Early December

Richard Branson, architect of the Virgin empire, has released a new iPad-only magazine, called Project. It is a digital magazine aimed at industry, technology, and entrepreneurs. But I am writing about this magazine because it has traversed web 2.0 and begun the true integration of interactive content in electronic devices.

As an iPad-only publication, Project uses the device’s assets to great effect; advertisements are interactive, cover art is video, sound demonstrations and music are integrated into the narrative, and a big plus for interviews is raw footage. The trappings of a webpage are no longer evident.

How might we integrate our print media into the multifunctional mediums of tomorrow? How will the march of technology change the way our media works?

Canon’s “Wonder Camera” debuted at the Shanghai Expo this year in the Japanese pavilion. It claimed that in twenty years time, the ability of the consumer camera will be powerful enough to create super high quality video with an obscene amount of clarity; Canon is attempting technology that will enable the entire picture to be in focus, allowing photographs to be cut from a larger photograph. Their smart technology also had the ability to recognize smiles, and was able to take multiple photos of members of the audience all at once. If every frame of a movie is in focus, where will that put the camera? Will it be relegated to purely the arts--an expensive system with multiple parts and steep learning curve much like calligraphy once was?

Canon was displaying the resolution of their camera on gigantic touch screens as tall as a man. Are we closer to Fahrenheit 451’s television walls? How small will our consumer technology get?

With the ongoing research into OLED’s, it is quite possible that within a short amount of time, super thin, or even bendable screens will become the norm. Heck, why stop there? Maybe entire electronic objects can become flexible--keyboards, hard drives, cell phones. I predict that within 50 years, somebody, some company will come out with a super-gadget--one that will have the capability to become the size of a cell phone, have the computing power of a desktop, and can expand to the size of flat screen televisions. Seeing how fast technology moves, I won’t be surprised if this will happen sooner.

The next iPod will not be a revolution. It will be something more earth shattering.