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2008 What is Hot and What is Not in Technology
What is Hot and What is Not in Technology
for 2008
Top 10 Winners Predicted for 2008
After looking into my crystal ball, I have made
a cluster of predictions about what will be hot, and
what will be not so hot in technology for 2008.
1. Video
YouTube has not shown any signs of slowing down. With
the increasing popularity of portability and the increase
of video-viewing technology, the growth of video is
unlikely to slow down.
2. Healthy
Healthy is in. It is not only fashionable, but now cool
to be healthy. Maybe this will help counter the rise
in obesity in the US. Even those who give in to their
cravings and indulge agree that it is cool to be healthy.
Organic foods are at an all time high with an increase
of roughly 20% per year in the US! This may also be
a top New Year Resolution.
3. Long Tail
The Long Tail is still hot. Small businesses and big
business are all attempting to capture the famed long
tail.
4. Buy USA
Buying USA is in. The falling dollar has made US products
more competitive in foreign markets. Moreover, the quality
issues that came to light in 2007 (lead in various Chinese
products) have made US consumers more conscious about
buying US manufactured products.
5. Rich Internet / Interactive Web
/ Semantic Web / Web Services
The interactive web with user reviews, peer voting,
and social bookmarking has never been more popular.
The Internet has become more personal and interactive.
Contextual content has given way to personal preferences.
6. Aggregate and Attention Data
Suggested purchases, related purchases, and recommended
purchases are now an integral part of ecommerce. Aggregate
data is becoming a critical component of upsells.
7. Power of the People
The collective voice and user-generated content is taking
the Internet by storm. Yahoo Answers is a pristine twist
on the collective voice; it allows visitors to answer
questions from others. Good answers are rated and users
are rated on a point-based system. Amazon's MTurk acknowledges
the need for humans: pay people to do things that machines
cannot. Surprisingly, in a technical society, people
still have power.
8. Going Green
Going green has never been more popular. With environmental
concerns becoming a global issue, saving the planet,
protecting resources and living green is tantamount
to being a responsible citizen. Venture capitalists
are not turning a blind eye to the needs of clean green
technology; alternative energy and green living are
attracting interest from deep pockets.
9. Biometrics and Big Brother
Digital data and tracking is at an all time high. Privacy
concerns appear to be taking a backseat to cool new
technology that is likely to label the 21st century.
10. Prosthetics / Bionic
The revolution of evolution. The devastating limb injuries
to soldiers is expediting the growth in the biomedical
field of prosthetics. Huge advancements are being made,
and super human limbs are a future possibility.
Top 10 Losers - What is Not Hot Predicted
for 2008
1. Lead
Lead and harmful chemicals in toys is definitely out.
2. Squat Toilets
Squat toilets are definitely out! The Olympics in Beijing
will likely westernize the East and introduce them to
modern conveniences of the Western world.
3. DRM
Not much better than #2, digital rights management still
has a number of issues to work out.
4. China
Between the claims of spying, rampant pollution and
poor quality imports, China is on the outs for 2007.
5. Skinny is Out
Curves are in.
6. Blockbuster / Netflix
The future is downloading movies to iPods. Blockbuster
and Netflix are likely to have a difficult time in the
future. On demand video rentals available for immediate
download offer compact portability and will cut into
the current video rental markets.
7. Orbo
Orbo, the promised dynamic new energy source is going
out. Orbo fell flat, with lots of hype and little to
show. Perhaps Orbo will prove the naysayers wrong and
make a splash in 2008, but for now Orbo is not hot.
8. MySpace fell to Facebook
Between perverts and conscientious parents realizing
the risks associated with MySpace, the social network
toppled. However, it was quickly replaced by Facebook,
which promised a higher level of security (which is
proven to be a fallacy). Facebook violated user privacy
by sharing purchases with "friends", and with the addition
of privacy controls, users are still leery. Social networks
not only experienced growing pains but online threats
are still an issue and privacy concerns are increasing
exponentially.
9. Privacy
Stores tracking purchases, cars equipped with satellite
tracking, cell phones tracked, and still few common
citizens realize or acknowledge how much privacy they
have lost over the last 20 years.
10. Piracy
For the first time it seems people are beginning to
comprehend the effects of piracy in the software industry.
It seems that software piracy may be on the decline
and that software piracy is no longer considered cool.
Last Years Predictions How Did We
Do?
Readers can assess my ability to predict based
on last year's collection of technology predictions
at: http://www.small-business-software.net/whats-hot-whats-not.htm.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
NotePage http://www.notepage.net
a wireless text messaging software company.
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