I’m not a millennial by any stretch but I’m certainly bored with technology right now.
Apple keeps making iterative improvements to its technology. They just bought back the Apple iPad mini (my favourite for years and I couldn’t understand why they stopped making it) with updated technology. in 2021 they announced a new (old) iPad mini, new (old) Apple Watch, new (old) iPhone. Impressive camera cinema filming mode on the new Apple iPhone but overall, boring.
Samsung has given it a really good shot with a folding phone but it’s so niche that most of us are like…’How would I actually use this thing to its full potential?’.
TV’s get bigger and smarter. Screen tech like OLED looks better but it’s still just…a bigger TV.
Robot vacuum cleaners copy the iRobot and seek to improve on suction power, lidar sensors and self-cleaning docking stations. iRobot did that whole robot vacuum cleaner 15 years ago.
Home Theatre and HiFi technology become more integrated with amplifiers that can be controlled with Alexa and wireless speakers that actually sound half decent but it’s still effectively the same amp and it’s still a speaker, wires or not.
Smart Homes have all but stagnated. They’ve made great inroads and had mainstream success and Alexa and Google Home have really assisted with adoption, but beyond smart lights, locks, power switches, cameras and a couple of appliance integrations there is nothing new here either.
Tik Tok becomes cool with short-form video, which Vine did years ago, then Snapchat, with youtube figuring out where it fits in. facebook copies Tik Tok, and Instagram. Audio social media networks with Clubhouse which is like a massive party line kick-off, twitter tries to copy that. Facebook play with copying clubhouse. Social media is still social media. I don’t feel anything groundbreaking here, just a movement of people from one platform to another as they become on-trend. Sigh…
In-car technology now includes smart assistants and build in navigation. Not much further on than the TomTom and Navman of its day. Give me a self-driving car that works and I’ll change my tune.
Amazon updates its Kindle ebook reader with a new interface but it’s still an ebook reader and there isn’t anything groundbreaking here. We’re still not too far on from the original 1997 Rocketbook.
In fact, my Cassiopeia from 2000 was pretty cool even next to my iPhone. 😉
Bored, Bored, Bored.
What happens next?
Does it ever feel like you’re on a technology hampster wheel?
Like you’re the evolution of a revolution that happened 30 years ago?
Truth is, we really are.
Are we waiting for the next epoch in the world? The iron age, the industrial revolution, the digital age. Is it being accelerated because technology is moving us faster and faster forward?
What’s next?
I don’t know. This isn’t clickbait. I have a lot of theories, wishes and hopes (especially around medical breakthroughs) but few true insights.
Perhaps if I did, I’d be rich?
Endless hours of experimentation, professional work, and personal investment in Home Theatre, Hi-Fi, Smart Home Automation and Headphones have come to this.
Former owner of Headphones Canada, a high-end headphone specialty retailer.