WEBVTT - What is convergence? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:09.040 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:17.680 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello, everybody, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:19.919 welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.119 I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot Com. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:25.200 Sitting next to me, as usual, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:29.200 I don't remember how to do this anymore. I don't 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.400 know what you're talking about. While I was gone for 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:33.320 a week and we skipped a week of recording. But 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.560 they don't know that. Well now, well they do, now 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.040 they do now. We record really far in advance, which 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:42.680 is probably why when you guys listen to some of 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.440 these podcasts where we have predictions things like that that 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:47.559 are very timely at the time that we record them, 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.519 they're not so timely by the time they come out. 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.360 That's why. Yep. And one of these days somebody's gonna 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:57.800 make a giant collider that anyway. Anyway, So we're actually 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.200 gonna talk about something that is pretty timely, and it's 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.840 something that we've chatted about in previous episodes as well. Right, 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:10.360 it's actually my favorite word, right, convergence. So We've used 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.399 this word a lot in the past, and uh, we 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:15.319 had a few people right and say, exactly what do 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.440 you mean by this? Can you give some examples? What's 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:21.119 the deal with this whole convergence thing? And of course 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.560 the word convergence has very has several meanings, but from 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.040 a technological standpoint, in general, what it means is that 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:33.240 you have multiple gadgets or devices in different form factors 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:37.240 that begin to do the same sort of tasks, so 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:41.040 that eventually they all begin to evolve into a more 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.800 unified form factor. And there are a lot of different, 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.640 uh examples that we can give. Yeah, when did you 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:50.360 have a particular place to start? Or should I just 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.640 throw one out? You can throw one out if you like. 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:54.520 I've got I mean, I know the most obvious one 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.320 in my mind, but go ahead. Okay, Well, um, let's 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:00.120 go back in time a little bit then, me be 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.360 you know, back when you had a video game console 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.400 and something that played movies. They were both attached to 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.359 your TV. That's a good example, very good example. Yes, 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.640 So you had let's say, either a laser disc player 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:20.120 or a VCR exactly, and you would use that to 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:24.400 watch recorded shows and then you would wanna hit a 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.040 little switch on the back of your TV so you 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:31.679 can switch it over to your kick ass and play 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.239 a little uh you know, berserk or or if you're 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:41.640 unlucky like me, et and Adventure Adventure Pitfall, Pitfall best 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:47.519 game for hands Down, River Raid second best game anyway. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:49.919 So let's say that you wanted to do all that, well, 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.000 you needed to have two different devices hooked up to 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.040 that television, probably possibly some sort of converter box to 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.839 switch between the two. Um these days not so much. 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.680 You've got calm souls out there that are also media 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.880 systems of some sort. So whether it's a device like 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.400 the Xbox that can also play DVDs or even download 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:13.440 movies off the interwebs and onto the hard drive, or 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:15.480 the p S three, which is also a Blu ray player, 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.280 you have these devices that can both play games and 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:23.280 display movies. Um. So that's a that's an example of convergence. 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.440 It was two different technologies that eventually molded into one. 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.560 Uh yep, And I was I was about to make 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.200 a crack about the Wei. I am a dedicated we owner, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:35.040 so it's not a slam. I'm just I'm just teasing. 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.440 I was gonna say, oh, yeah, like the we can't 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:39.600 and I went, wait, no, it's you know, got an 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.800 Internet browser on it and you can download games on it. 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:45.760 So it is converging even though it doesn't have a 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.600 DVD or but now it's converging more with say a 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:53.360 computer than um that necessarily a media player. But then 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:57.320 convergence has convergence, right, And essentially all these consoles are 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.440 just not just but all these consoles are Arey's specialized 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.520 computers realized when when you get down to it, Um, 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.880 they're not quite the same as a desktop or laptop, 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.800 but you know, it's a computer nonetheless. So yeah, I mean, 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:12.880 and even back in the day, back when you had 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.480 two separate machines, you might say, well, well, Jonathan and Chris, 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.880 where was the where was the evolution of this? You know, 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.159 how did this eventually come about? You might argue that, say, 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:27.000 the old um, the old media players weren't really much 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.000 of a game system except for the fact that I 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:32.799 actually did have some games that used the VHS uh format. 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:34.800 Yeah you know what I'm talking about, kind of like 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.119 the choose your own adventure type stuff that the murder 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:41.200 mysteries and things like that. Well, that was the deal 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.520 was that it was there were people who were seeing this, 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.279 this as an opportunity to create an interactive experience with 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:49.799 the audience, and they saw it as you know, hitting 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.080 a market that was not getting touched. And I think 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.880 it was you know, I thought thought leaders like that, 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.719 who I'm sure most of them failed because I mean, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.080 it's it was a clunky interface, But it was it 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.840 was thought like that that lead to convergence of these 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.599 two different technologies because people said, hey, you know what, 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.560 they don't Your average consumer doesn't want that much clutter 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.800 and would like to have a device that can multitask 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.640 so that you don't have to have an entertainment system 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.599 that holds fourteen different set top boxes. Although I know 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.120 someone who has probably that mini um right next to 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.839 his enormous television um. So that's a good example. The 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:35.240 example that always comes to my mind, it's the it's 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.440 just one that I see all the time. It's the 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:43.920 personal computer and the cell phone. They are getting closer 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.640 and closer together now in the United States. It's only 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:49.919 been the last couple of years that we've really seen 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.359 this explode. Before that, it was pretty much just in 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:59.919 the realm of the enterprise user, so businessmen businesswomen who 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.200 were pretty high up in their company wouldn't need to 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.720 have some sort of handheld device that would keep them 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:07.840 connected all the time. At first, they were they were 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.240 p d as, they didn't necessarily have a phone in them, 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.760 so they were kind of like little handheld computers with 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.680 limited functionality. And then you eventually got to more and 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.039 more powerful cell phones that began to have some of 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.840 the p d A functionality. And now we've gotten the 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.240 point where the smartphones that we see out on the 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.039 market today have more functionality than a PDA ever had, 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:32.200 to the point where they really like small handheld computers. Um, 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.120 they're not, you know, not as versatile as a computer. 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.680 They don't have all the different bells and whistles that 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:42.280 computers have, but they're much more powerful than the standard 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.240 cell phone, like a candy bar flip flip phone. I mean, 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:50.080 it's they're much more powerful than that. And uh, at 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:53.680 the same time, you're seeing laptops getting smaller and smaller 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.719 into the netbook range where the features are starting to 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.680 get yeah, kind of cut down to to the bare 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.480 base x because so much of the the processing power 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.600 and storage capacities is shifting to the cloud. You've got 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:09.760 computers that are starting to look more and more like 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.000 cell phones. I mean, they're smaller, they're not as powerful 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.280 as the classic computer. UM and some of them even 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:20.960 have cellular UH modems so that you can hook up 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:24.560 to a data a data line on a three G 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:27.720 network and use that instead of WiFi. True, or you 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:31.200 could UM if you have access to something like UM 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:36.400 the Verizon myi Fi, the little portable network device. You're 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.720 using the cell network to power your to act as 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.760 a connection to that network and to provide WiFi access 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.760 to your computer, or maybe a y max modem that 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:49.080 you could plug in and that would let you travel 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.239 and access to network. And you know, you could start 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.200 Skype up or some other chat program to converse using 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.280 your computer over the wireless network. Right, use voice over 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.840 Internet protoc hall and now you're you're making phone calls 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.960 over your computer or you're using your smartphone to you know, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.840 check on weather and and Internet. I mean, it's this 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.960 is what we're talking about. We're talking about convergence. Now, 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:16.000 is the smartphone or the netbook the ultimate form factor 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.720 that this this particular kind of device is going to 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.320 take We don't know. It may be that these two 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:25.160 devices never fully converge into one, but the way that 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:27.680 the way things are going, I would not be surprised 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:31.880 if we had a handheld device that probably probably would 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:33.520 have to look more like a phone than a computer, 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.640 just to keep the phone functionality, uh, easy to use 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.439 without having to have a separate headset or something like that. 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:43.240 That's just a guess, though I could be totally wrong. 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.080 It might turn out that this Mac tablet that's been 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:48.679 rumored forever and is still in the rumor stage, no 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:52.120 one's announced it. We we're recording this shortly after w 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.280 w d C, and of course, uh, some of us 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.840 were disappointed to see that there was no mention of 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.960 this Mac tablet that's been the rumors for for a 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.600 year now, really, or a Mac netbook for that matter. 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.240 A lot of people were sad about that. Well, except 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.760 that they've Apple has been pretty forthright about saying they 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.200 will not do anything that's in the netbook form. Factor, 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.120 that doesn't prevent people from hoping that they're a lying 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:18.319 that's true, that's true. We can always hope that they're 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.600 being a little duplicitus. Although the tablet makes sense because 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:23.680 it would come out to be about the same price 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.640 level as a netbook, so they could compete within the price, 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.240 but it would be a different form factor. But that 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:34.280 Mac tablet could in theory be the first step to 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:39.080 a unified device that finally really bridges the gap between 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.000 the phone and the computer. Or it could just be 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.319 another little side step that doesn't ever go anywhere. That's 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.560 the thing. You can't really predict these things. True, true, 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:50.400 But you know, I was thinking about it as we 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.959 were doing some research, and I don't know that convergence 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:58.880 is necessarily limited to the electronics world, I mean as 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:03.480 the actual physic electronic devices. She started thinking about Facebook, 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.559 and I thought, well, you know, it's a social networking site, 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.520 but it's also become increasingly a platform for things like 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.880 games and uh so, I mean, convergence is is more 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.640 than you know. It looks like people are trying to 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.920 find other ways to tie in products and services together 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.520 all in one. And sticking with the Facebook example, you 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:28.280 could also argue that Facebook resembles Twitter quite a bit 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:32.679 now now that after the after Facebook underwent it's most 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:37.160 recent um cosmetic change, the news feed is a lot 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.800 like a Twitter feed, particularly if you are like me, 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.840 and you start to hide all the quizzes that pop 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.840 up because I hate them. People. If you befriend me 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.520 on Facebook, be prepared for me to complain if you 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.000 if you take lots and lots of quizzes, especially if 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.120 you take seven or eight in an hour, because I'm 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:57.760 gonna hide all of them and then I'm going to 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:01.320 complain about it because yeah, you really will, Yeah, yeah, 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.480 I really yeah. If you look at my Facebook status 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:05.960 is you know, you'll see like every few days and 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:10.920 I'll make another snide remark about these quizzes. Um. But 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.160 it is very much like Twitter. Then you have Google, 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:19.360 which now search engine andy, uh, phone platform and a 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.760 payment platform. And you know there's Google Docs, there's Google 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:27.079 I Am yeah. Google Wave. Actually, we wanted to talk 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.560 about Google Wave a little bit. It's it's early for 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:31.480 us to talk about it. We do not have access 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:33.560 to Google Wave as of the recording of this podcast, 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.520 although we're changed trying to change that as soon as 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.880 we possibly can, because it's cool but uh but not cool. 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.920 C U I l it's cool c O O l um. 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.040 But Google Wave. That's a joke for all you search 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.440 engine fans out there. Google Google wave is is pretty 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:55.280 nifty looking. I mean, it is again an example of convergence. 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.719 In this case, we're talking about the service convergence, like 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:02.320 like Chris was saying, right, Um, it's designed to be 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.480 sort of a combination of email and I AM and 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:11.800 collaborative documents like Google Docs, because you can actually rather 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.280 than sending an email message back and forth and threading 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:18.000 them together like uh Gmail does, it would actually let 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.760 you edit uh the one message going back and forth 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.559 at the same time, which is pretty weird. It's it's 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:29.560 it's like, yeah, I actually watched the demo, and the 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.000 demo was very impressive. At one point they had at 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:35.839 least four people all working on the same threaded conversation 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.120 at the same time, and you could actually see the 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.760 updates live there. It's it's not one of those things 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:42.520 we have to refresh the page or wait for it 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:46.480 to refresh. It's actually updating in real time, and so 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:51.120 you see and every every person's uh changes are are 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.600 a slightly different color, and you can see the person's 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.640 name next to the cursor as they're making the change, 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:58.800 so you know who is doing what at the time. 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.440 And you can even do things like share pictures and 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.319 videos and that sort of thing and link them all together. Uh. 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:10.600 It's it's really pretty phenomenal what they've built so far. 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.760 And even more than that, Uh, the whole purpose of 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.520 the demo wasn't to say, hey, look at this cool 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.400 thing that we built. It was more to say, hey, 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.720 we built this platform. We want developers to come out 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:27.440 here and and build applications that that use this platform 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:31.720 as its foundation and make it even more useful, which 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.920 is a great idea and uh, I honestly can't wait 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.840 to see what happens. It looks to me like it 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:49.120 could revolutionize really search and conversations and collaboration. It's just uh, 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:51.840 it's it's too early to really make any big predictions. 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:53.400 And of course it may never come out of beta. 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:59.640 But Google, Yah, it's coming out though. Gmails coming out 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.560 of beta. Uh huh it is, okay, I believe you 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.480 all right. So what basically we're talking about then, is 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:10.000 that all of our electronics will gradually merge into one device, 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.240 and on that one device will be using one service 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.560 that it involves all of our gaming and work and 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:20.600 communications and everything all of our needs in one place. Well, 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.240 in theory, that would be the ultimate convergence. I don't 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:25.680 think we'll ever quite get there, but you know, as 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:31.160 another example, televisions and computers are slowly converging. We we've 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:35.880 seen at CES, We've seen internet ready television's for a 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.080 couple of years. Now, um there's they still have very 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.920 very low impact in the market. I mean, there are 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:46.320 hardly any services that that offer Internet TV, and they're 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.920 hardly any televisions that actually can take advantage of it. 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:54.480 But eventually, if this takes hold, we will have televisions 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:59.000 where you can you essentially have the DVR incorporated in there. 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:03.320 You have this is essentially like Hulu and YouTube incorporated 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.760 in there, so that you suddenly have this enormous wealth 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.800 of of content that you can you can access just 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.560 using your television. And not only that, they there are 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.520 a lot of services out there, including Yahoo, that have 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.560 worked out ways to put widgets on your TV and 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.840 you'd be able to access uh you know those plus 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.800 services like Twitter and probably Facebook and my Space and 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.400 all the other social networking sites so that you get 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.920 access those via your TV. So you you know, have 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.840 your big screen and be able to Internet and watch 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.720 TV and everything else to your heart's content. So you 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.360 never have to get up off the couch or if 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:43.440 you have one of those cool touch screen TVs, you 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:45.480 get up off the couch to play some weird games. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:49.520 Oh and then there's that. Yeah, so that's the low 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.760 down on convergence. We again, we're when we're using that term, 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.400 we're really just talking about the tendency for all these 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.320 different technologies to kind of hone in on the same 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.360 sort of user experience. Um, they just come at it 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.280 from different angles, and ultimately we may end up with 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.360 a single form factor or it may turn out that 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:16.200 no single form factor dominates it. Really, it's all very chancey, 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.000 there's no easy way to predict it. Granted, now, if 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:23.920 if Apple comes out with the killer device, they're they're 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.080 they're just dominating that handheld device market. I mean when 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.360 you go to the iPod in the iPhone in the 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:32.680 United States anyway, they have such a strong presence. I 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:37.640 could easily see a killer Apple device dominating and then 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.520 no one ever rests it away from them. Um. I 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.240 don't know that that will happen, but but it wouldn't 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:48.240 surprise me. Yeah, I think that they at least will 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.280 try eventually. Um, but I think there are plenty of 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:53.560 other people who would like shot at it too, so, 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.120 you know, and it may be one of those things 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.120 where it's just not a one size fits all world, 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.840 you know. And there are other things to consider as well, 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.639 like like Apple, even though they have a killer device, 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.040 you may wonder why I don't own an iPhone, and 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.320 it would be because I'm not an a T and 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.959 T customer. So there are considerations like that. If you 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:17.600 have a device that is married to a particular service 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.399 provider and there are people who are not customers of 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:24.679 that service provider, that could be enough to prevent a 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.280 one you know, one device to rule them all and 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.840 one device to bind them I'm not going to do 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.760 the rest of home, but yeah, that might be enough 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.720 to to prevent that from ever really happening. So, but 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:43.520 the tendency to go toward that that single form factor 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:46.560 that's always going to be there, I think. Yeah, and 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.520 so is the curmudgeon factor for people who just absolutely 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:53.080 do not want one device to rule them all. Right, yeah, well, 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.040 and and here we can take a quick moment to 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.879 talk about one of the downsides to to convergence and 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.560 getting all of your gadgets into one form factor, which 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:08.040 of course, is you don't have the luxury of redundancy. 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:10.639 That This is what I would call the the toilet factor. 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.680 The toilet factor explained. So if you, you know, take 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.320 your one device into the bathroom break and you drop 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.440 it into the toilet, all of your stuff is lost forever, right, 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.160 All your music, all your contacts, all your documents. Of course, 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:27.400 if you're storing stuff on the cloud, then theoretically you'll 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.800 be able to access at least some of it again 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.040 once you get a new device. But yeah, that is 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:35.720 the danger of having all of your your utilities and 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.960 features and everything piled into one device is if you 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.600 lose it or break it, or it's stolen or whatever, 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:44.880 if you no longer have access to it, you've lost everything. 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:49.280 You haven't just lost you know, your music collection or whatever. Um. 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:53.400 So yeah, that's another argument against convergence and and why 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:57.520 you'll you'll see some gadget lovers will have five or 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:59.720 six gadgets and they wouldn't have it any other way. 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.879 Then have people like me, and I'm like, get it 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.199 down to the bare minimum so I don't have to carry, 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:09.040 you know, four different kinds of devices and four different 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.680 kinds of chargers just so I can you know get 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.280 by Well, you know, I kind of thought you liked 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.240 that sort of Batman utility belt. Look, well, if I 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:22.280 had a utility belt, sure, a bandalier, A bandalier would 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.280 also be cool. I would not turn down a bandalier. 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.760 But um, right now, all I have is at my 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.760 little messenger bag where they all clank together and it 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.000 just gets heavier and heavier as I add gadgets. And 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:37.960 that's uh, that's that's quickly becoming not cool. Yeah, well 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:40.479 they scratch each other up right. Also, yes, I do 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:42.960 have a scratch on my smartphone now, which makes me sad. 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:48.440 I'm very sorry to hear that. All right, are we are? 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.080 Are we done? I don't have anything else to converge 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:54.520 into our discussion. Well then I guess that takes us 0:19:54.600 --> 0:20:04.760 straight to listener me baton none the hatches. Alright, So 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:09.400 here's a listener mail from Steve from Sydney, Australia, and 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:13.440 I am not going to do the accent. Hi, guys, 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.080 just a simple little question that I was pondering and 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.040 wondered if you had an opinion. Should a film still 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.040 be called a film if it is recorded digitally? Many 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.480 thanks Steve. So this is just an opinion question. What 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:31.159 do you think? Um? I Well, my first reaction to 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:37.520 that is, I'm sorry the email is cutting out of me. Um, 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:41.119 because that's a really good question. Here's here's here's my 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:45.480 my take on it. Um. While you may not technically 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.639 call it film, uh in the sense that it's not 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:52.480 actually you know, images on the film, I think the 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.560 term film is so entrenched that it's all right to 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:57.640 call it that. I mean, just like you wouldn't call 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.600 you not every copy er is a xerox machine, right, 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:06.440 but exactly exactly, But you still have people who say, like, 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:08.040 I need to make a zerox of this. They don't 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:09.320 say I need to make a copy or I need 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:10.920 to go to the copier. I mean they might now 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.399 same thing with band aids or jello. I mean, these 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:18.760 are all trademark names that technically only apply to one 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:22.040 specific thing, but people use it across the board. I 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:24.000 think film is pretty much the same way. It doesn't 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:28.000 really matter that it's not on the medium and known 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.040 as film. So you don't think people just call them 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:35.520 movies movies or motion pictures or moving pictures or talkies, 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.520 or that their shadow show that goes on when I 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:44.239 go into the theater box. Um. Shadow Show, by the way, 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:48.080 is an excellent horror novel. Uh the Uh yeah, I think, 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:51.600 I mean I don't. I would not get uppity with 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:54.880 someone who referred to a movie as a film, even 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:58.159 if it were recorded and projected digitally. Yeah, that's the 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:02.119 whole thumb versus finger thing. Yeah, yeah, I mean people, 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:05.159 I've heard people correct me when I've said, you know, 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:08.359 called things you know, CDs, albums and you know, an 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:11.760 album of music is, in my opinion anyway, an album, 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.520 regardless of what format has recorded on also a record. 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.119 It's a record, you know. You can have a written 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:22.399 record of something. Is it recorded exactly? Version of music? Yeah, 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:24.399 you know, just because it's on a CD doesn't mean 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:26.560 it's not a record or an album. You wouldn't call 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:30.399 it final. I wouldn't call it an LP. But in 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.200 this case, yeah, I probably wouldn't call it a film. 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:35.479 But then again, I usually call the movies anyway, so 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:38.440 it may just be my personal semantics. So Steve, go 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:41.040 ahead and call it a film. And if your friends 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.560 laugh at you for calling it film when it's recorded digitally, 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:48.639