Last weekend I was in the family van, enduring another two hour drive up to the lake to enjoy the fine weather at the beach. I was sitting in the back, and I had my laptop open on my knees. We stopped for gas at a place along the side of the highway, and as I was zooming the cursor around the desktop in a phase of technological boredom due to the lack of an internet connection, it seemed that the Web gods were watching. Suddenly, the tiny red X that was sitting fixedly on the wireless icon in my system tray disappeared, and a happy blue notification box told me that the internet was connected.
Was I dreaming? Had my Buick Terraza suddenly sprouted a dish and began receiving satellite internet signals? Pushing the thoughts of ‘why’ and ‘how’ out of my mind, I alt-tabbed open Launchy and fired up Firefox to check my feeds before this miracle decided to leave.
Just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, and I was back to fingering the track-pad absentmindedly, still wondering what had happened.
In hindsight, I realize that it was obviously the gas-station that offered free Wi-Fi to the lonely truckers that were laying in their cabs in the parking lot (don’t overthink it…) . But despite knowing the answer, I couldn’t get an idea out of my head. An idea so excellent and marvellous that it makes me look to the future with a kind of excited apprehension for what could be possible. I haven’t put these ideas to paper or to a patent office, but I’ll see if I can explain them as best I can. I call the idea ‘The Layer’.
I just tried explaining it via text, but realized that it’s too hard to formulate an accurate portrayal with just words. This means I’m going to have to turn to Photoshop and put together an entire presentation. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I will put it way up near the top of my To Do list so it doesn’t get forgotten.
Stay tuned, this is going to blow your mind.
