You Sunk My Tablet
Remember that game where you guessed about where you opponent had hidden their Battleships behind a small privacy wall? Battleship is likely the only game designed to separate you from your opponent. It bears an incredible resemblance to a laptop computer, where a privacy wall keeps the outside world at bay, and allows you to slip into the magical window in front of you.
Laptops and their accompanying partner in social isolation, wi-fi, have both invigorated and destroyed coffeeshop culture. They have allowed a new tribe of office-less, caffeine-addicted entrepreneurs to set up shop in cafes and coffee houses. The coffee houses, traditional third places for students, artists and struggling singer-songwriters, have taken on a quiet utilitarianism. Along with skills of latte design and knowledge of obscure music, the barista must now also be an IT expert.
At some point in the next week, there will a new product announced, which is meant to rocket the Tablet from niche tool the next big thing. Dozens of similar products are hitting the market at the same time. Among the many promises of tablet computing is that people will come out from behind their Battleships and look each other in the eye. Perhaps coffee houses can become places of conversation again, and the increasing isolation of modern technology will be slowed.
