Technology Lost: Hype and Reality in the Digital Age [Paperback]

Ron Schneiderman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2002

Technology is hard and takes time to develop, but often other issues, ranging from the development of technical standards, regulations, politics, bureaucracy, and legal issues get in the way and slow its development and its availability for marketable products. This book is about how technologies emerge and, almost immediately, are heavily promoted, or "hyped," in the hope of winning investor and consumer interest, often years before they (or products based on these technologies) ever appear on the market. Despite a product or technology's failure to come to fruition, without fail the hype goes on, creating great expectations, often with little or no concern about actual consumer interest. This book provides several examples of technologies that have been highly touted for years (including HDTV, artificial intelligence, mobile communications satellites, and WAP) and are only now beginning to appear in any significant way as real products or services. Beginning with a historical perspective, it details their all-too-long journey into the marketplace.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Pick the winners, dump the losers: your guide to making better business, investment, and career decisions.

How to see through technology hype!

A complete guide for investors, businesses, consumers, and other stakeholders.

Technology hype is annoying, at best. Technology Lost helps you do something about it. It's your complete guide to separating the hype from reality—so you can make smarter decisions about what to buy, what to deploy, what to invest in, and when. Leading tech journalist and analyst Ron Schneiderman helps you answer the questions that matter most: Which technologies will really meet their promise? What are the tell-tale signs that a new technology's in trouble? Why do many technologies take so long to reach the market? And above all: Will consumers really pay for all this stuff?

• Where are they? Interactive TV, AI, Internet appliances, e-books, wireless, and HDTV: a reality check on some of tomorrow's most hyped technologies
• Key barriers to the adoption of superior technologies: standards, politics, bureaucracy, and more
• Assessing usability—the oft-ignored issue that can doom a new technology
• Examples and case studies include 3G wireless, home networks, DSL, mobile communications satellites, and many others
• Key economic and cultural factors that affect technology adoption rates and marketing programs
• Technologies that reinvent themselves: first-generation failures, second-generation successes?

You can no longer afford to accept technology hype on faith ... yet some technologies really do offer immense opportunities for profit. Technology Lost helps you pick the winners-and leave the losers for someone else!

About the Author

RON SCHNEIDERMAN is a contributing editor for Portable Design and IEEE Spectrum magazines and author of six books, including The Mobile Technology Question and Answer Book—A Survival Guide for Business Managers. Schneiderman has served as chief editor of Wireless Systems Design, executive editor of Microwaves & RF, New York Bureau Chief of Electronics for McGraw-Hill, and communications/consumer electronics editor of Electronic News. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Encyclopedia Americana Yearbook, TV Guide, and Rolling Stone.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1st edition (August 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130422037
• ISBN-13: 978-0130422033
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,034,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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