the onda

In the very entertaining Scalzi sci-fi novel "Old Man's War," all of the soldiers are equipped with an embedded computer in their brains (fittingly called the "BrainPal") which allows them to communicate with each other, seek information from the Internet, plan out tactical scenarios— in short get all their "soldier work" done and more.

We're not quite there yet but this week's Newsweek semi-puff piece on the iPod Touch being the handheld of choice for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan is a good reminder of how close we're getting. The use cases described by the writer are totally believable (with the exception of video capture... for now) and speak to the utility of a general purpose, connected, handheld computer with a very high resolution screen.

What is more amazing though is that Apple, a consumer company, is building devices that are considered rugged enough to be used in those kinds of environments. As the writer notes, devices built not with taxpayer dollars but with the power of a large scale consumer franchise running at high volumes— churning out devices that need to sustain the impact of small hands, large purses, sudden drops, and even unexpected baths. As consumers arm themselves with the latest technologies and put them through their paces in real world environments, this is just another data point that enterprises— be they large companies, hospitals, or even the military— are no longer at the leading edge of the commercialization of new technology.

The thing I've got to wonder though: when some of these devices come back broken from Afghanistan, do the Geniuses check the red dots for moisture damage?