**Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to
> them. But, ready or not, here they come.
>
> 1. The Post Office
> **Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply
> in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term.
> Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed
> to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and
> bills.
>
> 2. The Cheque*
> *Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with cheque by 2018. It
> costs the financial system billions of pounds a year to process cheques.
> Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of
> the cheque. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never
> paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office
> would absolutely go out of business.
>
> 3. The Newspaper *
> *The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly
> don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of
> the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready
> to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused
> all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met
> with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model
> for paid subscription services.
>
> 4. The Book *
> *You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand
> and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music
> from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I
> discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving
> home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can
> browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy.
> And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the
> convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of
> the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what
> happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.
>
> 5. The Land Line Telephone *
> *Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't
> need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it.
> But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone
> companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no
> charge against your minutes
>
> 6. Music *
> *This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is
> dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack
> of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would
> like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and
> the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music
> purchased today is "catalogue items," meaning traditional music that the
> public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the
> live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic
> further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve
> Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."
>
> 7. Television *
> *Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the
> economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers.
> And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the
> time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated
> down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are
> skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say
> good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out
> of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and
> through Netflix.
>
> 8. The "Things" That You Own *
> *Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives,
> but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in
> "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your
> pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and
> you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple,
> Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services."
> That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into
> the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied
> straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in
> the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud.
> And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. In this
> virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever
> from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you
> actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any
> moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable
> and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that
> photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out
> the insert.
>
> 9. Privacy *
> *If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it
> would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There
> are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into
> your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who
> you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google
> Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion
> profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. "They" will try
> to get you to buy something else. Again and again.
>
> All we will have left that can't be changed are "Memories",** and then
> probably Alzheimers will take that away from you too
> them. But, ready or not, here they come.
>
> 1. The Post Office
> **Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply
> in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term.
> Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed
> to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and
> bills.
>
> 2. The Cheque*
> *Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with cheque by 2018. It
> costs the financial system billions of pounds a year to process cheques.
> Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of
> the cheque. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never
> paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office
> would absolutely go out of business.
>
> 3. The Newspaper *
> *The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly
> don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of
> the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready
> to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused
> all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met
> with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model
> for paid subscription services.
>
> 4. The Book *
> *You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand
> and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music
> from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I
> discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving
> home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can
> browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy.
> And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the
> convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of
> the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what
> happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.
>
> 5. The Land Line Telephone *
> *Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't
> need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it.
> But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone
> companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no
> charge against your minutes
>
> 6. Music *
> *This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is
> dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack
> of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would
> like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and
> the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music
> purchased today is "catalogue items," meaning traditional music that the
> public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the
> live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic
> further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve
> Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."
>
> 7. Television *
> *Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the
> economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers.
> And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the
> time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated
> down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are
> skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say
> good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out
> of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and
> through Netflix.
>
> 8. The "Things" That You Own *
> *Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives,
> but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in
> "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your
> pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and
> you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple,
> Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services."
> That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into
> the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied
> straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in
> the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud.
> And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. In this
> virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever
> from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you
> actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any
> moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable
> and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that
> photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out
> the insert.
>
> 9. Privacy *
> *If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it
> would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There
> are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into
> your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who
> you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google
> Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion
> profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. "They" will try
> to get you to buy something else. Again and again.
>
> All we will have left that can't be changed are "Memories",** and then
> probably Alzheimers will take that away from you too
