Saturday, July 01, 2017

Tech

One of my ever-growing number of pet peeves (yes I am getting old and cranky) is that every newish thing is referred to as "tech." I mean, come on, unless you are inventing a new microchip or a time machine, it isn't really "tech." A new online store isn't tech any more than this blog is tech. A new "food delivery app" isn't tech, it's a trivial piece of software that any smart 14-year-old could write which will be (or not be) a successful business plan based on a bunch of things which have little to do with "tech" (marketing, sales, business partnerships, etc). A new dating app (Tinder, but slightly different!) isn't "tech." A new coffee maker probably isn't "tech" unless it, I dunno, uses quantum lasers or some shit like that. Linking your toaster to the internet isn't "tech" at this point any more than sticking a digital display in a car 25 years ago was "tech." This is all just "design" with commodity components and trivial software development skills at this point.

Nothing against new ideas. Some of them might even be good ones! But just because a company is based in the Bay Area and does something on your smartphone doesn't really make it "tech" at this point any more than something which uses that new-fangled electricity is tech.