October 25, 2005
Futurists Pick Top Tech Trends
Joanna Glasner's column in Wired this week includes input from an assortment of experts who share their views on top contenders to be the technologies of tomorrow. This part is a look at the positive trends futurists see on the horizon for cell phones:
"Simplicity. Over the past couple of decades, gadget makers have toiled ceaselessly to add functionality. As a result, your cell phone can now play games, do math and sound off like a barking dog when your ex calls. Your digital camera can shoot extremely poor-quality video. And nearly every device you own with a screen also contains a clock.
The problem, says Ian Pearson, futurist in residence at British Telecommunications, is that most people buy a device for a particular purpose. They neither want nor care about all the extra capabilities.
Mobile socialization. According to futurists, we've only scratched the surface of figuring out how our portable communications devices can be of service. What's in store? How about mapping programs that show us whether anyone we'd like to see is nearby. Or a mobile reference modeled on Wikipedia that can tell us if the restaurant on the corner is any good. Perhaps a few voice-recognition applications that actually work. And speech-recognition technology will be instrumental in enabling new mobile services".
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