In a recent interview, Bill Gates was asked what the next big thing in computers and software might be. His answer was that it would be all about how humans interact with  computers and other digital devices. Frankly, I am not sure what kind of interface I would want in my next computer and/or phone. I hate using my notebook computer's keyboard and use a third party wireless keyboard and mouse in its place. The friendlier the device the happier I am. My cell is the old kind, so if you send me a text message, don't expect much of a response.

As you old time computer users know, before the graphical user interface and before the command line prompts on a video display became the norm, computer input consisted of batch files fed to the computer using key punched cards or paper tape. The computer's output came in the form giant sheets of perforated paper. Then came Video display units along with keyboards which provided computer operators with a screen that allowed them to read the commands they were typing into the computer and view the results on the screen. Thus, the command line became the standard computer interface in the sixties, seventies and early eighties.

Graphical user interfaces emerged in the early 1980's and made computers easier to use by normal people. This interface has been the standard since that time. The Apple MacIntosh which debuted in the late '80s was the first mass produced computer to utilize the graphical user interface. Windows for the PC followed shortly thereafter.  The mouse was actually developed in 1968 at the Stanford Research Institute by Douglas Englebart. He also demonstrated hypertext and shared screen collaboration at an event in San Francisco that year.

Today's computers utilize graphical interfaces, mice, and touch screen technologies. Although these technologies have existed for 20 years or more, they have been fine tuned to make computing and web surfing easy enough for most neophyte users to accomplish their tasks. The new smart phones have taken this touch screen technology to the next level and made computing a pervasive technology that can be accomplished from almost anywhere in the world using satellite communications and wi-fi. The multi-touch screen actually debuted in 1983 on an HP 150 computer.

So what does the future hold for the computer interface and will we adapt more easily to life with computing devices as these interfaces become more sophisticated and almost human? Gesture sensing will be one of those interfaces. Eye movement already exists for the multiply handicapped. In the future you will encounter projected displays in the air in front of you that will allow to use spatial positioning wands or even your own hands to communicate with various digital devices.

The Wii already incorporates some basic versions of activation via movement. Wouldn't it be cool if when your computer acted inappropriately you could take advantage of the old one finger salute? How would it respond? How many times have you already reacted to your computer's behavior by doing just that? It could be our revenge for the blue screen of death. The iPhone already has some apps that take advantage of this type of movement sensing.

Force feedback is another emerging interface component that will be used with touch screens in the future. Surgical training devices are embracing this interface to help surgeons become more proficient at complex procedures without having to practice on humans. Some game systems are experimenting with this interface and cell phone companies are researching the possibilities of this type of interface as well.

Gates spoke of verbal interfaces when asked about the future of computing. I remember a Star Trek movie from back in the eighties in which Scotty was attempting to use an American computer and tried first to talk to the computer. He soon realized that the computer didn't understand verbal commands, and he would have to type them in if he wanted the computer to do what he wanted it to do. And we can't forget the movie 2001:A Space Odyssey where the HAL 9000 computer tried to take control of the space station and in a last ditch effort uttered the famous line, "Don't turn me off Dave".

Voice recognition has been around since the seventies, but hasn't really taken off until the new millennium began. Not that we don't talk to our computers, it's just that they don't listen. With the advances of voice recognition this is about to change radically. The voice interface will probably be common in the next 5 to 10 years.

Imagine sitting in your office or cubicle while all of your officemates are talking to their computers simultaneously. Maybe we should hold on to our keyboards and mice for a while. The office could get pretty noisy. Sounds like a business opportunity for Bose, doesn't it? Whatever the emerging interface standard becomes, I am sure that we will still have plenty to complain about.

Don't be surprised if you encounter computers that can communicate directly with your brain in the next twenty years or less. Medical research has already come up with bionic nerve connection devices that operate prosthetic limbs simply by the amputee thinking about the moving that limb. Perception monitoring could be next. I am not sure I want the computer to know what I am thinking. Do you?

What do you think the next big interface will be?  Are you happy with your keyboard, mouse and other digital interfaces? Is your cell phone easy to use for a variety of tasks? Chime in. We want to hear your story.

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If Rupert Murdoch has his way, you won't be able to Google a headline and get all the story links available for that news piece. According to Mr. Murdoch, "We need to do a better job of persuading consumers that high-quality, reliable news and information does not come free. Good journalism is an expensive commodity."

Murdoch's comments were repeated by other media executives at a recent Federal Trade Commission workshop that was held to explore the challenges faced by media companies from across the country to determine how the government could help them survive in the internet era. Many newspapers, broadcasters and other traditional media companies have become distressed because their online revenue has failed to offset falling offline advertising revenue.

Some of the ideas being discussed were: Tax credits for media companies, Making media companies tax exempt entities, and Copyright law changes to force online aggregators and search engines to pay for any content or links to that content for which they provide links or summaries. Murdoch has even suggested forcing Google to pull links off its site to any stories, articles or coverage produced by his media companies.

Some major newspapers have been developing plans to charge people to read some of the stories on their web sites. BusinessWeek is considering publishing an online edition that is only available to subscribers. The Wall Street Journal is already requiring a subscription if a web surfer wants to read a full version of any of their articles online. Mr. Murdoch is trying to block all of the Journal's content from Google or have them pay for any links to the publication's articles or other content.

It is obvious that the print media will not be viable for many more years. And in order for them to survive they will have to come up with a more efficient business model. I think we tend to take our news for granted because of the pervasiveness of its availability on the net. If we want to learn more about a breaking story all we have to do is a quick search and there will be links to more stories than we could possibly read.

Journalism Online, a startup that is developing a payment system for newspapers and magazines will begin shipping its software to publishers before the end of the year. The company has not published its list of test sites, but they did say that over 1300 newspapers and magazines would be testing their software in the coming months.

Will this save the newspapers? I doubt it because there will be too many alternative news sites will offer similar content. Of course, the major newspapers that already have a decent following could very well remain viable using a subscription based revenue model, ie. The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc.

The smaller newspapers will most likely go away, if they haven't already. There are a couple of large internet entities that are soliciting news gatherers from around the country to provide local news in those areas lacking coverage. Yahoo and the Examiner come to mind.

There is no doubt that the journalism business requires massive overhead and only the strongest news organizations will survive. Who will they be and what model will they have to adopt in order to stay in business? Bottom line is that they will have to come up with a business model that keeps them profitable.

Specialized news organizations like business and industry specific newspapers and magazines will find it easier to adapt to a subscription model. I believe that journals like BusinessWeek and the Wall Street Journal can successfully adapt to this model.

The more general news gatherers will have to find a different model to use. In the past, advertising was the revenue engine for these entities. I believe advertising could still be the revenue driver for these organizations, but it will have to be a new, innovative technology driven model and parallel the online content that it precedes. As I mentioned in my previous blog on web advertising, it will probably come in the form of a 15 second spot or advertorial that the reader will have to view in order to read the content they selected.

Oh, by the way, Rupert Murdoch recently had discussions with Microsoft about making Google de-list News Corps publications from its search results and allowing only Microsoft's Bing search engine to list them. Currently Google delivers about 25% of News Corps. traffic. This makes no sense. Online news distribution by search engines have increased competition and resulted in better efficiencies for all concerned. One columnist suggested that this was tantamount to making the paper boy pay a fee for delivering the newspaper. You can't make this stuff up.

I still believe that news organizations should allow all of their content to be listed on search engines, as well as summarized and linked on various aggregators' sites. That is really the best way to increase exposure across the board for both the publication and the content. Of course, there has to be a revenue component gained from such exposure. That ad revenue needs to be generated at he site of origination. There are plenty of brilliant marketers and technologists out there. I am convinced they will find a way.   

What do you think the future of journalism will be? I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this topic.

Just as I was about to write this blog, I remembered that I needed to check my Facebook news feed for new posts from friends and family. I also needed to send a text message to one of my colleagues about an upcoming project and get his feedback. I absolutely had to check my Outlook calendar for any appointments I might have scheduled for today. Oh, and I was going to finish reading that book about Mark Zuckerberg and Social Networking on my iPad. My life has been taken over by technology it seems.

It doesn't seem that long ago when I was bored to death and I would have to find things to do to fill my time. Back in those days, I had 3 network television channels on my TV and the only way I could keep up with my friends and family was by calling them or visiting them. If there was a project, personal or business related, I was able to devote my full attention to it until it was completed. Distractions were few and far between. Today it seems we are all overburdened with technology and communications devices that seem like technology leashes. They pull on us this way or that way constantly.  

Will we ever be able to take control of our lives again, or is it futile to even try? Younger generations seem perfectly happy to stay connected to that leash 24/7. Am I just too old to smell the cappuccino? Am I looking backward and thinking that it would be better to return to the past? Maybe, I should just fully embrace these technologies and take advantage of what they have to offer. After all, I have never had this kind of instant access to my family, my business associates or my world. It's a good thing, right? I think it is a good thing as long as you don't let it completely dominate your life.

If we let technology rule our daily lives, then we aren't really taking enough time out of each day for ourselves or for the ones we really care about. I guess I just need to find the right balance. That is easy to say, but hard to do, right? It is a lifestyle decision. Instead of letting technology run our lives, we need to step back and set some priorities. If you are trying to build the next Fortune 500 company, your time is not your own. You business life and personal life are the same. For you, there is no choice. But, for the rest of us...

Recently I wrote a blog about Mark Zuckerberg's view of social media and why he thought everyone on Facebook should be willing to share the most intimate details of their personal and business lives daily on his social network. One commenter to my blog responded that since Mark could really distinguish between his personal and professional lives, that was easy for him to say and to do. For the rest of us, we probably want to maintain some separation between those two areas of our lives.

So how can we find that balance? When and how can we free ourselves of our technology leashes? First step is to set priorities. Some people would feel completely lost if they had to put away their iPhones, Blackberries or notebook computers. I am sure age impacts those decisions. If you are old enough to have lived without all these gadgets and appliances, it is probably easier to find the proper settings and times to put them away.   

One suggestion for simplifying one's life is to start by stopping. Each day you set your agenda and try to optimize every minute of the day. What if you chose not to set any agenda? What if you just let go and didn't try to be totally productive every minute of the day. You could do whatever you felt like that morning or escape for the entire day. You could go for a walk or take a hike. You could pull out that novel that you have been meaning to read, but just couldn't find the time for.

You could take your kids or your significant other on a bike ride. You could go to the beach or the lake and just take in the natural beauty of the area. If your time is really limited, you could just go outside and watch the clouds roll by. Just remember to unplug. Leave your iPhone or Blackberry in the house or the glove box. If you have to take it with you, at least turn it off.

If you are a list person, then put aside an hour or more each day to do nothing. Write it down on your list. Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, suggests taking time for yourself on a regular basis to sharpen the saw. Translation: do something to improve your mind or your spiritual being. The metaphor is all about being able to perform at your best. Take time to sharpen the saw because with a dull saw you won't cut much wood or be very productive.

If every day of your life is so busy that you can't get everything done on your list, then re-examine your list. Typically, there are a number of things on your to-do list that might seem urgent, but aren't really that important to your job or personal life. Re-evaluate your activities in order to optimize the ones that really are important to your mission. Remove the ones that aren't really fundamentally necessary in achieving your daily goals and objectives. Your list just might become manageable.  

When it comes to your cell and your computer, you can simplify and declutter those devices. I used to receive 50-100 emails per day. A lot of them I thought I needed for work. You know the ones...Briefings on technology, leadership, management, etc. I have unsubscribed to most of them. If I need to learn the latest on any topic, I just Google it and generally learn more than I ever wanted to know in a short time.

If you have joined too many groups on linkedin and receive daily or weekly email updates, then unjoin them. Getting rid of email clutter will make your life easier to manage. Do you have too many friends on Facebook? You can hide them from view and then the only news feeds you see will be about those people that you actually care about. Don't get me started on Twitter. Unless you have a business connection that requires you posting tweets or reading other's tweets...just say no. How important can information that consists of 170 characters or less really be? Check your news feeds no more than twice a day.

And consider turning off your television set occasionally. I realize that is a lot to ask. A great many people turn on their TVs when they get up in the morning and turn them off when they go to bed. Even if they aren't actually watching, it is like an extra voice in the house to keep them company. Bottom line: Living your life vicariously through your favorite television actors or personalities is okay as long as you don't spend the bulk of your free time doing it. I realize that some of you schedule your lives around our favorite TV shows. If you are that addicted, get a DVR and do something meaningful with at least a portion of your spare time.

One final note. Recent studies have indicated that technology appliances are having an adverse effects on the attention spans of humans across the world. Our attention spans are getting shorter and we are having a more difficult time focusing on anything for extended periods of time. It is no wonder that this is happening given the amount of information we are exposed to each day and the methods we are using to communicate with each other over cell phones, instant messaging platforms, email and Twitter.

The only way to extend your ability to focus and extend your attention span is by practicing. Stop scanning the news or trade sites and start reading full articles. Read entire books. Find projects that require your full attention for extended periods of time and engage. If you want your mind back, you will have to exercise it the same as you would exercise your body to gain muscle tone.

If you want to take your life back, you can do this. It isn't really that tough. I encourage you to tell us about your ideas on unleashing yourself from technology. Inquiring minds want to know.

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I realize that none of us could live without our laptops, PDAs, smart phones and copious applications occupying the memory of these devices. There seems to be a digital divide between the younger and older members of the white collar workforce. Many older members of the workforce believe that their younger counterparts misuse these tech gadgets in the workplace breeching workplace etiquette standards.

I am not talking about the self absorbed bozos that insist on taking every call on their cell, and then pretend there is no one else within ear shot. You know the ones. They walk around the office revealing more about themselves and their business than any of us want or need to know.  These are the same guys and gals you run into in the check out lines and restaurants using their outside voice to carry on obnoxious conversations about some business deal or Aunt Mimi's diarrhea. This type of etiquette abuse is carried out by people of all ages. For these people, I only wish I could get my hands on some sort of device that I could use to transmit an electrical shock to their cell phone in mid conversation. I digress.

A LexisNexis^® Technology Gap Survey done by WorldOne Research discusses the etiquette gap between generations when it comes to using technology in the workplace.  The full report can be found at http://tinyurl.com/cd8u59. This survey sample was comprised of Baby Boomers (45-63), Gen X workers (29-44) and Gen Y workers (28 and younger). They found that everyone thought technology increased their productivity in the work place. Well, duh...You mean my Toshiba notebook computer is more efficient than my Big Chief tablet and my number 2 pencil?  Sorry, I couldn't let that observation go by without some comment.

The digital divide starts with the use of online media. 84% of the Gen Y workers think listening to online radio is acceptable versus 63% of their Boomer counterparts. The majority of Gen X workers and Gen Y workers also believe that using music playing software at work is okay (60% and 58% respectively). While only 35% of Boomers believed that it is okay. Almost twice as many Gen Y workers use video playing programs (51%) than their Boomer counterparts.

When it comes to accessing social networks, 22% of the Gen Y workers said that it does not reduce their productivity. Only 7% of the Gen X workers and 0% of the Baby Boomers agree. 62% of Gen Y workers report accessing social networking sites from work, while only 14% of Baby Boomers access social networks in their offices. Twice as many Gen Y workers think it is okay to befriend a client on a social networking site than do Boomers. Similar results were recorded concerning the use of blogs at work. Of course, the Gen Y'ers (aka Millennials) have grown up with these applications and so this shouldn't be such a big surprise.

Every worker I know complains about the loss of productivity caused by having to attend incessant meetings at work.  Baby Boomers believe that the use of PDAs and Mobile phones in meetings contribute to unproductive outcomes, as well as a decline in proper workplace etiquette. Less than half of the Gen Y workers believe that to be true. 68% of Boomers think that using a laptop or PDA in an in-person meeting is distracting, while only 49% of Gen Y workers agree that there is some distraction. And Gen Y'ers are much more inclined to think blogging about work-related issues is okay. Obviously the biggest divide in philosophies of workplace etiquette will be between Boomers and Gen Y workers.

So what does this mean to the average corporate manager? It means that Baby Boomers have a different view on the uses and abuses of these technologies in the workplace. The Gen Y workers have been using them for most of their lives and are more comfortable with tech gadgets. Gen Y'ers also seem to be more comfortable with multi-tasking aspects of technology. Boomers think the younger set is biting off more than it can chew with regard to multi-tasking and diluting the quality of their efforts. Gen X is left in the middle to act as the go between or diplomat between these two cohorts. Some forward thinking companies have banned tech devices from workplace meetings. Others have set forth sensible guidelines for their use and abuse.

Bottom line, corporate America needs to recognize the digital divide and come up with innovative ways to eliminate the confusion regarding, "what is appropriate and what is not" in the use or abuse of these high tech tools. They must ensure that every employee is made aware of the company's tech etiquette guidelines. By the same token, if the Gen Y workers have more expertise in certain areas of technology, then the company should publicly embrace it and take advantage of those skills. Remove the source of these technology conflicts and maybe every worker will focus on what's really important...their personal role in helping their team contribute to the company's current goals and overall mission.

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