Free Website Content - 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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