Take for example the automobile. They've been around for little over a hundred years, a comparative newbie in the world of innovation. Yet the industry has found ways (some more successful than others) to integrate technological innovations into virtually every aspect of the user experience:
- Ford, Subaru, Acura, Mercedes and Volvo now have systems th\at monitor the traffic ahead so they can activate the brakes when they sense other cars becoming too close - alerting the drives with audible cues, visual warnings - and GM even uses vibration pulses to really get your attention. Such cues are also in many cars as lane departure systems.
- If you flunked parallel parking in your driver's exam, don't worry, Ford, Mercedes, ford and others have sensors that will take over for you if you aren't doing so well on your own.
- Need to pay a toll? Ford now has Parkmobile, a voice-activated Sync app, will handle the details for you and even ping you 15 minutes before your time is up, to save you a parking fine.
- Honda's Odyssey Touring van actually has a built-in vacuum system so you don't have to lug your vacuum cleaner out to the driveway to clean your car.
- Apps in many popular American models now allow you to check your GPS, make reservations for supper, check availability of tickets for a play or movie, check your text messages or check around for the best deal on gasoline - all while you drive.
Yet, book publishers can't figure out how to allow readers acceptable access to printed text (let alone all of the bells and whistles possible with today's technologies)? Is DRM - digital rights management - really that scary? That insurmountable?
Netflix has given us a workable model for video; iTunes for music.........when will we finally see some resolution on books?
No comments:
Post a Comment