Sometimes you just have to stop and marvel at the incredible pace of technological change. It helps if you are sitting down, because when the scope of the change finally hits you, things might go all wobbly for a second or two. Luckily I was sitting when I had that experience this weekend.
Scanning through my RSS feeds, I happened upon a story about the new adaptors from Apple that go from the iPad’s Lightning connector to VGA or DVI. Nothing too shocking there . . . except that the March 2 Engadget headline said the cables are packing an ARM processor. The cable? The little dongle that goes from an iPad to a VGA cable is a computer with a processor?
Not only are the new dongles actually computers, but they have 256MB of RAM in them. That was the same amount of RAM Apple proudly advertised about its iBook G4 in 2004, according to the Washington Post’s 2004 Laptop Guide. Let that sink in for just a second here. The same computing power that was featured in an almost $1,200 laptop from less than a decade ago is now found in a $49 accessory cable.
All of these discussions about digital content, all the concerns being raised about the restrictive contracts and lack of access for libraries are so important because of this incredible rate of change. With 10-year-old laptops becoming today’s video dongles, it becomes apparent how unbelievably dangerous it is to think of ebooks as just another format. Ebooks are not just an incremental change like adding graphic novels to your collection, or switching from VHS to DVDs for checkouts. The move from print to digital content—and the accompanying change from the protections of copyright law and the first sale doctrine to the open chaos of contract law—is a truly revolutionary change.
Realizing that your video-out cable has more processing power and memory than a laptop from 10 years ago is a bit jaw-dropping. However, talking about what is happening with digital content right now as a paradigm shift is entirely appropriate.