ALWAYS GOOD TO BE FIRST ON THE BLOCK?
by Viv T. Beason, Jr.

Technology is a wonderful thing. I'm sure most of you reading this have a passion for, or at least an interest in, new and powerful tools in the software and hardware world. As many of you know, sometimes it feels good to participate in cutting edge technology, like in the case of the new iPhone. It works right out of the box and does a bunch of cool new things. We could easily feel superior to our friends and neighbors because we kept up on, and are willing to participate in, the latest technology. The other extreme is when we buy into all the hype on a new piece of technology, only to wind up essentially paying for the privilege of being a full-time beta tester.

Recently, Digital Juice has spent a considerable amount of time playing "paid beta tester" for a couple of high priced cutting edge technology items. Right about now you're probably expecting me to start a tirade on why you should do your homework and try to time your new technology purchases as to not fall victim to this predicament. But surprisingly, that is not at all the message I am trying to send today. Actually it's just the opposite. You see, without this equipment we simply could not produce many of the products that you will see from us in 2008. The conventional alternative would be both cost prohibitive and time consuming.

However, the picture is not completely rosy. By the time you read this we would have sent one of these cameras back three times for such things as a CMOS swap, firmware upgrades and circuit board fix. There is often no documentation, and what documentation there is will undoubtedly change once the latest software patch is installed. Am I Upset? Not a chance. Frustrated? Nope. Would I do it again? In a second. Shooting one thousand frames per second at better-than-film resolution would have been but a dream a few years back. To be accurate, it wouldn't have even been possible. But for the "measly" 300 to 400 fps I could have possibly managed using tried-and-true current technology, the cost and the time associated to produce our current project would have kept these product ideas locked in my head waiting for "someday". Well, thanks to a few small-but-brave and forward-thinking technology companies "someday" is today. I suppose one could argue that, by using accepted consumer expectations as the standard, my "someday" is really a few more rounds of R&D away, but not me.

Don't get me wrong, I've come to expect my new Final Cut and After Effects releases to be rock solid when loaded up. Same thing with my Sony HD camera and iTouch. Why? Because these are not revolutionary, but evolutionary products. And they come from huge established companies with big budgets. To develop a new technology from scratch, and then to hope the world will notice and support you is an entirely different animal. So therefore, I thank them for allowing us access to their "not-quite-ready-for-primetime" technology today.

Viv T. Beason, Jr. is the president of Digital Juice and the co-publisher of Digital Juice magazine.