ReadWriteWeb

Futurist and author Kevin Kelly posits that in 10 years time, each of us will carry 2 computing devices on us: "one general purpose combination device, and one specialized device (per your major interests and style)." He also predicts that we will wear on average 10 computing things: "We'll have devices built into belts, wristbands, necklaces, clothes, or more immediately into glasses or worn on our ears, etc."

The general purpose combination device will be a close relation to today's smartphone. As for the "specialized device," I'm a writer by trade and so it will likely be a tablet-like thing for me. Or a very light and portable Netbook device - maybe I'll be able to fold it up, so I can take it anywhere. What will your 2 things be? Speculate in the comments!

Yesterday I wrote about the lack of big ideas in tech media, in response to a New York Times op-ed about the "post-idea world." I basically complained that there is too much mindless pap on Techmeme these days, most of it about business deals and rumors. Where are the "big idea" articles about technology, I wondered.

It's all very well moaning about the state of things, but we at ReadWriteWeb aspire to be a part of the solution too. So I'm going to ask an open question and I'd really appreciate any and all responses to it. Ideally by leaving a comment here on RWW. Alternatively: reply on Twitter (to @RWW), comment on the RWW Facebook Page, or leave a comment on my Google Plus profile. The question is simply this: what technology topics or ideas would you like to read about?

Last April, Apple changed its developers terms of service to restrict the use of third-party development tools in creating apps for iOS, the operating system behind the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad. The restrictions essentially banned the use of Adobe's Packager for iPhone, which allowed the creation of apps using Adobe Flash. Yesterday, Apple relaxed those restrictions and today Adobe is calling Apple's move "Great News for Developers".

Is the move too little, too late, or will Adobe developers come running back to make apps for Apple's mobile devices? Was it the last straw or is the draw of Apple's dominant mobile platform too strong to resist?

One of Apple's announcements yesterday was a completely redesigned Apple TV. It's competing in a crowded and still confusing field of products that stream video from the Internet to your TV. Boxee and Roku are two smaller companies trying to crack it; and Google TV was unveiled in May. The ultimate goal of all of these products is to make Web-to-TV very easy for consumers, but the market is still searching for the right formula.

We'd like to poll the ReadWriteWeb community on this topic. Let us know how you currently get online video (and other media content) onto your TV. Also, which of the emerging products do you think has the best chance to be the consumer offering of choice?

WebWatcher, a company whose business is enabling parents to spy on their child's online activity, including email, instant messaging and website visits, has today launched a new tool for spying on SMS text messages too. WebWatcher Mobile currently only works on BlackBerry smartphones, but Android, Windows Mobile and iPhone versions are in the works now.

"Cell phones," warns the company, "can be a great way for children to keep in touch with family members," but they can also "serve as facilitators for cyberbullying, sexting and other dangerous behaviors."

That claim may be true to a point, but is reading each and every text message the best way to counteract these behaviors? For that matter, should parents be spying on their kids to this extent at all?

Recently we looked at the state of Linked Data in 2010, noting developments such as governments putting public data online and Thomson Reuters putting structure around commercial data using OpenCalais. In a follow-up post, we explained the distinction between Linked Data, Open Data and the Semantic Web.

Georgi Kobilarov, who runs a Linked Data startup from Germany called Uberblic Labs, recently issued an interesting challenge on his blog. He asked: if we had a Web of Data, what would you build? Not to steal Georgi's thunder, but we think this is a great question to put to ReadWriteWeb readers too.

Doing research to attract more women to our Mobile Summit on May 7, 2010, I revisited some of ReadWriteWeb's past articles on gender and tech. In January, we discussed "'Sexy Girls,' Smart Women and Tech" in an open thread where we asked for readers' opinions and had an open discussion on women's issues, like whether it's true that some good-looking women get flaunted as sex symbols, while other women get overlooked, are underpaid and not taken seriously.

Nearly a full half-hour into the darkness this morning and we were beginning to wonder if it was time to break out the hurricane candles and board games - the world seemed to suddenly slow down and it had, dramatically. Twitter, you see, died on us this morning.

While we're used to seeing the intermittent Fail Whale, the outage this morning lasted a solid 24 minutes according to the company, affecting both the website and API.

When it comes to tech conferences, the first thing most people think about is the parties.

They might think about networking opportunities or learning experiences, but all too often, these are brushed off as mutual admiration societies and redundant, unoriginal chatter. I've heard every critique imaginable about some of the best-known tech conferences

Social media gurus: We all know one. If you're lucky, you know only one.

They are the attendees of tech parties, the "Twitter consultants," the armchair generals of the Internet, and their numbers grow by the day. Yet most of them couldn't distinguish a line of code from a badly punctuated haiku.

What's to be done with the social media experts? Accept that their blathering may contain some wisdom? Or require technical exams for all Twitter users with more than 1,000 followers? You decide! And make the NMDs among us take our "technical" quiz.