With set-top boxes, we will be pressured to replace at least part of our TVs annually in order to get features we don’t really need.
Predictor: Steinberg, Steve G.
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article listing tech items and issues that are currently being hyped, Steve Steinberg of Wired magazine writes: ”Technology companies are excited about the set-top box concept because it will change the economics of television. Set-top boxes will have a limited life-span (because of obsolescence) and will have to be replaced every few years, just like your car and computer. Because a set-top box is really just a computer, it will follow the same curve of rapidly increasing speed, memory and features. TV has been resistant to extinction; the last big coup was with the invention of remote controls. Now, with set-top boxes, we will be pressured to replace at least part of our TVs annually in order to get features we don’t really need.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Hype List: Set-Top Boxes
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.04/hypelist.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney