5 Technologies To Watch In 2007
As many sites around the net begin to look back on all the past stories from 2006 I decided to break from the pack and look at what I think will be the top attention getters for next year. Although there are many new gadgets and technologies making their way to consumers in 2007 I settled on these top five as being worth watching as we head into the new year.
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#5 Automatic in-car traffic reports - If you spend more than an hour a day stuck in traffic then you will understand just how annoying it can be to simply crawl your way to your destination knowing that odds are had you only taken the “other” way in you might have avoided the mess in the first place. I have always hoped there would be technology that could solve this problem in a way that did not require huge investments by users or governments and that it would be reliable. It is starting to look like 2007 will be the year for users to begin using new technology that will not just relay outdated traffic reports to cars on the road but will produce real-time recommendations based on cell phone signal/usage patterns. You heard that right, cell phones. This makes such perfect sense I can’t believe someone did not think of it sooner.
#4 Google Everything – Of course this is on most people’s list for 2007 (and was for 2006 I bet) but I suspect that this upcoming year will be a big one for Google. With Microsoft on the ropes in the Web 2.0 arena and Linux making new strides onto corporate desktops I think Google stands to win next year no matter how things play out long-term. Several of Google’s online tools are also great shoo-ins for users using applications on embedded or mobile devices, and with that market looking better than ever I think its a safe bet Google will find new ways to leverage the Web 2.0 platforms they have built up over the last few years.
#3 Cell Phone Internet Services- Although we have had internet access on cell phones for years, 2007 is going to be the year users buy into this technology in droves. Why? Its simple, one word. Apple. As much as I won’t likely purchase an iPhone (or whatever they decide to call it) myself you can be sure that Apple will make their first foray into the cell phone market something that is both connected and easy to use. Combine these two concepts and you get just what the market has been waiting for. High speed internet access over cell phone connections has been a technology just waiting for a killer app and I am willing to bet Apple is going to be the company to deliver the spark that will cause a rather nice wireless fire.
#2 Automatic Backup Solutions – Normally a mundane market relegated to the corporate scene backup and recovery services are about to go prime time. With digital media usage growing faster than hard drives can increase in size it is a sure bet that it will only take one crashed drive to send a user looking for a solution. If all goes well, in 2007 that user won’t need to go very far. Two technologies, “Shadow Copies”, also sometimes called “Previous Versions” in Windows Vista (also offered in Windows Server 2003) and the other called “Time Machine” which will be integrated into Mac OSX Leopard are slated to make their debut early next year. Both approaches make backups automatic and handle them in a way that is completely transparent to the user.
#1 IPTV Services – This will be huge. Let me say that again, IPTV services are going to be *the* thing for 2007. As consumers continue to be frustrated with rising cable bills and weak programming several new products are going to offer a alternative that most won’t be able to refuse. Another strong reason for users to move away from traditional cable services for television will be to gain access to new (and very popular) podcasts and other such user generated content like what is now offered on youtube. Even Microsoft has a good shot at getting in on this with Media Center being included with Vista but the top products to watch are the iTV from Apple and the Slingbox from Slingmedia.
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