Are PCs heading for extinction?

Here’s a good group of statistics from Mary Meeker at Morgan Stanley.
In the second quarter of 2007 Apple’s revenues were as follows: 47% Macintosh range of computers, iPods 40% and iTunes 11%. Fast forward to the first quarter of 2010 and the revenue figures looked like this: iPhone 40%, iPod and iTunes combined 24% and Macintosh computers 28%.
One other delicious bit of data. If you look at a graph showing sales of PCs against sales of smartphones globally you will observe that sometime in 2012, smartphones are due to start outselling PCs. So is the PC dead? I don’t think so.

Conflict minerals

We’ve had Blood Diamonds , so perhaps next it will be Blood Minerals and Blood Phones. Huh? Simply that many of the mobile devices that we can’t seem to live without nowadays contain minerals, some of which come from countries run by people that are a bit nasty. For example, that new smart phone you’re walking about with might contain tantalum that fuels conflict in the Congo. Tungsten, cobalt and gold could perhaps be added to the list of suspect substances.

Future Files

I was looking online to see whether my Australian publisher had started to promote my new book (Future Minds) the other day when I stumbled across someone from Adelaide blogging about my old book saying that it was more or less rubbish and I was more or less an idiot for attempting to predict what might happen in the future. Apparently, this is because my source material for the book was reading newspapers and magazines and because my worldview was coloured by limited experience – namely that of a fifty-year-old bloke from Sydney.

OK, let’s get the record straight. I am a forty-year-old bloke that was living in Sydney but is now living in London. She should have foreseen this, but more on this point in a minute. My worldview is indeed coloured by experience (show me where it isn’t). As for reading newspapers and magazines, yes, I confess. I like newspapers, magazines and books. I also travel and talk to a diverse range of people from all walks of life that are more intelligent than I am to have my views challenged. Clearly, if one spent all day reading the National Enquirer or UFO Monthly one might have a strange view of the future, but I find the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, New Scientist, Prospect and other publications quite useful.

I have nothing personal against Ms X  but I think she made two key mistakes. Firstly, she openly admitted that she hadn’t actually read Future Files and that her criticism was based on a small article in a regional newspaper. Secondly, her criticism becomes somewhat questionable when you realize what this woman does for a living. She’s a journalist and psychic. Go figure.

An eye to the future

Vision Optic Co. in Japan has created glasses that stop people from falling asleep. The glasses, aimed at drivers and students preparing for exams, feature an earpiece vibrator that warns the wearer when they are about to nod off. When I was growing up the television closed down – literally – at midnight and there wasn’t much chance of going shopping or paying a few bills at midnight because all the shops firmly shut at 5.30pm. Convenience stores and online banking had yet to be invented. But it’s not just that we need more sleep to incubate ideas, we need to daydream more too. An article in the Boston Globe claims, when we daydream, a specific pattern of brain activity is activated. This is known as the default network and it is in this brain state that the mind starts to make connections between seemingly unrelated information, ideas or events.

Culture & Thinking

A study led by Takahiko Masuda at the University of Alberta (Canada) has found that when Westerners look at an image they tend to isolate a central subject whereas East Asians tend toward seeing the image in its contextual entirety. For instance, when asked to look at a picture of an individual and judge his or her mood, a group of Japanese took into account the facial expressions of the background group whereas Western volunteers didn’t consider the expressions of the people in the background. Nobody to my knowledge has run this test using an fMRI scanner but it could be interesting to try it. Again, this all links back to different types of thinking and, in particular, how different individuals and cultures (and perhaps even institutions) acquire, process and retain certain kinds of knowledge.

Get rid of 1p coins

I’m starting to have ideas in my sleep. One from last night – why not round up all retail transactions in the UK to the nearest 5p and donate the 1p, 2p etc to charity? It would raise millions and get rid of those stupid coins that are worth next to nothing.

McDonald’s, Colchester – Why I’m not loving It

How about this for a new way to build customer loyalty – not.  I was in Essex a month or so ago and needed to check my email, so I went into McDonald’s, next to Leisure World in Colchester, to use their excellent free wi-fi service. I got a coffee, then another one.  I have no idea how long I was there, I didn’t think it was important. Then I got into my car, which I had parked in their carpark, and drove off.

So imagine my shock when, yesterday, I got a bill from somone or something called MET Parking Services for fifty quid ($100) for staying too long! Yes, that’s right, there is a limit on how long you can stay there.  Silly me, I thought they might like my business. Turns out to be the most expensive cup (or cups) of coffee in history.

Apparently there are signs telling you this but I didn’t see them. Probably because I wasn’t looking for them. I didn’t get a ticket either. It’s all automated, of course. Talk about a fast buck. Next time I’ll use the drive-thru – at KFC.