I want your email. (or why I miss being delighted by technology.)

A recent episode of CBC spark started with a discussion between Nora Young and Gus Savoie about the first email he ever sent. (Which of course, he sent to wired magazine.) I was really intrigued to listen to this experience because as I listened to the the discussion I realized there is very little in the last 5 years or so that has truly surprised and delighted me.

My own experience with email was in 1992, my high school had a NeXT Workstation that was connected to a state network.  I found a article in one of the local papers about a recent hockey game that I was in, I didn’t like what the columnist had said and he had an email address at the bottom of the page.

I received permission to use the NeXT from a teacher and began a several weeklong exchange with the writer of the column.  I can still remember the first time I got a message back, it was like a hand reached out of the ether to shake mine. I can remember it as clear as day.  I also remember the first time I opened a browser. In many ways the fact that dial up was slow made the impact that much greater. It was like it was saying “Be patient, I am about to blow your mind!”

Since those early days there hasn’t been much that surprised me that way. I get excited by a lot of technology, and I find myself thinking a lot about the execution of the industrial design or how the software might be used by a normal person. Maybe having shipped a few products and understanding how the “network” works has made me less excited by much of what is called “world changing technology”.  My reaction to twitter, for example, was the exact opposite of  email.  I literally said out loud… “this is stupid, why would I use this.”  Now after using it a couple of years I find it is useful, but world changing; Hardly. 

Perhaps that’s why all the social media “experts” get under my skin.  There will be new revolutions in technology, but this isn’t it.  I want to share what I think the next revolutionary thing will be but I don’t know the answer.  I think you know the answer when you have that moment when you use a product or technology and something visceral inside you says “This is it, the thing I could not live without.”

I saw a replica of the first mouse last week and I remembered that there was a time when I first used a computer that it had no mouse.  I know I am getting old! At 30 years old, my first PC was a 8086 with DOS 1.0 on it.  The mouse changed my computing life, because up to that point the only input into the machine was the keyboard.   The ability to navigate within the computer as an environment has been a work changing event for me.

So what is next?  There is so much about recent technology that is evolutionary, not revolutionary and I need a dose of “this is awesome!”  Help me get unjaded! Are you still delighted by technology?  When was the last time you were surprised?

I will give away a pair of UE superfi 5vi for the iPhone to the best story of recent technology delight.  You get bonus points for telling it in limerick form!

I will pick a winner by Friday so I can ship them out before I go on holiday.