Bits and bytes from the information technology world plus a few fearless predictions for 2011
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this past January was interesting not for what appeared but for what did not. The hero of the show was Apple’s iPad tablet — everywhere you turned you saw tablet competitors — but you didn’t see the iPad itself. Nearly 100 tablets were unveiled at CES, a show which also focused on 3D TVs and high-end “in-vehicle” wireless systems, but almost every conversation referenced the iPad.
Apple just doesn’t like to share the spotlight. It prefers to launch products at times and places of its own choosing. And why not? 2010 marked the triumph of the iPad. Everything else paled in comparison.
Focus On Electric
Ford Motor Company captured some attention at the CES with the unveiling of the Ford Focus Electric. Destined to hit the market near the end of 2011, the car has a top speed of around 135km per hour and mileage of around 100km per 2.5L of fuel.
Apparently it takes three to four hours to charge the Focus Electric, which at today’s electricity rates, may make it more costly to operate than expected, but it does come with software (as part of Ford’s deal with Microsoft) to help make use of off-peak time electrical rates.
Goodbye to the Past
Ironically, a dear friend of mine passed away at the end of the year: my trusty old Palm Tungsten T3. Its battery ran out, literally erasing everything in its memory.
I bought my T3 in 2002. It was the best Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) I’ve ever had. Originally used to remotely synchronize data with my workplace MSExchange server (a task now done by my Blackberry), my T3 and I took MSWord notes together in the field, looked up varieties of contact information, and even read e-books, played games and watched movies together, when we had some time to kill in airport lounges, bus depots and taxi cabs.
I like embracing technological change but I do believe in the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Virtually every aspect of the T3 can now be done by other tools. But most of the iPhone/iPod apps are in their infancy compared to the more robustly featured Palm apps of the day.
That will change, given time, but unless your employer lets you consolidate all your personal and corporate applications, data and multimedia into one device (mine doesn’t), you get stuck with carrying multiple gadgets around.
Just like the modern toys, a simple “re-sync” of the erased Palm T3 to its mother computer should restore everything back to normal. But alas, that particular computer has long since been retired from active service, and Palm had given up making device drivers for the newer operating systems.
2011: Year of the Tablet
2011 will be the Year of the Tablet. Not one tablet. Many tablets. The BlackBerry Playbook. The Samsung Galaxy. The Motorola Xoom. And of course the Apple iPad. Especially the Apple iPad.
Sure, tablets are, generally speaking, lousy for doing productive work, but they do excel at monitoring information — email, websites, multimedia, document viewing — and, given their size, I predict that they will completely decimate the netbook marketplace in 2011.
2011: The Skies Clear for Cloud Computing
Cloud computing will take off in 2011. I know, I said that in 2010, but really, it’s going to happen this year.
We've been on the brink of it for ages but the growth of the smart phone and tablet computer will push cloud computing to the consumer and business forefront. People want easy ways of sharing information between one device and another — something much easier to do if the information in question is already stored “out there,” rather than on a specific computer.
Take a look at the BlackBerry Exchange Server (BES), which easily synchronizes your email, calendar and other applications between your desktop, MSExchange and BlackBerry.
Similarly, Google’s Gmail, Apps and Picasa allow for content to be stored, viewed, created and edited on one device, while the results replicate to every other device you use. Apple, DropBox and Microsoft are all working on applications that use cloud computing as well.
In 2010 I waved goodbye to an old and trusted friend who passed away on the cusp of a new era in gizmos and gadgets. I loved my Palm T3 but it was incapable of taking advantage of the new paradigms of cloud and group collaboration. I predict that I’ll find a new favourite gadget in 2011.
