In a few years and given that the dream becomes a reality, this day’s comic will become semi-obsolete.
The dream is for technology to become so cheap that virtual paper will become possible.
That means that the computer hardware is ultra thin and requires next to nothing, material wise, to construct. (This portion is literally a reality, today.) It all exists on a flexible circuit board.
Then, there is the LCD screen. (or something similar to it.) That, too, must be very cheap to produce with flexibility and a stylus, touchable interface. (Much of this portion exists today. However, it currently is still quite rigid and far too expensive. Though, new technologies are emerging that may kill the high price tag. Touch screens are becoming more common by the passing months.)
The battery may still be the stumbling point. However, if the monitor and computer circuits can be made extremely low current, then a few, small cell batteries (like are used in watches) may do the trick.
The final part of the equasion is making hot spots so common that in populated zones, your Virtual Paper will have constant access to remote hosts. Hot Spots are slowly ebbing their way into our life in both public spots (Star Bucks/McDonalds/Libraries/etc.) and private spots. (Residence/personal car/mini-van/etc.)
This means that you can pick up a fresh Virtual Paper for $10 at any vender, log in and get your daily virtual news paper, (complete with moving pictures/video files with audio) play a game of Sudoku (or a ton of other things) read the comics, surf the net, write a paper, do office work…almost anything a laptop could do…for a day/week/month, saving all work to a private account on some remote storage medium, spill coffee on your Virtual Paper, toss it into a recycling bin and pick up a fresh Virtual Paper on your way to where ever. So, your comic would have to be revised to having the Virtual Paper being wadded up and tossed in…and that Crags List WAS the news paper’s classifieds…or something like that.
We’re closing in on this notion becoming a reality. However, the future is always in flux. Perhaps, this will surface as a reality. Or, just become another faded idea in what could have been. For now, price is still just a little too high. And, imagine what it could do to the table top/laptop/net book industry? Leave them as a specialized industry towards corporate worlds that can’t trust vital information just traveling through the airwaves and hard core gamers that may not find a piece of high tech paper worthy enough to play the most demanding games on.
Personally, I like the keyboard over a stylus interface. They’ll probably have a keyboard option that can be plugged into a mini-USB plug for that need.
Want examples of future technology, today? Take the mini-SD card. This thing could fit inside a hollowed out dime. The one I saw held four gigs of memory. And sold for a profitable price of $15! Check out Apple’s newest laptop selections. Believe they called the thing “Air”. The case was just large enough to house a super thin screen and the circuits must have been hugging the keyboard. There just wasn’t much of a case around the keys for…heh…anything. No idea where a traditional HDD would have been at. The only thickness at all was at the back. Seemed to be thick to support the shape of the ports. Battery? No idea where that was.
In a few years and given that the dream becomes a reality, this day’s comic will become semi-obsolete.
The dream is for technology to become so cheap that virtual paper will become possible.
That means that the computer hardware is ultra thin and requires next to nothing, material wise, to construct. (This portion is literally a reality, today.) It all exists on a flexible circuit board.
Then, there is the LCD screen. (or something similar to it.) That, too, must be very cheap to produce with flexibility and a stylus, touchable interface. (Much of this portion exists today. However, it currently is still quite rigid and far too expensive. Though, new technologies are emerging that may kill the high price tag. Touch screens are becoming more common by the passing months.)
The battery may still be the stumbling point. However, if the monitor and computer circuits can be made extremely low current, then a few, small cell batteries (like are used in watches) may do the trick.
The final part of the equasion is making hot spots so common that in populated zones, your Virtual Paper will have constant access to remote hosts. Hot Spots are slowly ebbing their way into our life in both public spots (Star Bucks/McDonalds/Libraries/etc.) and private spots. (Residence/personal car/mini-van/etc.)
This means that you can pick up a fresh Virtual Paper for $10 at any vender, log in and get your daily virtual news paper, (complete with moving pictures/video files with audio) play a game of Sudoku (or a ton of other things) read the comics, surf the net, write a paper, do office work…almost anything a laptop could do…for a day/week/month, saving all work to a private account on some remote storage medium, spill coffee on your Virtual Paper, toss it into a recycling bin and pick up a fresh Virtual Paper on your way to where ever. So, your comic would have to be revised to having the Virtual Paper being wadded up and tossed in…and that Crags List WAS the news paper’s classifieds…or something like that.
We’re closing in on this notion becoming a reality. However, the future is always in flux. Perhaps, this will surface as a reality. Or, just become another faded idea in what could have been. For now, price is still just a little too high. And, imagine what it could do to the table top/laptop/net book industry? Leave them as a specialized industry towards corporate worlds that can’t trust vital information just traveling through the airwaves and hard core gamers that may not find a piece of high tech paper worthy enough to play the most demanding games on.
Personally, I like the keyboard over a stylus interface. They’ll probably have a keyboard option that can be plugged into a mini-USB plug for that need.
Want examples of future technology, today? Take the mini-SD card. This thing could fit inside a hollowed out dime. The one I saw held four gigs of memory. And sold for a profitable price of $15! Check out Apple’s newest laptop selections. Believe they called the thing “Air”. The case was just large enough to house a super thin screen and the circuits must have been hugging the keyboard. There just wasn’t much of a case around the keys for…heh…anything. No idea where a traditional HDD would have been at. The only thickness at all was at the back. Seemed to be thick to support the shape of the ports. Battery? No idea where that was.
Science.