Toys today. Tools for connected communications tomorrow?

Point: Online toy time-wasters portend the rich variety of future useful personal media tools.

In 1981 I was the personal computing columnist for Better Homes and Gardens. A software company, named Spinnaker I believe, demonstrated a jaw dropping program for Atari and Commodore PCs called Story Maker. It was the first time I’d seen visual storytelling capabilities for the non-technical on a PC. Zoom forward to today, and the following “time-waster toy” online tools are examples of the emerging power of the Web tools to facilitate fun and useful creation and sharing of media within personal networks.

Real time chaotic collaboration among strangers moving around refrigerator magnets: Link.



Create and share realistic simulated notes you might scribble on a napkin or matchbook:Link.