(Below is a post meant for last Tuesday, but we had a particularly hectic day so I didn’t get to finishing this post until a week later! My apologies for missing last week, but think of reading this post as time traveling to the past! It’s added value, like exclamation points!)
Greetings loyal readers,
It’s serious deadline business time right now on the magazine, so I don’t have a lot of time to devote to a long, clever post neatly relating to our industry (or attempting one anyway). I thought I would instead just give you all a quick blurb of something that that didn’t get into my computer accessories story for May.
In an interview with Mary Crug, co-owner of Direct Connections Inc., for my upcoming computer accessories story, one of the things she spoke about were these neat little flash drives that can be fixed to the zippers on clothing. Called Zip-R-Pulls, I think these things are pretty fantastic. Besides being a cool promotion, it means we’re fulfilling more of futurist Ray Kurzweil’s predictions about computing.
People wearing computing devices was one of his big things in his The Age of Spiritual Machines, a nonfiction book that predicts the future of artificial intelligence and how human consciousness is eventually going to blend into machines. Ray’s theory takes us from wearing computers to a (distant) tomorrow where humans have transformed into living coded streams of undying light flying around the galaxy. This is a gross oversimplification of his book, but trust me, things are going to be so rad in a few thousand years.
It’s neat to think a promotional product might be how wearable computers get mainstreamed. I know there have been computers integrated into clothing before, but they’re usually silly, high-cost vanity items that have no chance of becoming popular. Logoed flash drives on clothing, however, could really catch on because of their low price point, practicality and especially their use in advertising. I know this is kind of a ridiculous understatement, but I think we all know how powerful of a force advertising has been in the modern era. Just think for a second how much it has affected politics or fashion or music, and then what could happen if computers accessories really start to tap into that.
CHARLES PLYTER FACT OF THE WEEK: I think Charlie should write a book called “Yes Babies Sweat” and Other Facts About Infants Explained to 25-Year-Old Coworkers. It would be invaluable to have around the office, because then I wouldn’t have to stop Charlie 30 seconds into every story about his son for basic biological information like “You mean kids can’t gamble or help me smuggle fireworks into N.J. until they’re five? Then why even have one?”
