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Sesame Street, Captain Kirk and the Post-PC Era

Whether we like it or not, we are living in the Post-PC Era.   Evidence abounds everywhere.  This past week, Cisco announced their new Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI).  You might have read about this release on your iPhone as you waited in line for the newest model.  Perhaps you read it on your tablet that is VDI ready by VMware

In light of the recent passing of Steve Jobs, I have found myself looking both forward and backward at technology.  New advances in video technology, collaboration and mobile computing demonstrate that the future is now, and that future means moving away from the restrictions of the PC Era.   At the same time, I find myself looking back at where we have come from.

I found two great examples below to give perspective in where we have advanced in the last thirty years.   Good bye PC Era.  It’s been a good ride.

 

iPhones and Cisco TelePresence

As a part of the new look of TBL, all employees received an upgrade to the iPhone 4… and no, we have not experienced any of the issues surrounding the iPhone 4 in the press. We have, however, enjoyed many of the new features of the iPhone 4 and iOS 4 – including FaceTime. FaceTime is a mobile video conferencing app that is embedded in the iPhone 4 and is a seemless integration into the phone calling interface. Any cell-to-cell call between two iPhone 4’s that are connected to WiFi networks will allow the callers to initiate a video call across the data network (thre are promises that this feature will be implented to work across the 3G network in the future). It is a new age for cell phones indeed when video is added to the mix, and while the recreational applications abound, there are definitive buisness uses as well. Once such instance recently inspired me to write this post.

David Cantwell and I were arranging the furniture in our two new Cisco TelePresence 1100 rooms, and wanted to be sure that the same amount of desk was visible across the bottom of the screen for both room – to complete the nearly in person exerience of TelePresence. The challenge is that while each of us could clearly see the amount of table the other room had showing on the 65″ plasma display in front of us, neither of us could see how much of the table we were sitting at was being captured by our own camera and displayed at the far end. While a tape measure could have easily remidied the situation, none was available. How about a FaceTime call? I suggested? Now eachof us could compare the view of ourselves captured on the other’s iPhone 4 and displayed on our own iPhone to the image right infront of us on the plasma screen. David slid his table back a bit more, and all was right. Scientific? Not nearly. Cool use of technology? Definitely.