talkingDigital

Every January I post my tech predictions for the coming year. In our last newsletter, I reviewed my predictions for 2007 and pointed out that, with a little justification, I was 100 percent correct.

Now for my tech predictions of 2008…

Ron Paul will not be elected and there will be riots. But, only on blog sites that no one reads. CNN, FOX and other mainstream news sites will be forced to shut off their comment feature when Ron Paul is not invited as a third party candidate after the primary elections are over and he fails to get the Republican nomination.

2008 will be Vista’s last year. Microsoft will announce a new OS that will appear in early 2009 that will not be called Vista. The new OS will be targeted at consumers and will be designed to compete with OS X and Ubuntu. I will not go so far as to say that it will be called MSLinux, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

2008 will be the last year that it really matters what kind of computer you have. Adobe will introduce an online version of Photoshop and other major titles will follow eliminating the need to commit to a single OS.

People will grow tired of smartphones and there will be a new surge in simple phones. Other manufacturers will compete with Jitterbug to create a whole new market of simple cell phones.

The spectrum auction will take place and many big companies will buy in hoping to introduce the world to ubiquitous wireless Internet. Stock prices of companies involved will rise sharply. Soon after the auctions a judge will rule that the technology violates privacy and security concerns – expect a sell off.

Palm will be all but dead as they drop plans to release a Linux powered smartphone. Instead they will release one last generation of Palm/Access powered phones based on the Centro design.

USB 3.0 or a similar connection type that allows massive transfer speeds from external devices will begin to show up in high-end computers.

Canon will release a 12 megapixel budget SLR to replace the Rebel XTi. It will also shoot 4 fps and feature live  preview mode.

GPS will show up in nearly all high-end cell phones and other devices. Two-way GPS will be much more common allowing parents to track children and bosses to track employees.

Non-tech predictions….

Scientists will discover what caused global warming the last 11 times it has happened in the world’s history.

Bin Laden will be found alive in a Home Depot parking lot in southern California.

A long time celebrity marriage will end in divorce.

The world’s attention will be turned to a young person’s sudden, mysterious disappearance.

A high profile court case will take place involving a murder – Nancy Grace will use it as the topic for her show on CNN Headline news for 16 straight weeks.

A well known celebrity will enter rehab multiple times but will continue their dangerous party life.

Perhaps in a related story, a celebrity will be arrested for drunk driving and The Smoking Gun will post their mug shot.

CBS will introduce a new crime drama with social awareness statistics hidden in 60 percent of the dialog. “Lieutenant , I just read in my research on this case that 60 percent of all CBS crime dramas are made up of social awareness statistics!”

Someone will give Sean Connery one ping and one ping only.

I will not be a bit surprised if no one is using Windows or Apple Operating Systems’ (OS) in five years. In fact, I thing the OS as we know it could be strictly used for business and enterprise in a lot less time than that.

Imagine powering up a computer in a matter of seconds then going straight to the Internet where all of your programs are found. Your computer would have a massive amount of storage, but you probably wouldn’t use much of it as most of your data would be kept in your online account.

Welcome to the future of Web 2.0.

Rather than simply using the Internet to read news and lookup recipes, the Internet is now an extension of your computer. Since it is online, that can mean that any computer can work just like your computer.

My wife does medical transcription. Every time she has to buy a new computer it means weeks of moving her customizations like dictionaries, spell check, and document settings from one computer to another as many of those can not easily be moved from an older system to a newer. Believe me we have tried – with mixed success over the years.

In the Web 2.0 world, she would use an online word processing program like Zoho or GoogleDocs. Where she could get online and type in a username and password – suddenly a word processing program would open along with all of her customized settings. She could work from any Internet connected computer in the world.

Today if you have a massive hard drive crash, fire of theft of your computer, all of your data will go with it – unless you backup. Tomorrow such a disaster will be hardly a disaster at all as online storage services like AmazonS3 and OmniDrive provide affordable – if not free – online storage of files.

Why use Quicken to manage your finances when you can manage your bank accounts and online portfolio at sites like Expensr.

These are just the online applications, Web 2.0 will bring you maps, shopping guides, classified ads, market tracking and more. There are two primary differences between a standard website and a Web 2.0 site.

1. The site is customized to your needs and

2. The information can come to you wherever you are.

If you are watching the classifieds for a new tandem bike – you can receive an alert on your cell phone or email when one is posted. If you are waiting for a house to hit the market in a given neighborhood, you can be notified. If you need the phone number for the nearest tailor, simply text the word “tailor” and your zip code to a special number.

The more the Internet evolves, the more we realize that it is only in its infancy and every age becomes the golden age.