The Future of Newspapers – Now something to be optimistic about!

I will be honest here. For the past few posts I may have been a tad pessimistic about technology (maybe that may have been too much of an understatement)  

 But let that all come to past. There is a new development that is coming up in the air and I must say I am very excited about it.

 Drum roll please!

 Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the rise of the E-books. From the pioneering players such as Amazon’s Kindle, to the other incarnations such as Creative’s tentatively named MediaBook. The future looks bright indeed for avid book readers such as me.

 I mean don’t get me wrong, I love books in their current format. From the hard covers and soft covers. But imagine this, having all the books from around the world loaded into one device for easy retrieval and reading.

 Soon, there will be no more need for carrying those heavy and bulky books in my trusty (but soon falling apart) shoulder bag no more. And imagine this, my favorite morning paper The Straits Times being beeped into my electronic device. No need to fold and package my papers into nice neat sets, instead everything I want to read and know in one beautiful trusty gadget.

 Furthermore, I believe with the new E-book devices, Reputable newspapers will be able to update themselves (and me) more quickly with local and global affairs instantaneously. No more relying on dubious sources whose only selling point is probably their speediness in churning out news.

 Hooray! Rise of the EBooks equates happy Darren Nathaniel. Life is looking up for me in this complicated world of technology.

 However, I shouldn’t get too hyped up yet. The Gods of Technology might do something to complicate such a wonderful device. Oh well.

 C’est La Vie – Such is Life.

Technology – Will I get left behind one day like my forebears?

I was scouring through my room, looking for valuable pieces to add to my portfolio for the Mock Interview tomorrow. And this old piece of work caught my eye. It was a feature article I did in the past for the Feature Writing module.

The article I wrote talked about how Mobile phone technology was developing at such a rapid pace (In fact all digital technologies to be precise), that some if not most, of the older generation was losing touch with it.

 This made me reflect for quite a bit. Myself, a young man, already having some difficulties with some of the latest tech of today - Twitter, Tumblr etc. What is going to happen to me when I grow old and grey? At the rate things are going, I am probably to end up in the same predicament as my interviewee.

I always thought and prided myself on being a hip, trendy parent to my kids in the future. But I fear my offspring and the future generation would perceive me the same way I did to my kin – dour, passe and out of touch.

C’est La Vie – Such is Life.

Attached below is the essay I did for anyone who is interested.

Today’s mobile technology – Alien or Earthly?

By: Darren Nathaniel Cheong

Carl Zeiss™, Bluetooth™, MMS, Symbian anyone? These are already common mobile phone terms that might already sound unrecognisable to the youths and working adults of today. So what about the baby boomers of society?

Confusing, frustrating are the common refrains being heard. Especially so forPoh Ah Peng, a store keeper with 2 children, who has been using the technology for years.

“All the latest new-fangled mobile phones’ functions and their jargons are a bane to old timers like us,” declares Poh, a 52 year baby boomer. “What ever happened to the good old days when all a mobile phone did was to call, send and receive messages?”

Indeed the mobile phones of this era has come a long way since the pioneering batch, referred to as First Generation or 1G, were introduced to the public market in 1983 by the Motorola Company.

Now we are currently at the age of 3.5G. The de-facto standard for mobile technology today. But is it a case of too much, too soon for the older generation?

“When I got my first mobile phone, it was just this plain old simple Nokia model,” Poh says as he tries to rummage through his cabinet to demonstrate his old model. “Now I have this Samsung phone with a camera in-built in it. And just a few years back cameras were these bulky objects with film in them!”

It seems like all the latest cellular devices, are like alien and foreign technology to the baby boomer generation, with an invisible barrier springing up with every new product coming into the market.

Sony Ericsson with their “Cyber-shot” Phones, LG with their tie ups with global fashion house Prada, and Nokia with their Carl Zeiss’s camera lenses – are classic examples that come to mind.

“You know what is worse than the mobile phones themselves?” continues Poh after he answers a quick call off his mobile phone. “The jargons people use to describe them.”

With terms like Bluetooth™ technology, Java and all the related jargon mobile companies are rattling off. It is little wonder that even the younger generations are too being overwhelmed by the rate of change.

“Last week my daughter came up to me and said she wants another phone,” groans Poh as he massaged his temples. “I asked why, and she said she can’t use her phone because it was too complicated already.”

Furthermore, there are studies that show that mobile phones emit radiation that causes cancer in the body. Does that further lessen the appeal of the technology in the eyes of the older generation?

“If the studies are proven, then definitely it would damage the technology in our eyes,” Poh replies. “Ultimately, we all want technology that is safe and beneficial to mankind and not cancer causing time bombs.”

Now, the question that begs to be answered is what can the mobile companies do to counter all this negative perceptions of the new technologies among the baby boomer generation today?

“Well the first thing to do is this,” says Poh as he points to a mobile phone commercial on the television set. “Revamp all those confusing ads running on television now.” He continues, “Most of them just showcase nice and stylish graphics but not explain the functions.”

“Secondly, maybe the mobile companies should include more information about the new technologies in their brochures and catalogues,” he adds with a fluster. “They shouldn’t expect everyone to be technology savvy especially the older folks.”

“Finally please stop the jargon,” he elaborates further. “Terms like Bluetooth™doesn’t explain anything, neither does Java and Symbian. Make the language easier to understand.”

With that, we asked Poh to describe the technology in three words.

“Beneficial, useful,” and then adding with a grin. “Complicated.”

The Future of Music and its impact on me Pt. 2

In my previous post, I was talking more towards from my perspective as a music listener. Now allow to share my feelings regarding this revolution as an aspiring musician myself.

As some of you might know, I am from a band that plays music from the Metal core genre (It’s a fusion between Hardcore and Metal music, but I digress). And yes, like the many others before and after me, I hope to let my music be heard widely one day.

I had so many plans ready in my head. Practice hard, play many live performances, get our originals out, record an album etc. The normal, conventional route that worked. In the past.

However, as we all can see. The methods of old don’t work as well no more. Music sales are at an all time low. Nobody seems to be buying albums any more. My good friend Wayne posts direct download links to music he cares for on his blog. Even I myself don’t make my way down to a music outlet to get my fix unlike before in the past.

The selling and marketing methods used by record companies have dramatically transformed. Some musicians even eschewed such organizations and gone independent themselves. Producing and marketing everything from head to toe.

YouTube, MySpace, Purevolume and etc. All these are the new conduits for getting music out there and heard. All those who managed to successfully jump onto that bandwagon, have truly mastered the new arts of salesmanship.

But what about those left behind like me? Still stuck in their old mindsets and lacking the knowledge and skill sets to take advantage of the new revolution. Ok the latter part doesn’t really apply to me, but I got to get out of my comfort zone from now on.

Or risk getting left behind. And when that happens – Poof! Goes my dreams.

C’est La Vie – Such is a life of an aspiring musician.

The Future of Music and its impact on me

Khalid and co. came to class a few days back and presented a topic close to my heart – Music. I was quite interested in the entire presentation because they were talking about the future of music and how the entire industry was revolutionizing.

 And to be quite frank, I was quite bewildered. Because in my very eyes, with every passing moment, the old ways of the business were being eliminated with astonishing pace.

 Why did I feel so impacted?

 While the presentation was proceeding, the demise of the company Sembawang Music Centre came to mind. I had read in the papers that the company was in debt, and were selling their wares at drop dead prices. A sudden wave of nostalgia hit me. I recalled that as a young boy studying, I used to venture after lessons to the Junction 8 outlet to browse through the latest hits.

 Sum 41, Limp Bizkit, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Those were some of the bands that influenced me greatly in the past. And I bought all their albums from the above cited outlet and company.

 But now the company and outlet was gone forever. A soon to be relic of the past. Yes, I do admit I indirectly or directly contributed to its demise by my constant illegal downloading of music. And I felt genuinely guilty.

 However, such is the speed of our changing times today. From the vinyl, to the cassettes, and now the audio discs. All these formats going the way of the dinosaurs. Now it is all about iTunes, and digital music downloaded online.

 Just only, I went through my album collection, and went through some lyrics from the booklets found in the plastic casings.

 There was this sudden wave of realization – I was holding on to pieces of history.

C’est La Vie – Such is life