SINGAPORE - By now, you’ve probably read more than your
fair share of predictions on the next big thing in technology for
2009. Such predictions bore me — usually because they point out the
obvious or are too vague to be of any use. As an alternative of
sorts, we tell you what we’d rather NOT see in 2009.
1. Another iPhone killer
You know the drill. Mobile phone manufacturer releases a model with
a touchscreen. The phone might even have a mini keyboard to one-up
the Apple iPhone’s lack of tactile buttons. And there’s also a
mobile applications store that you can (gasp) download apps
from.
Do we really need an iPhone killer? How about an
environmentally-friendly mobile phone made of sustainable materials
instead? Or, a phone that runs off solar energy and doesn’t need to
be charged? Or, a waterproof phone that doesn’t become junk when
it’s dropped into the toilet bowl (drunk revellers, you know what
I’m talking about)?
Why ape, people? Innovate.
2. Cameras with even more megapixels
For digital cameras, the increase in image resolution comes as a
certainty every year.
But the average prosumer who buys a DSLR won’t be printing banners
the size of buildings anytime soon. And astronomically-higher
megapixel counts would mean that photos take up more storage space
and take a much longer time to process on our computers.
There are better things to improve, camera makers.
Sure, we love our DSLRs, but despite higher image resolutions and
new features (the smile-detection feature knocks our pants off),
they’re still so complex to operate. Even after you’ve read the
(thick) camera manual, you still need to learn how to tweak the
settings on a camera to suit ambient lighting. Trying to remember
the button layout is a nightmare when all you want is to get that
desired shot or visual effect.
Then, there are those darned menus on that small built-in LCD that
you have to go through to set your preferences and manage your
pictures. Form factors have largely stayed unchanged, too.
What we want are cameras that take the guesswork out of taking
great pictures. We don’t mind if they take a bit of bulk off them,
too, and make them operate silently.
3. Everything moves to the ‘cloud’
We’re becoming more reliant on the Internet for storing our data
and applications. Internet-based services, dubbed cloud computing
in geek-speak, have grown increasingly sophisticated.
Now, you can craft a spreadsheet or edit a photo in a browser. And
you don’t even need to save it on your computer; it’s stored
(somewhere) on a server. As we embrace such services, we’re handing
over our personal data and along with it, our privacy, to a third
party. Doesn’t that scare you?
In Dec 2006, an earthquake near Taiwan severed undersea cables and
disrupted Internet connectivity in China, Japan and Singapore,
among other Asian countries. Everything ground to a halt as
Internet traffic was congested on any remaining cables. Even the
stock exchanges of countries were affected.
The last thing we need this year is another Internet company
launching free services online that’ll make your word processor and
other miscellaneous software obsolete.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for storing data in the clouds. I rely
on it for most of my productivity needs — emails, task lists,
calendars and of course, social networking. And it’s great that
access to all that data’s made ubiquitous so you can fetch it from
virtually anywhere.
But we’ve taken Internet connectivity and our privacy online for
granted. We need a contingency plan to preserve and protect our
online data and services in case of anInternet outage. We need
reliable backup off the cloud in case everything goes down.
4. Expensive mobile data roaming
charges
It riles me that I’m still paying a premium for mobile broadband
when I’m travelling. The most I’ve paid? S$30 for every 1MB of
downloaded data.
I’m aware that there are services that offer lower data rates. M1,
for example, has a data roaming bundle that charges S$80 for 35MB
of data weekly and S$210 for 100MB of data monthly.
It’s bad enough that we’ve come to accept exorbitant rates as a
reality. Even my iPhone has a software switch to disable data
roaming, aptly warning me “to avoid substantial roaming charges
when using email, web browsing, and other data services”. Yet, when
you’re in a foreign country, that’s exactly when you need access to
such services to stay connected and get information.
With smartphones and Internet services (see No 3) gaining ground
among consumers, this issue will have to be addressed. All I know
is, the next telco to offer me drastically lower data
roaming rates gets my moolah.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologyfeatures/view/401252/1/.html
