Here is my 2 cents...
Has anyone stopped for a moment and look at what is happening here and in the future? Sure we all know about this Y2K bug that may temporary disrupt our way of living because of our reliance on computers. But this is only a minor blip in the overall big picture of where we are heading.
Come on folks, we are heading into the year 2000 and forward! We are starring at the year that our past generation had based their science fiction world on. Remember the movie "2001"? Talking computer with a mind of its own? Remember Captain Kirk on the Enterprise? When I was a kid, I sure would like to get one of that small communication device that Captain Kirk would flip open and said "Beam me up, Scotty!". Now, we flip open the similar size device to make a phone call. Not yet transporting our body but half way there with the gadget device.
As we head toward the year 2000, we are already turning half of our science fictions of the past into reality. The proliferation of computers and Internet that is now being embraced by the mass will change the landscape of our modern society much faster than the last 100 years. Better technologies beget even better technologies. Old technologies of the past will soon be replaced by new technologies of the present. We have already seen how our TV, automobile, airplane transformed into its current stage of development. However, there is one technology that is still stuck in the old conventional design for all these years that our modern society cannot live without- the speaker.
Everywhere you go speakers are there. Your phone, your TV, your computer, and whatever electronic gadgets you can come up with, chances are that there is a speaker inside it. From the size of a thumbnail to the size of car, all these speakers have the same common feature: the magnet and the cone. Because these two features are necessary in almost all of the speakers in the world, modern gadgets with high tech. design still have to work with current limitation in speaker technology.
Well, I see ATCO's HSS is about to change all that. I see the HSS as the new speaker technology that will eventually replace the cone and the magnet. The same way that Fax machine replaced the telex machine.
Here are some of my science fiction scenarios of the future using the futuristic HSS sound technology that our conventional cone and magnet speaker cannot do:
1) Your watch is also your phone. You no longer need to put any device next to your ear. You simply look at it and you will hear the voice. And guess what, you will be the only one who can hear the voice due to its directive nature of the sound.
2) Everyone can listen to their own radio station inside the car without the need of headphones.
3) There will be no handset on all phones. Instead you will be staring at a video box. Better yet, you are 100 ft from the video box and you can still hear the conversation.
Need me to go on??
About 2+ years ago, I have heard the earlier prototype of the HSS technology but have minor reservation due to the quality of sound being produced. Today PR tells me that they have finally perfected the technology for mass production and application. As you can tell, I am excited about its future possibilities!
Thus said, IMHO, I believe we are in the ground floor of a company that will eventually change the way sound is produced. A new paradigm shift in speaker technology has just begun as we, ironically, head toward the Y2K.
Of course, all of the above is my opinion only. And also beware that my thoughts above contain science fiction scenarios that may or may not happen.
Good Luck to all Long! |
