No More Next Big Thing?

CthuluOverlord writes "CNET News.com is reporting that Nicholas Donofrio, Big Blue's executive vice president of innovation and technology, made a declaration on Tuesday in an interview with ZDNet Asia. 'The fact is that innovation was a little different in the 20th century. It's not easy (now) to come up with greater and different things. If you're looking for the next big thing, stop looking. There's no such thing as the next big thing.'" Donofrio goes on to explain that he sees innovation as being services or social changes nowadays, rather than simply a better moustrap. What's the verdict? Is tech innovation dead?

Really!

[CrackedButter]

Let just wait till macworld 2007 shall we? ;p

Segway

[Locarius]

Oh come on... how can he claim innovation is dead? There are tons of innovative [segway.com] products that have flooded the marketplace.

Re:WTF!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats the next 'Small' thing is it not? ;)

Come on!!!

[3770]

We haven't even invented faster than light travel, time travel, teleportation or cloaking devices.

We haven't even invented a self repleneshing beer can.

Re:A funny quote

[rjstanford]

"Research ! A mere excuse for idleness; it has never achieved, and will never achieve any results of the slightest value."
-- Benjamin Jowett (1817-93), British theologian.

Especially ironic, if you compare its track record to that of most theological studies...

First A-duh-pters.

[ackthpt]

don't forget about all us elite idiots. we were the first ones!

Sure. I had a bag-phone (still have that thing) which you really pretty much needed all that transmitting power for, because towers were few and far between. It was also a big thing to spend $35/month on fees.

Now? Now people shell over $100/month and are talking about The Bob-knows-what in the pub, on the road, in the store, on the sidewalk, etc. and The Bob-knows-why have to be connected all the time or their lives will come to a halt the same way a cow does after a 10,000 ft plummet.

Douglas Adams made a lot of fun about Dominant Life on earth being Cars (hence the name Ford Prefect) and people's fascination with digital watches. What do you think aliens would think now? Cell phones are the dominent life form and these gangly things are their servants.

83 Comments thus far..

[dr_dank]

and not ONE proclaiming that they have the "next big thing".... in their PANTS!

C'mon people, you can do better than this.

Re:Segway

[Locarius]

Next time I'll be sure to use tags for you.

Re:Exactly.

[cayenne8]

"Everyone thinks that progress is going to come to an end, because they can't imagine what the next big thing could be, but that's their failing, not progresses."

Yeah...well, just wait till I finally perfect my "flux-capacitor"...then we'll see if innovation is dead!!

:-)

Yeah right...

[wbren]

...we still have to invent warp drive, phasers, photon torpedos, transporters, and replicators.

Oh, and androids.

Re:The Next Big Thing Is... Already Here...

[saltydogdesign]

As one of my college instructor told me, the next the big thing has already been around for at least ten years before anyone bother to take notice.

So... the Macarena could be the Next Big Thing?

Re:ORLY

[Kayamon]

You forgot "sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads".

Re:Exactly.

[Hal_Porter]

Speak for yourself. Puny Human.

Re: Yes Next Thing

[Anonymous Coward]

The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end.

Thank God we have Intellectual Property laws to stifle the advancements of the arts and delay the end of human improvement as long as possible.

The next big thing already predicted by Dilbert

[qwijibo]

In the Dilbert Future, he already predicted the next big thing - the head cubicle. It's basically a helmet with an integrated phone, monitor, etc. This will be a tremendous cost savings for large companies. Instead of having to use valuable floorspace for cubes, they can stack people with their head cubicles.

Right now, I'm taking up 72 square feet/576 cubic feet (6' deep x 12' long x 8' high) with my cube. That's valuable real estate for someone who, sitting in a chair, wearing a head cubicle, could be accommodated easily by a 3'x3'x4' area. That's only 36 cubic feet. 16 people could be housed in an area the size of my cube.

Sure, stacking people in boxes seems inhumane and degrading, but since when has that stopped companies from realizing a minor decrease in costs? Given the cost of real estate, companies who don't flock to the head cubicle would be at a very serious economic disadvantage.

Re:The Next Big Thing Is... Already Here...

[Rary]

Oh gawd. You think the RIAA/MPAA are bad? Just wait until people can "pirate" real objects.

Re:ORLY

[SoulRider]

Actually Mattel makes the hover board from BttF2, they have a warehouse full of them ready for distribution. They were suppose to go to market shortly after the movie opened, in what would have been probably the best movie/product tie-in ever. But like all really good toys, parents groups and the moral right got the distribution of them banned before Mattel was able to go to market with them. Actually this is one of the incidents that started the "think of the children" mantra they love to spew when they are afraid of something.

The Next Big Thing is Justin Simoni.

[markjugg]

Apparently you didn't get the memo: Justin Simoni is the next big thing [justinsimoni.com].

Re: Yes Next Thing

[smiffy1976]

I predict that nanotechnology will be very small.

Cold Fusion Conspiracy

[KlomDark]

The energy companies paid Allaire (Now Macromedia (Now Adobe)) to come up with their web application language and name it "Cold Fusion" so that searches for the the real cold fusion technology would be completely drowned out by all the screaming of the pseudo-programmers posting questions about why their code doesn't work part of the time.

Re:83 Comments thus far..

[Surt]

This is slashdot, no one here has the next big thing in their pants.

Re:The Next Big Thing Is... Already Here...

[twifosp]

The next big thing may already exist right now, we just don't know about it until it appears on Slashdot. ;)

Well, until it appears on Slashdot at least twice, anyway. And you'll know it's really the next big thing if it appears twice in the same day!

Nanobot Taibo!

[88NoSoup4U88]

Yeah, I want a nanobot Taibo runnin' around my veins!... with a webcam!

Re:ORLY

[Scarletdown]

If it's something other than your brain, you need to cut down on your one-handed web surfing.

If I used both hands to surf the Web instead of just one, then how would I hold my coffee cup?