Is 3G Really Necessary?

Lately there has been a lot of hype about 2G and 3G handphones (mobile phones to some people). What the hype is, I really don't know. Suffice to say, other than you being able to use the phone as a phone, the added feature for 3G will be that you have a small little camera, usually located on the top right hand corner of your phone, and you can actually chat with your friend face to face, so to speak. He/she can see you, you can see him/her and vice versa.

Who have you actually seen using a 3G phone, chatting with their friends face to face? I don't think it's feasible and necessary. At the same time, I'm sure that there will be some kind of cost incurred to beam your mugshot all the way to your friend's phone, not forgetting that the connection is 2 way, I imagine it to be pretty costly! At the same time, with the network and infrastructure not completely in place yet, what is the connection speed like? Will there be some kind of lag time when viewing the party you're chatting with. They could be staying hello, and the next thing you see is them waving goodbye, with all the conversation in between lagged and cut off!

Is 3G really necessary? How important is it to look at someone when you're talking to them? I'm sure that Alexander Graham Bell didn't invent the telephone so that we could see who we are talking to! He invented the phone so that he could connect with people all over the world, without leaving the comfort of your location/position.

This generation is taking things 1 step further by allowing you to use 3G to see your friend. Perhaps in 10 years time, we will all be walking around with a holographic projector, so that it's projecting your friend(s) when you're chatting with them, either 1 to 1 or in a conference call, like you're in the same room/location with them.

When selecting a new handphone to buy, how important is it to have a 3G function? I've also noticed that reviewers tend to give a slightly more negative review or scoring if the phone doesn't have a 3G function, it's actually listed as a con and not a pro. Isn't it better not to have 3G function as compared to having 3G function?

I think that this 3G function in your phone is a marketing scam. It's an added feature, so you'll have to pay more for your phone, but you can't use it yet, so it's just this little white elephant feature on your phone that works on the same principle as a condom: I'd rather have one and not need it than need one and not have it.

Have these handphone making companies also factor in that more and more students are using handphones? Cost incurred will be higher than normal. Perhaps they're going to streamline 3G functions in a few years, so that it works the same way now as emailing. 10 years ago, nobody had emails, now, we use emails to communicated every minute of the day.

Of course, those who are not willing to change with history will be swept aside by it. But if you really think about it, practicality comes into play. I still do not see how a 3G phone will improve my life, as compared to a normal phone now, I will admit that the camera on the handphone has it's moments, but the 3G function, it's just a huge marketing scam to jack up their phone prices, or to show off that you have something that your friends does not have.

Paperless

Is a paperless system truly paperless? Everyone is slowly switching from a paper system to a paperless system. Which means all the conversion of data from paper into the computer system. Most of the time, it's for easy access and filing.

We all hate the idea of writing up forms, bills and other documents and then after completing them, file them away in some godforsaken cabinet you hope would disappear down a black hole and magically snap your fingers and reappear the moment you need the documents the most.

A few years down the road, this cabinet grows and spawns a few more cabinets of the same type, containing endless amounts of documents. Then someone will decide that you need a system to file all those documents, let's say alphabetically by year. After a sense of normalcy and order, a few more years down the road and these cabinets take up an entire room, and keep filling up the room with no end in sight. Then you decide that 1 room isn't enough and renovate your office to have a bigger space for filing documents. Eventually, enough's enough. You've completely run out of space, and the documents are still occupying a room or 2 or 3. Then the computer age sets in and everything seems to brighten up - light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Wrong!

With technology advancing so quickly nowadays, you can get a cheap external or internal harddisk for a relatively cheap price. At the same time, the ability of these harddisk to hold data seems to grow exponentially. Soon, we'll advance to the point of using crystals for holding information like Kryptonians do (thanks Superman!). The latest, at time of writing, is 1 TB (no, not tuberculosis, terabyte). 1 TB is 1000 GB (gigabyte). It's almost like a bottomless pit for data. So, the entire harddisk that fits into the palm of your hand will store documents, data and information from those numerous filing cabinets occupying rooms. Look at that, it's been compacted! Everything is small now, like a microfilm dot.

However, when a paperless system was introduced, it was hallelujah for everyone. Wow, let the computer handle the filing, cataloging and archiving, as long as I don't have to do it. Now, there's a great need for security protocols, standardisation, fault-finding, trouble-shooting and much more. An introduction to audit trails, training on the correct way to sign a document, time stamps, removing mistakes.

It looks like we're replacing 1 system for another, AND adding on much, much more irrelevant things to do. Now, computer printouts have to have signatures, auto-generated reports have to have time and date stamps on top of signatures of operators and people who review them to ensure quality and accuracy before adding their signature to the mix. So, eventually 1 document will have at least 3 signatures (which is a sin!). More effort than it's worth to print out.

Everything mechanical still needs the human touch. Retrieval of information is fast, I said fast, not accurate, if you have all the search parameters wrong, you still won't be able to find what you're looking for. Then we have to worry about power failures, no power, no computer, no work. What else? Viruses, worms, harddisk crashing, backups. The list is endless!

I can almost imagine that all the information will be held on the Internet virtually perhaps 10 years down the road. You don't even need those pesky harddisks that also take up space and run on electricity. Holding information virtually means that even if there's a power failure and you can't access it, the information is still there somehow, lost in cyberspace, but retrievable. We tend to enjoy keeping tons of stuff (aka junk) lying around and pretending it's not there.

Eventually it all boils down to the pros and cons of it all. Is a paperless system more advantageous than a paper one? Human factor plays the most important part in this. Computers haven't been given decision-making abilities to the point that they can make competent and correct ones. This still needs the human touch.

So if proper and logical protocols and methodologies are incorporated into a paperless system, it does become an enjoyable system to work with. Unfortunately, I have yet to see any company or office that has been able to balance these delicate properties, in order to ensure that the majority of all their employees work comfortably and happily - something they ought to work hard on getting right to ensure maximum efficiency!