Monday, January 16, 2012

Not So Neat, When It's Obsolete

Article first published as Not So Neat, When It's Obsolete on Technorati.
In the stampede to make tech devices smaller, flatter, and thinner, are we sacrificing common sense for vanity?

The 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) just wrapped up in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the largest show in the event’s history, with more than 3,100 exhibitors across the largest show floor  – 1.861 million net square feet of exhibit space – and drawing more than 153,000 attendees from all corners of the world to see the newest, latest, and greatest in the world of tech offerings: Cell phones, TVs, computers, video games, cameras, appliances, and more. If it's tech, it's here.

The driving force of this annual show, is the insatiable demand by consumers for more and more tech. We blew past 2G, then 3G was better, now 4G is pushing data transfer speeds to your mobile phone as fast or faster than your home internet connection! Look at the offerings of any wireless carrier, it is a veritable arms race who can cram the most tech into their mobile devices. People demand larger and flatter screens, higher image density, LCD, Plasma, LED, more pixels, more more more more more.

The show also attracts all the press and independent tech reviewers. These privileged individuals get to see products in person 3-6 months before the product shows up on store shelves, while the general public gets to see glimpses of the new tech through the eyes of the reviewers.

This year, several in the press came back from the show, grumbling and  commenting that it was "boring" this year.
How on earth can a show with over 3,100 exhibitors taking up the better half of 2 million square feet produce a show that can be written off as boring by certain tech reports and reviews? Out of the thousands of exhibits on show, was there nothing there that captured their interest? Obviously not.

What can we expect from manufacturers year after year that are forced to produce innovative gadgets that warrant space age headlines and mind boggling concepts?

Are we, as consumers, inspired by these techno geeks putting unreal pressure on manufacturers to invest millions of dollars into research and development in this current financial climate, to outshine their current and  existing products, some of which haven't been released yet? When the iPad 2 is released, the iPad 3 is already in the works.

Does vanity, or a need to be first with the latest trend, cause an imbalance over necessity? It's now reaching epidemic proportions to have, say, the iPad 3, when you just bought the iPad 2 a few weeks ago, and it is already pushed to one side.

The financial cost to a business of research and development to come up with new tech at breakneck speeds is alarming on many levels. Consumers say they want to be clean and environmentally conscious, yet at the same time, they want the ultimate new tech, replacing it sometimes several times a year, and at what cost to the environment? Besides the obvious physical problem, the invisible issues of cadmium, lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium leeching into ground water can devastate water sources and earth for eons to come. This is not an environmental rant, however valid that point of view may be.

We are all guilty of it. We all like the next big thing, but if we like what we have and it does the job well, do we really have to have that shiny new gizmo just because promotional advertising tells us we do? Are you sure you want to spend $600 for the Samsung Galaxy Tablet when it's life expectancy with you is around 3 months; and for 2 of those months, you are drooling, salivating, and coveting the next model about to be released? As a tech professional, I get to handle and examine, operate and compare, many new products as they are launched by major manufacturers. There are some stellar devices among them; but most are superceded in a matter of months by their own brothers and sisters on the production line. So why the rush - why the race? Are consumers confused with regard to need over greed?

We aren't talking about inhibiting progress and invention here; it's a matter of injecting a little logic into the equation, and establishing if we really need to obsess about owning every new piece of gadgetry on show.  Is it imperative to be able to switch on your Samsung washing machine from your mobile device from 30 miles away? I don't think so. When it happens to me, I just ring the lady next door to do it for me.  :P

 Everybody loves an upgrade: something better and smarter than what we already have ~ but do we have to do it at this pace, and spend as much as we do? Perhaps it's time for reflection to allow the technomania to cool down a little.

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