Nick Bilton - I Live in the Future & Heres How It Works: Why Your World, Work & Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted

Copyright 2010 by Nick Bilton

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Business, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

CROWN BUSINESS is a trademark and CROWN and the Rising Sun colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bilton, Nick.
I live in the future and heres how it works / Nick Bilton.1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Technological forecasting. 2. TechnologySocial aspects. 3. Computers and civilization. 4. Ubiquitous computing. I. Title.
T174.B53 2010
303.4834dc22 2010026870

eISBN: 978-0-307-59113-5

v3.1_r1

for danielle

i <3 u

Dear Reader,

This is not just a book but a unique reading experience.

Online, through a computer or smart phone, you can access additional content for each chapter: videos, links to articles and research, and interactive experiences that enable you to delve deeper into the topics covered in that chapter, taking you beyond the printed page.

At the beginning of each chapter you will see an image called a QR Code, just like the one above. Using a free application you can download from nickbilton.com you will be able to snap an image of these codes that will then take you to the additional content directly on your mobile phone.

Become part of the I Live in the Future community by commenting on chapters of interest and joining a continuing discussion with me and your fellow readers online at nickbilton.com and with the free I Live in the Future app for iPhone and iPad.

As you will see, I eat my own dog food.

I used to love reading print newspapers. In 2004, when I started working at the New York Times, I was excited beyond words to discover that much of the Sunday Times was printed ahead of time and a stack of those early-run papers arrived at the Times building every Saturday. Not only did I work at one of the most respected newspapers in the world, but along with a paycheck, I also got the magazine, the Week in Review, the Metro section, and Sunday Business several hours before the rest of the world!

A new favorite ritual took root: Id head to the office early every Saturday afternoon, and when the first delivery trucks arrived, Id grab a few smudged copies and run home to immerse myself in tomorrows newspaper. Before long, friends began calling me to ask for advance copies of the real estate section or the Sunday magazine.

Then, a couple of years later, I stopped my Saturday routine. The calls stopped too. One by one, my friends were switching to new reading rituals, replacing the smell and feel of the printed page with a quicker, personally edited, digital reading experience. Even when the paper was free, they didnt want a copy anymore!

The same thing was happening to me. I had started reading newspapers in high school and for years had stumbled every morning to the doorstep, blurry-eyed and half asleep, to fetch the morning paper. But now I was checking the headlines in the morning on my computer, reading articles on my mobile phone on the way to the office, and surfing news sites all day long. Aided by social networks such as Facebook and Twitter that helped pull together the best content at a vastly quicker pace, I now could see news more quickly online. I also had a much easier and more succinct way to share the articles I found interesting while adding my own commentary, helping to cull the best morsels of content for my friends, family, and coworkers. In retrospect, I was going through a personal digital metamorphosissomething many of you will experience, if you havent already. For some, it will happen over time as you move one paper task after another to the computer, phone, or digital reader. For others, it will happen quickly with the purchase of a fancy new phone or new reader that suddenly opens up a whole new world of electronic possibilities.

In my case, unread newspapers at home began to climb to furniture-sized proportions by the front door, with the bottom layer turning a sickening shade of khaki yellow. My wife and I simply referred to the growing tower as the Pile.

Eventually, as the yellowing newspapers continued to collect, I decided it was time to take the plunge. I waited until lunchtime to make the call, checking the sea of cubicles around me to make sure nobody could hear me. I felt like a philandering spouse, and the idea of being a cheater didnt feel good.

I picked up the phone and called the Times circulation department. I even tried to disguise my voice in case someone recognized me, adding a tinge of an accent and speaking a little more slowly.

Yes, Im sure I want to cancel the delivery, I told the rep. Im sorry, I just dont read it anymore.

Of course, I love the New York Times. The stories are still top notch, as good as theyve ever been: perceptive, exploratory, thoughtful, and informative. The problem is that the approach just doesnt make sense to me anymore. I understand the conceptthe printed paper is a neat package with a hundred or so news articles, displayed by subject and order of importance, culled by Times editors, my colleagues. Top stories are here, business articles are there, sports is in the back of the business section on most weekdays.

But thats the problem: Its only a collection of what editors think is appropriate. And it doesnt swirl in my preferences. My likes and dislikes; its just not designed for me. More important, by the time those carefully chosen words on paper arrive at my house, printed permanently on the page and selected for a vast audience of readers, a lot of the content isnt current.

A few years passed while I contentedly consumed the news in my own way. I continued to do my work at the New York Times Research Labs, helping the Old Gray Lady find her place in mobile phones, on the computer screen, and in video, and my workplace infidelity remained my own private business. Then, in spring 2009, I appeared on a roster of speakers for the geeky OReilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Jose, California, aimed at cutting-edge technology developers. A