I am interested in rhythms and beat speeds. Ever since I watched the TED Talk by Alan Watkins and became familiar with the oximeter to check heart beat speed, I have wanted to train my ear to be able to read beat speeds by just listening to them. I know modern metronomes can flash lights and emit sounds or both at various speeds. I am trying to remember to check for iPad apps that might be related to any subject or interest I have. So, I looked in the app store for "metronomes". I was surprised at all the possibilities. They made me wonder if sales of separate metronomes have been noticeably affected by the many low cost and free apps available. And that was just checking the Apple iPad app (from application = program) store, not the Mac apps, nor the Android apps.
Makes me think of buggy whips. I have never driven a buggy but I have seen movies and drawings of a whip that sits in a holder like a flag holder, right where the driver can pull it out and crack in the air above the horses. One book on the future or another uses the demise of the buggy whip due to the invention and spread of horseless carriages with no horses to respond to the sound. I can imagine a happy buggy whip manufacturer with good sales and a prosperous life rather suddenly finding the market for this previously essential item drying up.
The study of innovations and their spread, the reasons for adoption or lack of it, the speed and direction of adoption is an important discipline. The related subject of entrepreneurship, the building and sale of companies, the job market and the economic activity of the nation and the world are connected to the invention and adoption of innovations. There seems to be some cultural and national characteristics that affect the welcome and speed of innovations and changes. I personally suspect that currently innovation is perhaps oversold and that consistency and reliability are likely to gain and retain peoples' interest and business. But then, I am pretty old.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
