Your predictions come true

What musical/technical predictions of yours came true?

In 1994 my son said "One day when we're all digital, there will be devices to make it sound analog".

In 1985 I had an idea for a hand held language translator.
I also had an idea for an "electronic" rolodex.

~ 1987 I thought there should be a multi input-output MIDI interface. I even started working with an engineer on it. It seems like 18-24 months later Voyetra announced their interface. I may be off on the initial year but it was 18-24 months later that Voyetra did their thing (and that was the first I had heard of such an interface).

ORIGINAL: bapu

What musical/technical predictions of yours came true?

In 1994 my son said "One day when we're all digital, there will be devices to make it sound analog".

In 1985 I had an idea for a hand held language translator.
I also had an idea for an "electronic" rolodex.

~ 1987 I thought there should be a multi input-output MIDI interface. I even started working with an engineer on it. It seems like 18-24 months later Voyetra announced their interface. I may be off on the initial year but it was 18-24 months later that Voyetra did their thing (and that was the first I had heard of such an interface).

Hmmm...I suggest that whatever ideas you have TODAY, make sure you follow through on them.
BTW...What are they?...just between you and me.

One of the great failures to recognize an opportunity properly for me goes like this.

I was at the Offshore Technology Conference at the Astrodome in Houston in 1982. So were like 80,000 other people.

For those of you who don't know it, the parking lot is one that has perhaps 10 signs in it designating various sections. Now, I am convinced that the dome rotates while you are inside it because I thought I made note of where I parked.

When I got out, it took nearly 3 hours to find my car.

I got to thinking (I used to do that back then) "What if you had something on your keychain that could make your horn honk - just yours - no one elses? You could always find your car" Then I thought "What if it could unlock doors too? Women could feel safer if they were able to have their doors unlock as they approached their cars".

I told a few friends about the concept, but the horn honker was the first of the two ideas I pitched. All I got back was "Yeah right. Imagine everyone coming out of the astrodome and honking their horns. It would never work."

So I gave up on the idea.

And now they are on every car you buy.

When CDs first came out, I had the idea of transmitting FM on a video channel - the bandwidth of TV is more than enough to transmit CD quality over the air waves. Skipped that too. Everyone was "Why would anyone need that when you could listen to cassettes?"

I have missed a bunch of ideas. Everyone of them was because I didnt have enough faith in myself and listened to others too much.

Oh well.

When I got out, it took nearly 3 hours to find my car.

That's called a "senior" moment.

I forget the author and title, but in 2000 I read a book about the history of the world.

In it the author points out that all thru history many people all over the world were solving the same problems, albeit it slightly different ways but in braod strokes they were solving the same problems.

Call it collective consiousness, crow mind or whatever, humans all have the capicity to solve problems when its needed.

So when you were thinking about the car "dongle" so was someone else.

When I was thinking 16 MIDI channels wll someday not be enough, so was someone else.

So, they were not really "predictions" as such, just recognition of a problem to be solved.

But I do hear you about the faith in ourselves to follow thru.

Still, it's fun to show that we had a grasp of something before it was actually there.

ORIGINAL: bapu

Recenlty, based upon the camera in some cars to guide you in reverse, I thought, why not have video running on a 2 minute loop with lenses at various points on the car. The loop would stop on sudden impact therby making a "record" of you accident. Sort of airplane blackbox like.

That could be a real too edged sword for some people. It would be the first thing I made sure I had a data overwrite button for. it would overwrite upon impact with random ones and zeros 7 times.

Ford and a couple of other car companies have already implemented a black box technology. Albeit without the cameras. Records direction speed acceleration, Gforce and a couple of other points of data. Yet another thing to disable upon purchase....