Disruptive tech focus at Town Hall South
He drove all night, arriving in the South Hills at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday because all flights out of snow-covered New York City were canceled. That’s not the kind of disruption of technology how-to columnist and author David Pogue would talk about, but it did highlight his passion for imparting advice on an eager audience.
Pogue, also shaking off a cough, lectured on the ever-increasing rate of “disruptive tech,” or technology that is upending the usual rhythms of life. Beats, rhythms: They’re important to the former conductor and music programmer, whose coda at his Town Hall South lecture was a tech-parody version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence,” riffing on a grand piano with lyrics about a frustrating tech support call.
“But phone calls – isn’t that the last thing you do on your smartphone any more?” Pogue asked the packed audience in the Upper St. Clair High School auditorium.
“There’s a GPS, a gyroscope, 14 different types of radio antennas and so much more in the iPhone. And the iPhone 6 has a barometer. Apple: clearly keeping up with market demand for atmospheric pressure,” he quipped.
Pogue’s point was that the convergence of technology in such a small space has allowed for new types of markets. Going back to music for instance, he pulled out his smartphone to demonstrate the Ocarina app. It’s sold over 1.5 million units on iPhones.
“You blow into the mic, tip it for vibrato effect. But the coolest thing, because this app is connected to all other versions of the app, you can ‘tune in’ to anyone who’s currently playing,” he said.
“So you can hear a 3-year-old in Tokyo playing ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee,’ then click the map to find a young American struggling with the C scale.”
Another market that is using convergent technology is augmented reality. Pogue pulled up several phone apps, with one showing the real-time locations of subway tunnels beneath someone’s feet; holding the phone screen up would then show you ‘directions’ (arrows appearing to float in the air) to get to the nearest tunnel.
The most impressive, however, was an app called Word Lens, which translated any text into another language – and displayed it on the phone in the same font and background as if it were right in front of the person.
“I thought this was a joke when it was sent to me. I thought it was a hoax. But, no, it’s amazing. This thing is a miracle for anyone who travels. It translates text and displays it on your phone as if it were real and right in front of you,” he said.
Pogue said these apps are impressive, but they haven’t scratched the surface of what’s capable of fitting in your hand.
“The iPhone is only eight years old. This thing is the Model T. It’s the Commodore 64. We’re going to be saying in 10 years, ‘Yeah, well, back in my day I couldn’t roll my phone up; I couldn’t check in with my house thermostat.”
And that, Pogue said, is what the most emerging trend in 2015 and next year will be: appliances on the Internet.
“I hate the term, but it’s what’s used, it’s the ‘Internet of things.’ It’s what experts are referring to with virtual infrastructure that allows your washer, dryer, fridge and thermostat to be connected and controlled anywhere.”
Pogue pulled up his Nest Thermostat app, checking that his children at his Connecticut home have the temperature set at 73.
“We can’t have that. Let’s see, 64 ought to do it. They can put on a sweater,” Pogue said to laughter, “and just like that, I can monitor and change the heat setting in my home eight-hours-by-car away.”
The “Internet of things,” or World 2.0 as Pogue likes to call it, is part of the disruption of consumers not seeking brands and companies consistently anymore, but each other for services and products. He talked about familiar services like Uber and Lyft ride-sharing companies, and familiar but perhaps novel concepts like Air BnB, which allows apartment lessees or homeowners to sublet their property for specific times away. The rating systems, Pogue said, allow these services to continue and grow despite similar services that might be localized or trapped behind a storefront.
“Take Task Rabbit for instance. It allows you to post a task that needs doing and find the lowest bidder willing to do it. My wife needed flu medicine at work, so I posted that someone needs to go shopping. It was done for $20. Then, when she was running a marathon in a distant city, I used it to hire someone with flowers to stand at the finish line. Chivalry isn’t dead, kids.”
Pogue said these consumer disruptions are going to lead to a better social and economic world. But he is skeptical of companies pushing to make certain consumer items part of the trend.
“Wearable devices, like the smart watches rolling out, these are a dumb idea, at least right now. A product like this has to do something different or better than other devices. And it has to be good-looking, or stylish,” he said, “but Apple may change that this spring. It looks (better than the Samsung models) and has special medical sensors.”
Self-diagnosis and health monitoring will be another disruptive market, he said, but the technology is not accurate enough yet to be relied upon. Similarly, Pogue is doubtful about pitches from Amazon and other companies who say they’ll incorporate pilotless drones to deliver products.
“Are you kidding, Amazon? This is America. ‘Honey, look, another one of them new TVs up in the air!'” Pogue then mimes a shotgun blast.
As for TVs, Pogue said consumers don’t want 3D or curved TVs.
“But this is the consumer industry. You have to send up all 10 ideas and see which two stick.”
The dying trends of discs, wires and email are making way for streaming, wireless and real-time technologies, Pogue said. It’s all a matter of time before those things get disrupted, too.