Oh dear. I think my daugher is going to grow up to be a telecom executive. She's taken to walking up to the mirrored wardrobe doors and giving her reflection a kiss. I know where I've seen that before.
Anyhow, here's a glimpse of how the end of telephony as we know it might look.
The olde worlde way of making a phone call has been dial-establish circuit-talk-tear down circuit. It doesn't have to be that way.
For example, insead of switching between callers, I could fade different audio streams in and out. My wife can whisper to me even while I'm in theory on a conference call. It's ambient telephony, remixed.
Or how about this. My wife can listen in on my phone for a five-second period at any time. That way she can get a general idea of whether I'm in a meeting, on a call, driving, having a piss, or whatever. It's a sense of presence, but not in the way people normally think of presence.
These things may not come to pass. But one thing is certain: once unhooked from the circuit paradigm, new modes of communication are sure to emerge.
I'm hearing some ambient screaming from my daughter in the bedroom next door. Perhaps she's just issued a profit warning. I'm off to investigate.
Posted by Martin Geddes at 11:24 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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