Tech Predictions from 2007, by Tim Allix
This week I am going to attempt to predict some of the technology changes for the forthcoming year. Here goes:
- More competition for Microsoft. Even though this is the year of the much-vaunted Windows Vista operating system, and even though it looks to be quite an improvement, it really has nothing that Apple’s OS-X hasn’t offered for a few years now. Microsoft’s new Office 2007 looks to be very good and favorably reviewed, but competitors offer pretty good competing products for free. Linux will continue to improve and continue to steal market-share too.
- Battery Technology improvements. Not only will battery life continue to improve for consumer products such as iPods, cell phones, notebooks etc, but re-charging without wires is rumored for this year.
- YouTube will get huge. If you haven’t heard of this yet, you probably will in the year to come. If you have a unique home-made video, YouTube can make you famous. Even advertisers are getting in on the game, advertising products via YouTube, which costs nothing. If you missed Saddam’s hanging, you can watch it here. With video-cams built into everything from iPods to cell-phones, much of the content from these devices will turn up on YouTube.
- Cheap, plentiful Tera-Byte (1000 Gigabyte) sized hard-disks. Predictors of the past have said that the mechanical hard-disk will be replaced by flash memory in the future. While this eventually may be true, as flash memory is making giant strides, hard-disks don’t appear to be going away. They just get bigger and cheaper. Future Hard-disks will be hybrid combinations of mechanical technology and flash memory technology.
- Quad Core Processors in Computers. 2006 saw both Intel and AMD introduce Dual Core CPU’s into the mainstream market, and the success of these chips is unprecedented. Dual core means, essentially, 2 brains for the price of one. 2007 will see the death of single core CPU’s, and the birth of Quad Core (4 brain) CPU’s. Advantages, with modern Operating Systems, include true multitasking and better heat dissipation.
- Faster Internet. With more and more video content being delivered by internet, (see YouTube prediction above) what we call high-speed today will soon be regarded as quaint and slow; 2006 internet speeds will soon remind us of those good old dial-up days.
- Over-loaded Internet. With all this multimedia content coming at us via internet, and many crystal-ball gazers saying that cable TV will become obsolete, because TV programming will eventually be delivered via internet, the internet infrastructure will have to adjust to accommodate the increased data traffic.
- Chinese Cars in North America. American auto manufacturers have more to worry about as more there are more than 100 auto makers in China jostling to enter the North American market. Watch for cars made by Changfeng (Group) Co, Ltd. arriving in the US this year.
- More Chinese everything. Tire manufacturer Goodyear recently closed a plant in Valleyfield, Quebec as cheap Chinese Tires grabbed too much market-share.
- My column in the Whistler Question will become massively popular in the English-speaking world, will get translated into 15 languages and become syndicated. This will mark the end of my life as a working stiff, and I will fly in my private jet to my private island, and work only when I want to. Okay, perhaps not, but I can dream, can’t I?