Science fiction and the cellphone

Science fiction is not normally my first choice of reading material, unless of course it is about the trips through galaxy as described by a very funny writer called Douglas Adams. But I have been converted to the modern Cory Doctorow-style science fiction.

Somehow his books seem to appeal to my vision of the future. I think what has disappointed me more than anything else about the predictions of other science-fiction writers has been the fact that modern cars don’t fly yet, if ever.

That was such a promising idea and something I looked forward to. I tried my luck with flying lessons in a two-seater Cessna, but when the instructor informed me that it was time to try my luck with my first solo flight, I suddenly ran out of time and money, coward that I am. On the other hand, it could have been his way of getting rid of a hopeless student.

Nothing beats taking off from Virginia airport in Durban, heading out over a blue ocean before turning inland to float in the air over the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. In my instance, instructor-assisted, of course. Nevertheless, “Gone to heaven, do not disturb” sign hanging off the wing!

So one can understand that a car that can fly could be appealing to me. Not as dangerous as a two-seater Cessna, but at least off the ground. What a letdown to realise that this is unlikely to happen in my lifetime.

Reading about the wondrous technology in Doctorow’s book Eastern Standard Tribe makes total sense and I can relate to it. Some of the technology used in the book fits nicely with the type of predictions I have myself for what the cellphone will eventually morph into.

Wouldn’t you like a hand-held device that is your computer for technical drawings, calculator for advanced mathematical purposes, money-dispensing machine, barcode reader for shopping, a travel card for public transport and electronic key to the car?

This is a gadget with decent-size hardware to which to save documents and multimedia data, and point and click to take photos, check fingerprints, scan irises, X-ray luggage and a whole slew of security-oriented things. No need for paper, plastic, CDs and so forth. It’s also equipped with mini solar panels so that you don’t need to charge a battery. (OK. I just added that last bit myself.)

It’s not that far removed; at least not as bad as flying cars. My daughter is a Mac queen. Recently she installed the latest operating system on her Mac, which required a reformat of the hard drive. As she did this in the middle of the night after a long day at the office, she forgot to back up her email data and her calendar.

Much wailing the next day. Then she remembered that it was all on her iPhone. And there it was. It took a few minutes to back the information up on to her computer. At about the same time, a fair bit of speculation has appeared on Computerworld that it’s about time that cellphones became more integrated with computers.

I have complained before that my LG Viewty, which takes really good photos, is so user unfriendly when it comes to downloading pics on to a computer that it takes six steps to bluetooth one pic from the phone to my computer.

Apparently there is a short cut for Mac users. When I next see my daughter, I hope to catch her in between events — she’s having fun at SXSW at the moment. I hope to get her attention long enough to show me the short cut that allows me to select all pics and transfer in one go.

If you know it, then do tell me. I might get too old for any technology waiting for her to touch down to earth in Brighton.