Predicting 2008 - Forthcoming Technologies

Many new technologies have exploded throughout that year 2007, including Facebook, iPhone, Nintendo Wii. A recent technology from NeuroSky which translates brainwaves to commands, making it possible for any electronic appliance to be controlled by just concentration, is a major breakthrough in 2007. It’s hopefully going to be on the market this year. You can read more about it on Neo’s Blog. Using nano-technology to boost battery power for laptops, iPods, mobile phones or other devices that use lithium batteries, is a notable technology demonstrated in 2007. This technology is s not on the market yet. I came across this interesting article about technology prediction for 2008 in BBC website. Here's the link to the article.

This year is going to be remarkable in the development of technology. BBC has predicted 5 major technologies that could be BIG this year: the web to go, Ultra Mobile PCs, IPTV, WiMax, and Mobile VoIP. Technologies that could blur the online and offline world have been announced in 2007. Google announced Gear which would enable online web content to be taken and used offline. Adobe’s Air used an EBay desktop application built using Air that could do much of the legwork required to setup an auction offline making the content to be posted automatically when the user connects to the Internet. Microsoft Silverlight has the ability to run desktop applications in a web browser. Zoho, creator of free online office package and other applications, use Google Gear to enable users to use these applications quite similar to desktop applications. Still these technologies are not used much, but BBC predicts that many more applications that use these tools will come out this year. A lot more is to come yet!!!

Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) has not taken off yet. One of the most talked about UMPCs is ASUS EEE, a sub-£200 laptop about the size of a hardback book, weighing less than 1Kg. The laptop runs Open Source Linux and uses 4GB of flash memory instead of hard drive. The manufacturer predicts to sell 5 million in 2008. Samsung has shown off chips that could be used to make 120GB memory cards. We could see more laptops coming out with flash memory instead of hard drives this year.

IPTV has not been used much because of the internet bandwidth. Internet bandwidth is presumed to improve this year and IPTV is predicted to capture the market soon. BBC is also has a product coming out, iPlayer, which allows people to catch up BBC’s output over the internet. WiMax, a technology that delivers high speed broadband over long distances, is used quite widely in United States. Although it has not been used much in many other countries, BBC predicts WiMax growth to be notable in 2008. Voice over IP (VoIP) is becoming quite famous for making calls over the internet. Some mobile phones are VoIP enabled with services like Skype. More mobile phones manufactures are introducing VoIP enabled phones and it could grow rapidly this year.

What other technologies can we expect this year? It’s quite unpredictable, what they could come up with. Narrowing the divide between online and offline world, and NeuroSky’s recent technology that translates brainwaves could be the most notable. Don’t you wish just thinking what you’ve to write in this blog, instead of actually having to typing everything? I do!! How much time could you save? My dream is to use the PC/laptop, lying on the bed, wearing a glass with NeuroSky's technology. So that I dont' have to use the mouse, type, sit here looking at the LCD/TFT. How cool could that be? :P There is so much to come. It’s going to be a big year for techno geeks making it much harder to keep up with new technologies that it has ever been. I’m still lagging behind trying to keep up with last year’s developments. Don’t expect any less!!!

Cheers!!

Hamemtt

Picture taken from guardian.co.uk