Nerd Tech

When I was in highschool I read the opening to a book on Tombraider. I don't remember what kind of book it was, but I seem to recall it was more than just a strategy guide. The introduction posed the idea that much of what we have gained now in technological innovations are often inspired by fantastic dreams of their creators. For instance the desire to build robots are a certain type is not ever purely out of functional or pragmatic reasons, but from literature the inventor read as a child which sparked a personal obsession. In short, childhood dreams, often turn into adult innovation.

I'm a huge fan of Josh Whedon's Firefly. Many of the commentary on the social world throughout the show speaks to me. It was the type of Sci-Fi I like, I could spend hours discussing ideas of the whole 'verse from the hierarchy of companion guilds, Alliance politics, or core world/outer rim distinctions. That was the beauty of it, it was a large enough world in which we geeks can wallow in its richness and opened the door to greater inquiries.

So Google just released a new bit of software which they call "Google Wave". I am a shameless fan of Google products. I think they're often well designed and is seriously breaking the traditional use of technology by companies. Obviously anyone who is also a fan of Firefly knows the insignificant mention of the core planet technology they also called waves.



I think this was the only mention of how a "wave" worked. I still think in the Firefly 'verse, computer technology was returning to a "mainframe" model. Basically the tablet which young Simon was using is just a device which communicates to a local mainframe for computing power. From the conversation this could be one that serves the entire district. The bulk of the technology that accesses the mainframe gains a sort of timeshare on the processing power. I can imagine Simon's wave was particularly large and taxed the mainframe so much that it "shorted out" anything else that was tapping into the mainframe, like Mr. Tam's office computer. I can only guess that a "dedicated sourebox" would be a dedicated source of processing power to the mainframe just for Simon. Perhaps even switching over to other mainframes throughout the city if the local one didn't allow enough power. Like the difference between buying a condo and buying a timeshare. This would allow Simon greater processing power and an always on connection which with Simon's skills also allow him access to other mainframes throughout the city.

ok enough geeking. (seriously get me started on talking about AR and you'll be here for hours.)

With the popularity of light computers such as netbooks, pocket computers, and cloud computing this may be where we are going towards. I can't wait to be sending waves on my netbook accessing the school WiFi on the campus courtyard.