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Give my regards to broadband
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March 17, 2000 | Broadband is hot. Broadband is where the industry is headed. Broadband is the future. But, er, what is broadband, anyway? In popular parlance, broadband means speedy Internet access for consumers. Today that typically refers to high-speed cable-modem service through the same wire that delivers your cable TV programming or high-speed DSL access through your regular phone line. But broadband doesn't have to be accessed through these schemes; it's also possible to imagine broadband service via other means -- even, someday, broadband wireless service. If the medium gets lots of bits to you each second, it's broadband. That solves one of the basic problems with home Internet access: Web pages and file downloads arrive at your computer faster, so you can stop bitching about the "world wide wait." But because broadband's speed makes audio and video content more readily accessible than it was with dial-up modems, broadband is sometimes, confusingly, used as a synonym for multimedia content -- and its advent has helped to reinvigorate the hoary concept of "interactive television." If it's got pictures and it's got sound -- and it's got the prefix "broad-" too! -- it must be like broadcast, right? Well, no. There are so many myths and fallacies floating around out there about broadband that I thought it might be a public service to list them, and debunk them, all at once. Myth Number One: Broadband is the same thing as "convergence" "Convergence" is a somewhat outmoded buzzword that first arose to label the predicted merging of the home computer and the television set. The computer screen kind of looks like a TV set anyway. A lot of people are beginning to get their Internet connection through their TV cable. And who wants two devices when one could do the trick? Scott Rosenberg Three or four years ago, pundits fell over themselves predicting this convergence of devices; though they argued over whether it would take place in the living room or the study, they all agreed it would happen Real Soon Now. Some computer manufacturers (like Gateway) began producing monster hybrid TV/PCs. The Microsoft Network launched a wave of ill-conceived "Net Shows" in the belief that these TV-like Web sites were just what consumers craved. This convergence still hasn't happened -- but that hasn't stopped industry leaders from believing that it's inevitable. The arrival of broadband has given the convergence bandwagon a new lease on life, despite a continued absence of evidence that people actually want their PCs to behave like TVs or their TVs to be more like PCs. In truth, divergence seems a much better word for what is happening today -- as Internet content begins to propagate itself onto all sorts of new "platforms" like cell phones and Palm Pilots. The chameleonic power of the Net's protocols seems to be multiplying, rather than reducing, the number of devices we might want to use to work and play online. Myth Number Two: Broadband opens the door to a new wave of interactive entertainment A lot of businesses are spending fortunes today on the assumption that as broadband Net access spreads, people will want to spend lots of their time online diverting themselves with what is described as "interactive entertainment." Now, I have no doubt that broadband makes the life of the computer gamer easier, and that the wizards of game development will find innovative and fascinating ways to take advantage of higher speeds and better graphics. But the purveyors of "interactive entertainment" aren't talking about gaming. They're talking about -- well, about the same ill-defined stuff that the developers of "interactive TV" have been talking about for a decade: Chat live with other fans! Vote on how the plot line should move! Click on an actor's scarf to buy it!
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