AT&T: You won't?

This is a series of ads run by AT&T in 1993 (notice that Tom Selleck is the announcer?). The campaign is somewhat remarkable is the technologies and products feature are ones we take for granted now and did not exist back then. Well except for the video payphones.



Among the technologies predicted that would not exist for at least another five to ten years later were wifi, tablet PCs, GoToMeeting/WebEx, Google Book Search, Google Health, GPS, FastTrak and on-demand digital cable.

The only thing they were off on was they didn't anticipate that cell phones would be ubiquitous as well as internet based videoconferencing features of applications such as Skype and GoogleTalk) so need for the video payphones.

As fun as these ads are however at least one critic, Cory Doctorow, wrote in 1996 how the ads display a sense of hubris by an old-world corportate behmoth like AT&T and that just envisioning internet-era analogues of existing technology signifies the company missing the point of the internet. Like Edison's idea of "opera by telephone" at the turn of the last century or the "big beautiful tomorrow" campaigns of the sixties its corporate claptrap that wasn't getting the true innovation going on in the workshops and garages of the tinkerers, if only government and big business would get out of the way.

The irony of this of course is that while AT&T "celebrated" new technologies and innovation, they pursue policy positions against concepts such as net neutrality trying to stifle new-world companies like Google (who has created a hell of lot more amazing things in 11 years than AT&T has in 125 years) rather than trying to compete in the marketplace.  Even in the video we see predictions of two applications developed not by Ma Bell but Google, Google Book Search and Google Health.

So how about AT&T just go back and fire up Mr. Bell's lab?

I Want My Carbon Offsets!

Saturday night is something called Earth Hour where we are all encouraged to turn off the lights for an hour to apparently "make a statement."

I was invited to an Earth Hour party and today on my cell phone got an SMS via Evite that the party was cancelled.  If a Google search generates 7 grams of  CO2 how much does an Earth Hour party evite times 100 guests including invitation, responses, reminders and cancellation?

When I'm working, writing, on the computer, etc. - event at the office - I prefer minimal light.  At home while blogging I typically only see by the light of the computer monitor and turn on and off lights as I pass through rooms.  I bet doing that everyday saves a lot more energy than one Earth Hour party!

I also walk to work everday, generally driving my car at most two to three times a week.  I last filled up the tank on March 8th and I have about a third of a tank left (mainly due to two business related trips to the Westside/South Bay earlier in the month and a trip to Gardena for a memorial service last weekend). Even when I do drive, mostly on the weekends, it's almost always patronizing businesses in my zip code.

I also use cloth grocery bags.  I got started on that shopping at HOWS but my collection now includes Ralphs, Walgreens and Superior Produce Market. I keep enough of them in the car, buy extras when I need and always chastise the checkers "Yes I want you to use the cloth bag and not the plastic or paper."

So all of these things are helping the environment and saving me money, time, hassles, etc.

Don't make a "statement" by going to a party to be cool.  Make a statement by living your life.  Ed Begley, Jr. is one of the few environmental activists who actually practices what he preaches.


Which leads me to the conclusion - why must we have the government force us to do these things?

Who do I send my invoice for my carbon offsets to?