Retiring the following 10 technology excuses

Below is a list of technology excuses that plagued people over the last decade. I think we can safely retire most of these in the next 10 years;

1. Lost voicemails
“I left you a voicemail, but you must not have gotten it”

This is no longer acceptable. Smart providers and smarter phones mean that you can no longer get away with telling someone that you didn’t get their call. Voicemails, call logs, and now online records prove your alibi is B.S.

2. Lost emails
You can no longer tell someone that you sent an email and it “didn’t go through”. If it really didn’t go through you now have headers and mailer deamons explaining the problem. Wrong address or spam folders no longer thwart email delivery…only delays them.

3. Printer problems
Do people hand in “papers” anymore? Submitting documents electronically and the ubiquity of printers and connectivity mean that this excuse is extinct.

4. The disk is broken
People do not use disks anymore, so perhaps this can apply to USB keys. Either way, totally not a viable excuse any longer to not have your materials. Besides you should be storing your items in the cloud.

5. I missed the show\movie\live event
The Internet now makes it possible to buy, download, or livestream your missed program. Time shifting and place shifting video events make it possible to watch your favorite program via mobile device (phones, iPods, other video device) without worrying about missing something everyone else has seen.

6. I couldn’t open the document
Open Office, MS Compatibility pack, Google Docs, and Zoho Docs make this excuse a thing of the past. It is no longer acceptable not to be able to open the document.

7. I didn’t have connectivity
Wired, WiFi, Tethering, and 3G cards will see this excuse into the sunset. Buses, trains, and even planes are rolling out ubiquitous wifi making the “no connectivity” problem a thing to tell your kids about.

8. I couldn’t get a signal
Similar to the point above, not having a wireless signal may be around for a little while longer, but not for long. Femtocells and massive infrastructure upgrades across the US by the major carriers are making signal strength better and connectivity stronger. As of today you can have a Verizon call connected through the Lincoln tunnel without losing the call to the other side. Now that is progress!

9. I lost my work because my computer crashed
Cloud document storage means that auto saves happen every few seconds preventing the always heart wrenching draft loss of a document. Granted, until everyone moves off of desktop publishing software this one has a longer lifespan – but it is fading nonetheless.

10. So I only had 9 – What else do you think will no longer be a viable excuse over the next 10 years?