I just got my Google Wave invite.  I have watched a few of the videos, and I am going to have to give this thing a rip.  Combining text, chat, video, audio and a bunch of things I haven't even thought of yet... with email... seems pretty cool. 

Thinking back not all that long ago, I wasn't doing most of those things seperately, much less combined.  In  fact, a few years ago, many of these technologies not widely adopted because of the bandwidth required. 

Now it is possible that someone could send me a message and WATCH LETTER BY LETTER as I type a reply.  And while pulling in information from news outlets, social media and whatever else is required in order to get the message across, we can make a rich media presentation. 

In unrelated news, I looked at an 84" HDTV that was under $5000 (Like I have $50 to spend on a TV right now...).  They were showing a Blu-Ray movie (Pixar's Cars).  That thing ROCKED. 

And then I got to thinking...

<you'd better take cover>

I use a tablet computer.  I was looking at a SERIOUSLY High Definition display "monitor".  And now this multi-media communications technology.  Imagine if all of these were combined.  We are on the verge of things that were in science fiction movies only a few years ago. 

And yesterday evening, My son's teacher said that it won't be long before kids don't carry books to school... it will all be online.  I was already thinking that a tablet computer could function as both a reading appliance (like a Kindle) and writing surface...  The 5 year old gets to draw on daddy's computer sometimes... 

I think my phone has more computing power than my school district had when I was a kid. 

from LaneBailey.com