isn't that this generation is dumber than previous generations.  What you are seeing that this generation actually does communicate more.  The downside to that is that just as has always been the case, most people are dumb.  You just didn't notice before because they had no way to tell you.  It's like violence against kids.  We live in an age where it is at an all time low, yet most people think it is more than ever because they now hear about every incident in the country, where as a generation ago, they only heard about it if it was in there state. A generation before that, they were luck if they heard about it when it was just one town over.

You really shouldn't complain about wasted bandwidth.  Just as I told my father a decade ago when he would complain about people using the internet for voice chat... It is the bandwidth 'hogs' that push the envelope.  They set the bar, and the rest follow.  For half a decade now, my phone has been run over the internet, and no one thinks twice about it.  Because of the bandwidth 'hogs' of last decade, I can now stream movies in HD to my TV from a selection of thousands of titles.  The bandwidth 'hogs' are our friends.  Bandwidth usage is graded on the curve.  Someone will be setting the curve for the class.

I am not a fan of facebook, or twitter, but I can definitely say that the internet has increased my letter writing by at least a couple of thousand fold.  Prior to the internet, I wrote at most 2 letters a year.  At most.  Today, I write half a dozen a day at least.  This being one of them.  Letter writing isn't dead.  It is just delivered online, and it has exploded in popularity.  The phone?  That might be used a little less, but that is only because people do so much more of the communication in notes.

I will agree with the atrocious spelling and grammar though.  I am not a stickler about either.  I generally go with the fact that complaints about spelling and grammar are more frequently not, internet speak for "I don't want to agree with you, but I have nothing to refute what you say, so I will look for spelling errors."  I avoid complaints about spelling and grammar because we all make mistakes now and then.  Declaring someone wrong due to poor spelling can only lead to a declaration that you are wrong yourself.  That doesn't mean that some of the stuff posted doesn't look like it was written by a retarded monkey.

[runequester]

its one of these funny things.

On one hand, I love technology today. I like having a quick, reliable internet device at hand if I am travelling, I love having an MP3 player, I love my linux computer and what it stands for.

On the other hand, I hate the social networking, I hate people text messaging in the middle of a conversation or dinner, I hate the consumer must buy the new gadget mentality.


So eh

[Belial6]

I am programmed to think anything popular today must be incredibly stupid and unworthy. Not sure exactly where I picked that up, but it is what it is.  lol:

I'm pretty sure that you over heard it from those kids on your lawn.

[save2600]

I'm pretty sure that you over heard it from those kids on your lawn.

LOL!  And yeah, the Twit in Twitter is a pun, but pretty damned close in reference to the silly status updates. Useful, relevant data that is absorbed by sentient beings who know what to do with said info - not ripping on that aspect of it. The_Leander is absolutely correct when he said it's all in how you use it. That's true of just about anything really, isn't it? Anywho, there's no denying MOST people are talking a lot, but saying very little in these "wondrous" times. Between texting, status updating, Facebooking, MySpacing, Twittering and yapping on their cell phones that is. Communication is at an all time high, but where is the content? Hardly on these mediums. Unless you have the patience and search filters in place of a saint.  :lol:

[Belial6]

But are we much better?  Yapping on about where a product 20 years dead would be today?  It's kind of like what I say my experience with Netflix is.  When I got Netflix a decade ago, I started watching every movie I ever wanted to see.  I then re-watched every movie that I wanted to see again.  THEN I started on the movies I don't want to see.  Most of it is crap.  Every once in a while though, I get a pleasant surprise and find something that I would have never found otherwise.  When I don't, I also get context on what other people find interesting.

We live in an age where getting information in not the skill one needs.  Filtering and processing the information is the skill of today.  It will likely become even more important in the future.

[Fairdinkem]

@dwaldrop

I think the key is customization like Android is with phones. If the computer in question has an operating system that offers the user all there basic necessities plus cross platform compatibility with complete consumer customization for that individual look and feel you just might have a winner.

[whabang]

I'd go as far as to claim that iPads and other tablets are the Amigas of tomorrow. They are going to cut out a big niche in the private market, and you can bet your arses on that there will be retro communities aimed at iPhones and Galaxy pads in 20 years!

[Fairdinkem]

I think its interesting how MacOSX with its imminent release of Lion adopting the application phenomenon is a sign of where everything is heading and google looking to release ChromeOS i think this will be the war that will be waged.

[Belial6]

I'd go as far as to claim that iPads and other tablets are the Amigas of tomorrow. They are going to cut out a big niche in the private market, and you can bet your arses on that there will be retro communities aimed at iPhones and Galaxy pads in 20 years!

I kind of doubt iPhones will.  They are designed to stop working eventually, and their reliance on a subscriptions for one of it's primary functions makes it unlikely.

[AmigaNG]

Lets get this thread back on track.  
 I think its a real shame that desktop computing has pretty much come to a stand still, and are going to left behind very quickly if there is not some big revolution as to why you need one.
 

 Smart phones are getting more and more advance and ok at the moment it difficult to see how you will be able to do certain type of work on a phone, like making web sites, desktop publishing etc, but then I never believed you could do any good video editing on on them, now you can thanks to iMovie and that's the problem the evolution going on in the mobile phone business and now the tablet market are going so quickly overtaking desktops as they are just standing still. Its not just smart phone either, TVs are getting better with internet built in and with more and more software being in the cloud why will you need to have a separate computer? Consoles are getting more and more like computers offering more and more features, web cam, video editing, etc.  
 

 What I'm trying to say is I can see it happening in maybe in less than 6 years even, that computers the way we think of them (big desktops) only being seen in business, not in the home, in the home your have smart phone with a dock to your tv, plonk it in and with a wireless mouse and keyboard your be able to do everything I can do on my desktop so why would you need one? Thats what the new amiga would have to be, a intelligent smart phone that when out of the dock your apps are touch controlled and work in the same way a current smart phone works, drop it in your dock attached to either your monitor or tv, the apps become desktop versions, with a simple blutooth connection to keyboard and mouse.

So the idea of a big desktop computer I think is nearing the end of line, and only geeks and business will have them, lucky I'm a geek.

[AmigaNG]

Lets get this thread back on track.  
 I think its a real shame that desktop computing has pretty much come to a stand still, and are going to left behind very quickly if there is not some big revolution as to why you need one.
 

 Smart phones are getting more and more advance and ok at the moment it difficult to see how you will be able to do certain type of work on a phone, like making web sites, desktop publishing etc, but then I never believed you could do any good video editing on on them, now you can thanks to iMovie and that's the problem the evolution going on in the mobile phone business and now the tablet market are going so quickly overtaking desktops as they are just standing still. Its not just smart phone either, TVs are getting better with internet built in and with more and more software being in the cloud why will you need to have a separate computer? Consoles are getting more and more like computers offering more and more features, web cam, video editing, etc.  
 

 What I'm trying to say is I can see it happening in maybe in less than 6 years even, that computers the way we think of them (big desktops) only being seen in business, not in the home, in the home your have smart phone with a dock to your tv, plonk it in and with a wireless mouse and keyboard your be able to do everything I can do on my desktop so why would you need one? Thats what the new amiga would have to be, a intelligent smart phone that when out of the dock your apps are touch controlled and work in the same way a current smart phone works, drop it in your dock attached to either your monitor or tv, the apps become desktop versions, with a simple blutooth connection to keyboard and mouse.

[the_leander]

 Smart phones are getting more and more advance and ok at the moment it difficult to see how you will be able to do certain type of work on a phone, like making web sites, desktop publishing etc,

You use the right tool for the right job. And there are certain jobs that are simply going to be beyond the scope of a 4 inch screen.

 but then I never believed you could do any good video editing on on them, now you can thanks to iMovie

The basics for sure, but if you're planning on doing anything even remotely delicate a smart phone simply isn't the tool for the job due to it's form factor. Even if in terms of processing power and software it could probably do it.  

v
 and that's the problem the evolution going on in the mobile phone business and now the tablet market are going so quickly overtaking desktops as they are just standing still. Its not just smart phone either, TVs are getting better with internet built in and with more and more software being in the cloud why will you need to have a separate computer? Consoles are getting more and more like computers offering more and more features, web cam, video editing, etc.  

 
The front room isn't the ideal place for net browsing no matter what you're running. It sounds like a really cool idea, right up until you actually try it.

 What I'm trying to say is I can see it happening in maybe in less than 6 years even, that computers the way we think of them (big desktops) only being seen in business, not in the home, in the home your have smart phone with a dock to your tv, plonk it in and with a wireless mouse and keyboard your be able to do everything I can do on my desktop so why would you need one? Thats what the new amiga would have to be, a intelligent smart phone that when out of the dock your apps are touch controlled and work in the same way a current smart phone works, drop it in your dock attached to either your monitor or tv, the apps become desktop versions, with a simple blutooth connection to keyboard and mouse.

The digital home is pretty much there already tbh. It's simply a question of who will sell whole packages. Currently as it stands Apple are really the only ones who could probably put together an out of the box setup that anyone can use.

But even outside of that, you can do every single thing you describe today with current tech more or less.

So the idea of a big desktop computer I think is nearing the end of line, and only geeks and business will have them, lucky I'm a geek.

Gotta be honest, I'm not really going to shed many tears for honking great boxes. I like my space

[motorollin]

It's the fact that soooo many people do not understand and comprehend root words anymore. Twit(ter). Knowing what a twit is, works out perfectly as most on it are exactly that.

The irony of your statement about people not understand the root of words is fantastic, due to your failure to account for the fact that "twitter" and "twit" do not share a root :lol:

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moto