The Newly Powerful TV makes a Comeback
As you probably have noticed; Computers, Games systems and Televisions are inching closer together, and soon blend together, and become one.
One day there will be one box that houses a game system, pc info that can be viewed and accessed via the TV.
Maybe one day a Plasma screen will have a WI-Fi capability, and all the info we will want on our TV will reside in the cloud. No huge hard drive, just a HD receiver for the screen. No wires, no fuss.
My only concern is the conflict of interest the cable company mixed with high speed internet company brings. See, a cable company will never come along quietly when they figure out we can watch what we want on a screen that once was chained to a cable box, and go around the cable box and kick the expense to the curb. We must split up Cable and Internet - now.
Smartphones will rule the world
Whichever phone you choose, you will use it more and more. Tell your friends who "only want a phone that is just a phone," that they are about to go the way of the horse drawn-wagon and the VHS tape.
You can order food, buy a plane ticket, clear the TSA line, then get on said plane with the Smartphone. I just learned that certain Major League Baseball stadiums and concert venues are using digital tickets that can be read off the screen.
Paper or Plastic? Why are we still doing this?
When you go for a job interview, doctors appointment, etc, you have to fill out, wait for it - a paper document. It will be 2010 people, and we must shift over to a digital format for records - now. Every other second, I here someone telling to Go Green, and yet we are still locked to paper and signatures. I don't care what has to happen, but we need to stop being hypocritical and drink the Green Koolaid and Go Green All the Way.
I still can't believe that we have to use plastic cards to get into a hotel room. We can already virtually check in, but when we arrive at the hotel, and verify that it is indeed us, and we want to use the same credit card we used last time - via Smartphone. At that time, the person behind the counter will send an email or digital message with our room number and a digital "thumbprint" on our screen (like the airline ticket ot concert ticket) and stop ordering the plastic cards that lose their reader info most of the time when we put them into the reader slot.
Jeff, what if the Smartphone runs out of battery power? We can use it to get our rooms then, right?
Right, but I think the next thing coming is a solar-powered battery charger that saves up excess power gathered in the daylight hours in a battery section that is only used when the main battery is discharged.
Jeff, not everyone has a Smartphone. What about that?
So keep paper and plastic cards around for those who haven't jumped into the digital fray, but as they price drops more will be jump in, so it'll happen at some point.
Most restaurants are dumb
If I was a restaurant that was suffering in our latest economic tailspin, I would have been the first one to throw those vibrating flashing discs that tell you your table is ready, and went for Twitter. Twitter? Yep.
Even for the Un-Smartphoned crowd, most are using Twitter on phones, and if they didn't have Twitter, I would use SMS to let people know they're table was ready (After checking in at the front and letting us know what their Twitter name or SMS number was) on they day they ate with us, and they rest of the time, we could market to them on the most powerful Social Networking platform ever.
Restaurants, go Twitter and put away the vibrating flashing discs, okay? Thanks.
Blu-Ray is already dead
Wait, let me explain. We are so close to the "Content is More Important than the Platform its Played On," phase, that your days of "buying" a disc may be over after Blu-Ray. I see Movie Companies releasing the "content of new films into the cloud, and you purchase and retrieve it however you want it. A license fee can be bundled in, so you could grab it on your Smartphone, PC, Mac or Wi-Fi enabled TV.
What will companies do that release Special Expanded versions of trilogies over and over every few years? Cry, and realize that the technology they trail blazed puts us back in control.
The Future Will Be Cool
Napster and P2P didn't ruin anything, it taught companies to think outside the box. The future will be so cool. You will carry the power of the biggest Mac or PC in your hand, connect virtually, and give your info to whoever you want. No cords, no going home to log on - It will be Wirelessly Wonderful. Companies will learn to stop charging for wi-fi and use it like a perk to push out ads now and then. They'll learn, promise.
Anyway, those are my Tech Hopes and Dreams for 2010. What are yours?
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