Technology Quarterly. The Economist (London).

"Technology Quarterly." The Economist (London).

US editions at least have this four-a-year section (fall, winter, spring, summer), of interest for highlighting technologies of interest to businesses and likely to be available to customers soon: important for details of the probable technological Umwelt of the near-future, as seen by old-fashioned Tories now. E.g., the 23 September 2006 issue featured as cover story not the rather sensational "Computers that read our mind" (24-25), but "An even brighter idea (Lighting technology: The light bulb is synonymous with invention. But […] it may lose out to the light-emitting diode, which is better in many ways" (26-28). Relatively mundane LED lighting technology would have a great effect on the "look and feel" of near-future urban space. The issue of 2 Dec. 2006 traced the history of the telephone and looked into the future, quoting Bruce Sterling, described as "a science-fiction writer whose future caught up with him, and who now writes books about contempory design and thechnology" (18).

9. BACK, RDE, 28/XII/06