1. Windows 7 will bring tech out of the doldrums
When Microsoft delivers Windows 7 by Q3 (Quarter 3), it could catalyze the tech economy. This new OS (Operating System) will drive businesses and consumers to new PC and notebook purchases by Q4.
2. The tech industry will be the first to recover from the recession
While the real estate and auto markets will be very slow to come back, the tech industry will recover fastest and be moving forward again by Q3.
3. The unemployed will start small businesses to survive and will need PCs to make a living
Many of those laid off due to the global recession are professionals who could start specialty consulting services as well as new businesses of various types just to survive. PC technology and communications will most likely be at the heart of their new ventures.
4. Netbook sales will double in 2009
Manufacturers should sell 36 to 38 million netbooks worldwide in 2009.
5. Smart phones will gain market share
In the next 12 months, smart phones such as Apple's iPhone and the RIM BlackBerry will gain a stronger foothold in the United States and Europe. By 2015, smart phones will represent as much as 65 percent of all cell phones sold globally.
6. Android will expand its reach in 2009
By the end of 2009, Expect top see Android in set-top boxes, digital televisions, and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), and perhaps even desktop terminals.
In fact, Android could emerge as the biggest threat to Linux's desire to make the mainstream, and within the next three years, Android could become a major OS in its own right.
7. Apple market share in PCs and smart phones will grow
Even in a downturn, Apple will grow its market share by at least 2 points in 2009. The ease-of-use message and the complete ecosystem are attracting more new customers to Apple stores, and the company will gain new Mac users at the expense of Windows vendors.
Also, Apple will continue to innovate around the iPhone and even add some models at lower prices to attract new customers worldwide.
8. Microsoft makes a play to purchase RIM
If the Apple iPhone makes any serious inroads into the enterprise, Microsoft will make a bid for RIM (Research in Motion) and use it to enhance and solidify the company's enterprise smart phone position.
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/dec/31sld8-top-8-tech-predictions-for-2009.htm
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Top 10 technology breakthroughs of 2008
1. Apple's App Store
Apple's App Store has made creating and distributing mobile applications for cellphone users easy - jumpstarting the mobile-app development market and creating clones such as the Android Market.
It even forced Research in Motion to offer a BlackBerry Application Storefront.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/
2. Android
The T-Mobile HTC G1 phone scores with its operating system, Android, the free mobile operating system from Google. It's the first mobile OS to make its debut in years and the G1 is just the first of what will be many phones that use it.
http://code.google.com/android/documentation.html
3. USB 3.0
USB 3.0 will be 10 times faster than the current USB 2.0 standard, and will increase the amount of electrical current that can be delivered through a USB cable.
http://www.usb.org/developers/onthego/
4. Video-Capable SLRs
This year, two new cameras, the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II not only capture top-notch still images, but let the photographer shoot high-definition videos as well.
5. The Memristor
The discovery of the "memristor," or memory transistor will make it possible to develop computer systems that remember what's stored in memory when they are turned off.
That means computers that don't need to be booted up and systems that are far more energy efficient than the current crop.
http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/2008/apr-jun/memristor.html
6. This year, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used in many new technologies, from the iPhone 3G and the T-Mobile G1 to notebooks such as Fujitsu's LifeBook series.
7. Flash memory is a mainstay of most consumer electronics products, from ultralight notebooks to digital cameras and media players.
8. Speedo LZR
Speedo's new LZR swimsuit blends new materials and a dose of NASA rocket science to boost the speeds of elite swimmers -- legally.
Image: Austria's Mirna Jukic prepares to swim in her LZR Speedo suit in the Women's 200m breaststroke at the world short course swimming championships in Manchester, northern England. | Photograph: REUTERS/Nigel Roddis
9. Edible Chips
Soon, tiny edible chips will track when patients take their pills (or don't) and monitor the effects of the drugs they're taking. Proteus, a Redwood City, California, company, has created tiny chips out of silicon grains that, once swallowed, activate in the stomach.
The chips send a signal to an external patch that monitors vital parameters such as heart rate, temperature, state of wakefulness or body angle.
10. Flexible Displays to be a reality by 2010 or 2011
For years, researchers have worked on thin, paperlike displays that can be folded, rolled or sewn into the sleeve of your hoodie.
Flexible displays could change the way we interact with the info-universe, creating new kinds of cellphones, portable computers, e-newspapers and electronic books.
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/dec/27sld10-top-19-technology-breakthroughs-of-2008.htm
Apple's App Store has made creating and distributing mobile applications for cellphone users easy - jumpstarting the mobile-app development market and creating clones such as the Android Market.
It even forced Research in Motion to offer a BlackBerry Application Storefront.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/
2. Android
The T-Mobile HTC G1 phone scores with its operating system, Android, the free mobile operating system from Google. It's the first mobile OS to make its debut in years and the G1 is just the first of what will be many phones that use it.
http://code.google.com/android/documentation.html
3. USB 3.0
USB 3.0 will be 10 times faster than the current USB 2.0 standard, and will increase the amount of electrical current that can be delivered through a USB cable.
http://www.usb.org/developers/onthego/
4. Video-Capable SLRs
This year, two new cameras, the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II not only capture top-notch still images, but let the photographer shoot high-definition videos as well.
5. The Memristor
The discovery of the "memristor," or memory transistor will make it possible to develop computer systems that remember what's stored in memory when they are turned off.
That means computers that don't need to be booted up and systems that are far more energy efficient than the current crop.
http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/2008/apr-jun/memristor.html
6. This year, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used in many new technologies, from the iPhone 3G and the T-Mobile G1 to notebooks such as Fujitsu's LifeBook series.
7. Flash memory is a mainstay of most consumer electronics products, from ultralight notebooks to digital cameras and media players.
8. Speedo LZR
Speedo's new LZR swimsuit blends new materials and a dose of NASA rocket science to boost the speeds of elite swimmers -- legally.
Image: Austria's Mirna Jukic prepares to swim in her LZR Speedo suit in the Women's 200m breaststroke at the world short course swimming championships in Manchester, northern England. | Photograph: REUTERS/Nigel Roddis
9. Edible Chips
Soon, tiny edible chips will track when patients take their pills (or don't) and monitor the effects of the drugs they're taking. Proteus, a Redwood City, California, company, has created tiny chips out of silicon grains that, once swallowed, activate in the stomach.
The chips send a signal to an external patch that monitors vital parameters such as heart rate, temperature, state of wakefulness or body angle.
10. Flexible Displays to be a reality by 2010 or 2011
For years, researchers have worked on thin, paperlike displays that can be folded, rolled or sewn into the sleeve of your hoodie.
Flexible displays could change the way we interact with the info-universe, creating new kinds of cellphones, portable computers, e-newspapers and electronic books.
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/dec/27sld10-top-19-technology-breakthroughs-of-2008.htm
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