crawling out of the dinosaur age...

While it is not an area of expertise, I do have a reasonable amount of fascination with technological advancements. I think a lot of it stems from that first trip to Epcot Center when I was child. Being a true child of the 80s, one trip to FutureWorld led me to believe that by the year 2000 we would all be traveling through airlocks and talking on the phone through our TVs. Yet not a whole lot has changed...though I do understand that the teleconference industry is alive an kickin'.

I do remember when hybrid vehicles came out a year or so ago. I even remember having a discussion with family members....the pros and cons. The argument fell that while they were electrical hybrid cars, they still needed gas. Perhaps some people fail to realize how they actually work though....I certainly didn't, and was quite impressed that when the car came to a stop, the engine shut off. Nothing mind blowing, mind you, but can you imagine the impact something like that would have if every car in LA gridlock quit using fuel while at a standstill/near crawl? I'm not saying that even having every car replaced by a hybrid would ever happen...but occasionally it's nice to imagine a better impact of newer technology.

I realize I'm a few years behind on this...forgive me if I'm still impressed by it.

Though more recently I got to try out the latest in games systems, Nintendo's Wii.
Now this is something I really dig. Being a big weather dork, I was impressed by Wii's news/weather part of the menu. Using only gestures by my wrist, extended through the controller, I could rotate, zoom in, and scan a 3D map of the world, and see what the weather was in New Zealand or wherever. Even just as a tool of the map itself,the 3D interaction was simple and somehow easier for someone like me to comprehend.

The games were a whole different matter. Sure, you can plop your rear end on the couch, download a myriad of games, both old-school and non, and game out to your heart's content. But I really enjoyed the Wii sports, which included tennis, golf, boxing, bowling, and baseball.

Imagine being snowed indoors in January, completely cabin-fevered out...want to play a couple of rounds of tennis? Sure! I also couldn't help but think that this is what the kids need these days. They're officially computer-potatoes instead of couch potatoes. And that's happening with adults too. But the Wii sports was fun, active, and parts of it even got the heart rate up.

Perhaps my friend put it best when he said that Nintendo hit the nail on the head: we don't want to be limited to controllers with buttons. The Wii remote is much more intuitive with the arm movements....you feel more "in" the game, and less a puppetmaster. I can't wait to see what they do when they combine the footpad sensor. I foresee some mad martial arts sparring games. Hopefully that'll happen just in time for winter.

I'm still waiting for FutureWorld to fully realize itself, but at least I'm seeing more fun stuff along the way.