Tech Predictions—From 1968

Also, that iPhone is never going anywhere

(NEWSER) - Remember the one about the guy who said the Internet will fail ? Ha, ha, ha. Well, while we're waiting 15 years later for that daring prediction to come true, Asylum runs through a few other notables that fell flat:

• 'Portable computers:' "The portable computer is a dream machine for the few," the founder of an early computer mag wrote in the New York Times in 1985. And "no one would want to take one fishing."

Computers should be as easy to use as vehicles, appliances

(NEWSER) - Computers can do amazing things, but as anyone with a technophobic parent knows, they’re still way too complicated. That’s why Farhad Manjoo is hoping Apple’s new tablet will be “the first fully powered PC that is as simple to use as a kitchen appliance.” Sure, plenty of people understand the metaphors their OS is presenting them, but no other consumer product requires such advanced understanding. More»

But they do damage credibility of scientists

(NEWSER) - The leaked climate change emails are “damning” and dangerous to the deadly serious inquiry into the state of our planet, Eugene Robinson writes. It’s not that the science is bad—“If I'm wrong, somebody ought to tell the polar ice caps that they're free to stop melting”—but the perception of it. “Most Americans are convinced that climate change is real,” Robinson writes. Add deception, and watch that surety “dissipate, and fast.” More»

Scientist talks about adding a 'trick' to graph

(NEWSER) - Hackers have gotten their hands on a trove of emails from leading climate scientists, and global warming skeptics are rejoicing. They say the emails prove the crisis is overblown and are crowing about one in particular, from 1999, in which a scientist plans to add a "trick" to a graph to "hide the decline" in temperatures. In another, a scientist calls skeptics "idiots." The emails will raise doubts on some specific questions and embarrass individual scientists, but that's likely the extent of the damage, writes Andrew C. Revkin in the New York Times . More»

Law forcing makers to show vehicles' carbon footprint goes into effect in Jan.

(NEWSER) - A state-mandated sticker showing vehicles' global-warming rating is starting to show up in California showrooms, the San Jose Mercury News reports. "We are forced by the nature of our economy to drive vehicles to work and play. This gives people a tool to lessen their carbon footprint," a state spokesman said of the label showing autos' 1-10 rating on greenhouse gas emissions. More»