I don’t watch much TV, but my heart simply goes out to those who do. Besides tolerating the agonizing channel-surfing moments, you also have to make your ears re-adapt to the changes in sound volume. Some smarter TVs can save your personal preferences, equalizer settings et al according to the channels; but then again, I’m sure you’ve heard stories of rogue cable-guys! Besides, most people in the world don’t have personal TVs… so much for the personal preferences.
I think instead of the TVs making an attempt at being smart, the TV designers should. Is it really difficult for a TV sense to ambient sound volume in the room and adjust its sound volume accordingly?
Not only TVs, you’ll find technology nonsensically implemented everywhere you look. How many companies know your date of birth and feed it in to their so called “Customer Relationship Management” (CRM) software? Now how many birthday cards have you received from them? I’d be surprised if someone tells me cellular operators can’t afford birthday SMs on their own networks! This truely is innovation that sucks.
Technology is an area that can benefit a lot from “thoughtful innovation”. Thoughtful Innovation doesn’t mean scrapping everything you have in favor of something cutting-edge. However, it does mean taking charge of technology investments you’ve made and making the most out of it.
The skills required to do this aren’t radically outlandish, one just needs to be observant and have the eye for details. But then just how many CTOs and technologists are listening?
Not disagreeing with the basic premise, but if I ever got a birthday card from my cellular provider (or any other business I had some sort of relationship with) I would probably puke. I occaissionally get those "Holiday Cards" some businesses send out, and they are just annoying. Anyone with have a brain can see through such a transparent ploy.
Posted by: Steve Donie | November 05, 2004 at 10:26 PM