ACM TechNews

Technologies on the Rise in 2008

BBC News (01/01/08)

BBC News predicts that five technologies could make a significant impact in 2008. First, the mobile Web could become far more ubiquitous as the lines blur between online and offline worlds. Over the past 12 moths, several technologies have emerged that could drastically change how people use the Web. Google Gears, Adobe Air, and Microsoft Silverlight have the ability to take rich Web content and make some of it available offline. These tools will allow users to do work offline, such as creating an eBay auction page, that would be loaded to the Web the next time the user connects, as well as the opposite, or building desktop applications and running them in a Web browser. Ultra Mobile PCs could also become far more prevalent in 2008, filling the gap between PDAs and laptops. Several manufacturers recently launched devices that are smaller and lighter than laptops, but are more powerful than smart phones due to features such as flash memory. Flash memory has recently shown drastic increases in power and could soon replace hard drives as the preferred storage method in laptops. Internet TV is also expected to become widespread, with broadband adoption and speeds increasing and more Internet protocol television services being launched. Wimax is also expected to become quite popular. Major companies such as Sprint and Intel are backing Wimax, and it is being tried in developing countries such as Nigeria. Lastly, VOIP could finally become a serious contender in the voice services industry in 2008. Towards the end of 2007, network operator 3 launched a Skype phone that allows users to make ordinary calls using the service, and handset-maker Nokia already offers four phones able to use the technology.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7147804.stm

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