Tech notes
Jan 4 2007 By Herb Kim, The Journal
It's traditional at this time of year for us technology columnists to offer our "wise" predictions. So, as a stickler for tradition myself, here's my top 10 of what's going to happen in the tech world in 2007
1. Many more user-generated content (UGC) websites emerge. Expect to hear lots more about the world's hottest music website, Last FM, plus several new names bursting onto the scene.
2. Open source software (software applications free to download over the net) becomes more widespread and mainstream. What was, in the past, solely the preserve of programmers, is used extensively by business and home computer users alike.
3. As those in the MySpace generation tire of viruses and harassment from strangers, they migrate to the `next generation' of social networks, websites such as Wallop and Vox - both of which let users create limited networks and fine-tune how broadly they share their personal information online.
4. Blogging reaches a plateau. We see many personal blogs die out, with their content finding its way onto social networking sites instead. Corporate blogs written by companies, magazines etc, continue to do well, however.
5. Google leads the way in internet searches - but other, smaller organisations take a piece of the pie as searches for audio visual content (and the groundwork needed to do these searches successfully) become the `next big thing'.
6. On the home front, a "War for the Living Room" breaks out, comprising three battles: High Definition (HD) television versus standard telly (HD-TV wins); Blu-Ray fights HD-DVD to become the new format for watching films etc (Blu-Ray wins); and PlayStation 3 - which launches in spring - wins back some of the games market from Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii, which does surprisingly well.
7. As technology such as Sky+ gets better at enabling us to skip TV ads, so advertisers - sadly - get better at reaching us. We see more interactive internet ads and more product placement in TV and video games.
8. Apple loses some of its bite. As mobile phones and other devices get enough storage capacity to hold more music tracks, iPod's market share suffers. Mobile media players that take advantage of the flexibility, reliability and capacity of Flash-based memory cards also put pressure on iPods, which can't be upgraded with additional memory.
9. Elsewhere in mobile, location- aware mobile devices, which use global positioning technology, take off. If you search for `pizza' on your phone as you walk down a street, the first result you'll get will be for the nearest pizza parlour.
10. Windows Vista finally makes it to UK consumers. A leftover from last year, this prediction. All being well, Microsoft's new operating system should reach us at long last on January 30. If not, I'll cut-and-paste this prediction into next year's column!
Herb Kim is chief executive officer of Codeworks, the North-East's centre of excellence for digital technology.
