tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216910.post1049814665286290253..comments2023-10-30T01:52:04.961-07:00Comments on Miniver Cheevy: Phone futurismJonathan Kormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249159323930786199noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216910.post-49880866898985834332012-09-14T15:20:06.044-07:002012-09-14T15:20:06.044-07:00The devices in our pockets are trackers.The devices in our pockets are trackers.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216910.post-61331903385279549492012-09-14T12:21:04.256-07:002012-09-14T12:21:04.256-07:00One issue with "telephony" and voice co...One issue with "telephony" and voice communications is the issue of what is called "dial-tone reliability". Compared to IP-based communications, analog landline infrastructure seems to be far more reliable. I dunno. I conduct voice interviews for a living. It's important to me to have low-latency, real-time conversations. Inflections, tone of voice, breathing ... these are all important. As they are for many business or relational conversations. I admit that my use case is an edge case, but this idea of dial-tone reliability (5 9's?) is something I haven't seen in other forms of verbal communications.<br /><br />On the other hand, I have heard that in Asia, the cell phone network is far better than the landline infrastructure; in fact the quality there is the opposite of what we find here.<br /><br />It seems somehow, though, that IP, with its asynchronous nature, is not optimized for voice communications. This, IMO, is one of the key challenges for evolving the telephone.<br /><br />AAlan Armstronghttp://onproductmanagement.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216910.post-45733698077701239122012-09-14T10:18:59.381-07:002012-09-14T10:18:59.381-07:00I have to confess that I missed the boat on the va...I have to confess that I missed the boat on the value of SMS, too. Why not just connect to email?<br /><br />And now I am an SMS enthusiast.Jonathan Kormanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06249159323930786199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216910.post-73407753267299169772012-09-14T09:55:58.678-07:002012-09-14T09:55:58.678-07:00Back around 1992, when I was working on X.400 (!?!...Back around 1992, when I was working on X.400 (!?!?) messaging systems at Digital for one of the big telcos, we were working with the office in Germany, who had a project with Deutsche Telekom for this thing called "Short Message Services". Why in the world, thought I, would you want to no longer be able to send long messages when you can already send short messages? I certainly missed the boat on that one. <br /><br />I was reminded yesterday of the old Kaypro (~1983) < s>portable< /s> "luggable" computer, which was 29 pounds, 64K, two floppies, no network, and ASCII-only graphics. The latest iPhone weights only as much as five quarters, fits in your back pocket, and has inconceivable computing power in comparison. My have things changed in 30 years! (And only a few years earlier it was punch cards and paper tape.)David Wieglebnoreply@blogger.com