Nine trends that will change the tech landscape
Description: A world in which cars listen, TV screens bend and machines write (no humans necessary). No, it’s not a teaser for a new sci-fi series. These are some of the most intriguing technology trends happening right now.
Source: theglobeandmail .com
Date: Feb 2, 2012
The idea of having a “personal cloud” for storage is so 2011. Now you can combine office, mobile, Web-based and even home-based storage options to achieve near-automatic caching of data on everything from your smartphone to your TV set-top box. What’s more, the line has become blurred in terms of personal and business use of such technologies. Read Rest of Story
Questions for discussion:
- Which three trends in tech do you feel will affect you the most? Why
- Which three trends in tech do you feel will the least affect on? Why?
Paige Magnussen
The trends that have come about from technology are massive and they have made an impact on every possible aspect of our life. The touch screen is everywhere these days, we want the simplest technology and what better way to make things simple by touching them. These technologies have emerged on music devices, on I pads and on phones. The other trend that I really noticed in the article was the impact that technology has had on cars. Now the latest and greatest cars are like their own super computer. Saying hi to you when you get into the car, automatically changing your seats, and of course touch screen to adjust your music or even put on a movie for the kids in the back. Let’s face it technology has been a double edged sword. It’s made our lives easier in so many ways but it’s also made it more complex. The voice recognition that was highlight in the article was also very interesting. To think you could talk to a computer and it could type out your next paper. Although this is already happening in cars, you can tell your car to text someone in your phone book and your cars technology will type that text and send it to your friend all without a touch of a button.
Nichelle
The three trends which I think would have the most impact on me would be: 1) The “Print from Anywhere” trend. Being able to print documents that are located on my smart phone and mobile devices is something I would find very handy. Being able to print assignments forgotten at home but are present on your iphone would save all those forgetful students. 2) The “Auto Fleet Made Easy” trend I also find quite interesting. Vehicles parking themselves, knowing your habits, and location and dispatch services are features I would look for in my next vehicle purchase. Sure higher end vehicle companies have incorporated some of these features previously, it is nice to see companies like GM, Toyota and Ford doing the same thing. 3) The “Voice Recognition” trend is the other trend which I would use. With the new distracted driving regulation, being able to have voice-to-text any other vocal features is something I would use every day.
The three trends impacting me the least would be: 1) “Gumby Screens.” I am not sure I would even really enjoy a bendable iphone or ipad screen. 2) “Off-the-shelf Technology.” I am content with my shopping habits and experiences, I’d rather keep them as is. 3) The “uncomputer.”
Andrew Kruschell
It is cool to see all the ways computers can be molded to our lives so that we are less aware of it. However its also making us more dependent of the technologies, though I don’t predict that takeover to happen for at least a century still. I think technologies should be more focused on the learning aspect instead of the automating aspect. With that said things like the giant cloud computer, natural language processors, and the driver tracker are neat cause they allow opportunities for people to learn about each other and inject efficiency into everyday tasks. And the gumby screens are just a fun innovation. The growth in touch screens and the writing computer sounds too much like a tech takeover to me. Installing these in everyday life will deskill humans too much in social situations and other important things (like writing…which this opinion would not be brought to you without). Even NLPs go somewhat too far if used in the stead of cashiers, tellers, agents, and so on. We need to make sure all humans have technology related skills before letting technology consume us.
Brittney Rainforth
The three technologies that I feel will affect me the most are the cloud, printing from anywhere and the auto fleet made easy. The cloud will impact me greatly because technology is increasing so quickly. The number of technology devices we are using is increasing as well. Because of the increase in devices, it is extremely difficult to have all of your files, pictures, etc. on one device. Therefore, the cloud allows humans to access the information they need from anywhere on any of their devices. Printing from anywhere will also impact me as a student, and a future business woman, I will need to have things right away. And there are times when I will not be close to a PC or literally connected to a printer. Printing from anywhere will make my life easier. The auto fleet made easy will stop employees from abusing their power and taking advantage of their company vehicles. Employees will have to become more responsible.
Computers that write, Gumby screens and off-the-shelf technology will impact me the least. As a child I was taught how to properly type using a keyboard. Therefore, I am efficient in my typing and see no need to use a computer that writes for me. Gumby screens, although are a very cool idea, I fail to see how they would really have an impact on me. Really, they are just bendable screens. I do not have any real need for a bendable screen. I also fail to see how off-the-shelf technology will impact me. I do not purchase things online because I do not trust the process.
Paige Rosner
I feel that bendable screens, voice recognition technology and touch screen technology are both the most interesting to me and the most applicable to my daily life – at least in terms of what i will interact with most often. voice recognition thrills me. i talk at my technology already, this seems like a natural next step. touch screen technology is also a fabulous tool that has endless possibilities in terms of marrying the brain, hands and computer technology. i see this as having particular advantage in my field of work as an art facilitator, though it is obviously an excellent tool for education of any kind. the three least important or desirable to me include the uncomputer (which seems to be to be a waste of resources though maybe i misunderstood the article), the “print from anywhere” (which still requires you to hook your smartphone up to an available printer that has both ink and paper and may still jam – i have a personal vendetta against printers) and the off the shelf technology, simply because this seems like the most inevitable of all these ‘new technologies’.
overall this was an interesting article, though i would have liked to read into more detail about each particular technology.
Lesley
Using touch screen, voice recognition and definetly the print from anywhere features interest me the most. I feel this way simply because it makes life easier being able to touch a screen to manage your work and being able to speak to your phone and even your computer to manage your life is great. There’s no need for typing huge essays, you can just buy a program and talk or have your data typed for you! The print from anywhere will make life easier and possibly even promote less paper use. I mean, why print something that isn’t needed. When you need it printed, print it from wherever you are. A lot of the time i print everything because i’m not sure what i’ll be needing, this can eliminate that completly.
Amber Dashney
Since we are in a technological era, I think all of these trends will affect everyone eventually. But as of right now obviously the touch screen technology will affect me most. These computers you can run with the touch of your screen are made cheaper and cheaper so soon it will be as common as having an Iphone to have a touch screen computer. Also I think the printing from anywhere will affect me because of the convenience of the concept. When you have an Iphone having that connection of being able to print from anywhere will save time and stress when getting prepared for presentations or any meetings of any kind. I also think that company vehicles with programs in them that monitor where the driver is going, when they are going somewhere and how their driving is will become very common in the next few years so anyone working for a company with the privilege of driving a company car will be affected by the new trend. I don’t think the voice recognition programs will affect me anytime soon, I don’t completely trust voice recognition programs and there is a lot of improving to be done with that technology. Also the computers that write wont affect me anytime soon, it is hard to trust that the sentences these computers are spitting out actually make sense to the context and are well written sentences. Gumby screens probably wont affect me anytime soon because there is still a lot of developing and improving with this type of technology and is not a necessity to have.
Linli He
The three trends I will feel affact me the most would be :Cloud, Print from anywhere, and voice recognition technology. The Personal Cloud storage I would use in the future can back up all the information or data from shcool, home-base, and web-site into my personal smartphone. Therefore, I don’t need to take different kinds of devices with me; the Cloud can allow human share the personal information (Photo, files) with friends; it also accept human to access the personal storage in the phone anywhere and anytime they want. The technology I prefer most is Print From Anywhere. I would say it’s the most useful technology in both learning and working fields. Print from anywhere impact me as a student, I don’t need to take time to run around and only looking for a printer, then log into my account, find the staffs I need, and print them. The whole process will take me about 5 mins. Right now, only 1 min, that’s all. Print from anywhere make my life more easier. The third technology I rank would be Voice Recognition Technology. Currently, Iphone 4S has already had the vioce recognition feature, and it brings benefit for the business men/women who have spend much more time driving cars, and they also can manage the business using the new technology during the driving. However, the voive recognition technology can use very well for only the people who speak English perfectly. I’m hoping it can expand to multiple languages, and it will benefit for more people in the world.
Tim Anderson
Cloud computing effects me the most because I use it every day, multiple times per day without evening thinking about it. I’m talking about email. I never thought about email as being a kind of cloud computing but it totally is, especially when using Gmail. I got my Gmail account about 6 years ago and the tools available to me are numerous. But each day I send and receive email that are stored on their servers in some country and I don’t think anything of it.
Another technology that I have begun to use regularly is a wireless printer. I just bought one and installed it. It makes a huge difference because all the computers in my house can be connected through the wireless router and print from anywhere within range. This has not changed my life tremendously however it is more convenient and I can see how I will look for more wireless technology.
The other technology that has made a significant impact on my daily life is the touch technology that I use to interface with my ipod touch. I use it all day every day. Granted it is a little hard to do certain things like surf the web effectively, but email is available anywhere I have a wireless connection. I also use facebook way more than I would otherwise have.
M
I believe the 3 tech trends that will affect me the most are firstly the big cloud idea. This way of linking my personal computer, to my cell phone, to my work computer, to my light switches and on and on is going to be a huge positive impact on my daily life and how easy my day to day activities are achieved. The easiest example is email when working. I would have the ability to never be out of touch with the office whether I am on the bus, driving, or sitting at home watching tv, which in turn can help me stay on top of my workload. The second that will have the biggest impact on me is voice recognition and how it is growing. With laws now in place that don’t allow you to be on a phone or distracted period when you are driving, voice recognition can help out hugely with eliminating this problem. My third one is the print from anywhere function. I really wish I used this function currently. No longer will I forgot to print something because the second I think of it I can just plug it into my smartphone and it will print my item off at my home printer.
P
The three new trends that will affect me the most is: print anywhere, voice recognition and Off the shelf technology. More voice recognition will have an impact on me especially with the new distracted driver law, I am driving back and forth from Lethbridge to Calgary regularly and having voice recognition on my smart phone or stereo system would prevent distractions and better my travels. I think the print anywhere trend is brilliant, printing things off especially at the school can be quite annoying. Access to my printer by my cell phone, will prevent me from emailing or having to transfer documents onto a usb stick to print. This will save me a lot of time and make transferring documents more efficient. Off the shelf technology will omit travel time and efforts to pricey technological stores and present deals on the ever-changing technologies. Technology is evolving rapidly and products are released and become obsolete in a very short period of time. Spending a ton of money on a product that may be obsolete in the next year is not very smart, especially for starving students trying to make their way through university. The smallest deals will most likely increase demand for the particular products as well.
Jay Retzlaff
The three technologies that will affect me the most are the cloud, voice recognition and print from anywhere. The one out of these three that affect me the most is the print from anywhere. This affects me mainly during school. I always have document saved to my phone, or on a flash drive and need to print stuff off. It is super handy in today’s world. With the cloud i use that every week as well. Different clouds i use are Netflix, Drop box and the cloud for an Xbox. The great thing about these clouds is that they save data on a network for me so it doesn’t take up space on my hard drives and i can access them from almost anywhere. Voice Recognition is one i use sometimes. I use it with my phone when im driving and need to call someone mainly. It is really cool and easy to use.
The three that will least affect me is the gumby (flexible screen), computers that write and technology off the shelf. The gumby screen is a cool idea but honestly i could care less if my screen bends or not and i could also see it being really annoying when i am using it. With he computers that write I can see myself never using one. I am not going to be in a field like that but it is really cool. Last the technology off the shelf. I buy all my electronics at either best buy or future shop. When i go to places like Costco i usually would never buy electronics from their because i see them as being cheap since Costco isn’t huge into electronics.
Tuan
One of the three trends in tech which I like the most is the ability to print from a mobile device from anywhere trend. I like this trend because I will be able to print any e-mail attachments from my mobile phone and wouldn’t have to log on to a computer with a print. I hope this new trend would have the capability to print from any printer, anywhere, and only pay as you print to whoever owns the printer. The second trend in tech that I find appealing is the voice recognition trend. It is a very handy tech to have and use while you are driving for example. However, this voice recognition still needs some fine tuning because it is very frustrating to talk to a device that do not listen well when my voice change because I happen to be sick that day. The bottom line, I like the voice recognition because when I drive I have someone to speak to without holding on to a phone and navigate me to my destination while my eyes on the road. There isn’t any trend that don’t like because I haven’t try it out. However, I would like to say that the gumby screens tech is sounds weird but I could imagine that this trend will be a hit in the near future.
Trevor Armstrong
Three trends that will affect me the most:
Cloud Storage: In the modern age of having many different electronic devices, it is becoming more and more frustrating to have your data segregated among your various devices. Many people (myself included) have started using some cloud services (such as dropbox), which allows us to have access to our materials, regardless of where we are, or what device we are using. This need will only increase in the future.
Print from Anywhere: Honestly, I never thought this would be useful for my usage habits. However, we recently bought a wireless network printer for home, and I must say that sitting in the living room on your laptop, and sending a report to the printer, or taking a picture with my Iphone and sending that to the printer (via an app from canon) are both really handy features.
Of the remaining technologies discussed, I would say touch screen technology would be the most useful for me personally. Having become accustomed to my Iphone, I can see practical uses in navigating an operating system via a touch screen monitor. While other input devices may still be needed, some functions would be easier, as well as having everything in one unit.
Tuan
One of the three trends in tech which I like the most is the ability to print from a mobile device from anywhere trend. I like this trend because I will be able to print any e-mail attachments from my mobile phone and wouldn’t have to log on to a computer with a print. I hope this new trend would have the capability to print from any printer, anywhere, and only pay as you print to whoever owns the printer. The second trend in tech that I find appealing is the voice recognition trend. It is a very handy tech to have and use while you are driving for example. However, this voice recognition still needs some fine tuning because it is very frustrating to talk to a device that do not listen well when my voice change because I happen to be sick that day. The bottom line, I like the voice recognition because when I drive I have someone to speak to without holding on to a phone and navigate me to my destination while my eyes on the road. There isn’t any trend that don’t like because I haven’t try it out. However, I would like to say that the gumby screens tech is sounds weird but I could imagine that this trend will be a hit in the near future with new generation of user.
Jannelle
The three trends that I think will affect me most would be the print from anywhere, touch screens, and voice recognition. To be able to print documents from your smart phone or mobile device would be unbelievable handy as I’m sure everyone has had that moment where they are ready to hand in an assignment or need a paper for work and realised they forgot that one vital paper at home and there is no time to go get it. The ability to print from your phone will, I believe, affect everyone in the future. Touch screens are already starting to be seen everywhere and they are so quick and handy to use. I think you can find what you’re looking for so much easier and quicker with a touch screen then with a mouse for the computer or the buttons on a phone. To have voice recognition in your vehicle would be so handy and probably cause fewer accidents than those who don’t. To have the technology to send txt messages to other people just by using your voice rather than your hands and sight will make people less distracted, but of course not everyone will be able to have this privilege if there vehicle does not support this technology.
Dennis Zhong
Which three trends in tech do you feel will affect you the most? Why
I think Cloud Tech, Bio security Tech, and MIS Tech
Cloud Tech is one of most popular data storage. However im still feeling unsave when my personal data on cloud. People might can stole those information.
Bio security use your body identifcation for security purpose. i will think this tech will become popular. because it is the most scurity tool.
MIS Tech is the most tech for business, and also for reseach purpose. It trends to have more MIS software in later day.
Billy Abesdris
Two years ago if you mentioned the term cloud computing I would have had no idea what you’re talking about but already it has become a household term. Imagine having everything in a cloud, TV/Movies/Music/Sensitive Legal Documents, this technology is already here and we are soon going to be all but forced to use it. Why bother with expensive 100 terabyte hard drives when you can have all your digital life floating around in a magic world for free. Obvious access of information problems are present but I have no doubt that I will be clicking I accept to privacy policies and waiving away my rights to my own information. Do I like this? No. Is it an undeniable way of the future? Yes.
The least Relevant of the nine technologies would be print from anywhere. Although I would love the usefulness of being in Hong Kong and printing a document in my office, the technology won’t help me when it’s founded on the most problematic piece of equipment known to man. The printer. The beeps and lights haunt my nightmares with evil images of 6 sheets of inky paper wedged inside the rollers and toner low messages flashing. The only positive that comes from this technology is that I will not even know when my printer is messing up and will save myself the rage and emotional battery that occurs from those awful devices. Plus you can use your iPhone to see a digital copy of anything, anywhere, anyways..
Dave B.
The three trends that will most likely affect me the most would be the “cloud”, touch and voice recognition. The touch and voice recognition basically go hand in hand. Its still nice to move things around like graphics design and that sort of thing but with the addition of more voice recognition, it would make most of the things we have today obsolete. I think these two are relatively minor things but will have a major impact on business and personal worlds. However, the “cloud” storage is in its infancy and to think of all the things that you could manage and how far the technology can go is rather astonishing. It could go from simply storing files on your computer to being able to access baby monitors or hospital records…who knows…maybe Bill Gates…