As I started my internship with Airfoil, I believed I was up-to-date on technology. But as I am becoming acclimated with the technology we use most for business at Airfoil, I can see now that I am not as tech savvy as I thought.
The technological landscape has changed significantly even in a year’s time, making innovations including e-readers, virtualization and geolocation applications familiar and accessible to many average consumers. moving into 2011, these emerging technologies will become “new” again as they continue to evolve and leave an even deeper imprint on our daily professional and personal lives. In my research for Airfoil, I’ve identified a “Top Trends for 2011” list…read on and envision whether your life will change because of one (or all) of these developments:
Augmented Reality- Virtually seeing through walls, this technology overlays online content onto the world around you. You can use your Smartphone to see what restaurants are in the area and pictures others have taken from your same location. Augmented reality will continue to move into everyday technology; applications will evolve more into the wave of consumer focus. The apps will allow consumers to shop and compare with their Smartphones.
Location-based sharing - Location-based services are growing in popularity as we engage more in social networking. The downside is that your privacy is up for grabs when everyone knows where you are. In 2011, expect privacy to be top on the agenda and efforts being placed into education and disclosure to decrease confusion and enable greater usability and control.
Smartphones - These phones continue to push toward making laptops obsolete. Gartner estimates that by the end of 2010, 1.2 billion people will have carried handsets capable of rich, mobile commerce. New for 2011, the most innovative Smartphone features include: larger screen size, dual-core processors, increased functionality, applications and 3D displays. Also in the coming year, Smartphones will become cheaper as manufacturers and wireless providers try to expand into the mass market.
Video - YouTube is the largest user-generated video sharing site on the Internet but in 2011, expect sites such as Vimeo and Dailymotion to get a share by focusing on live streaming and also the interactive broadcast site Ustream.
Social Gaming - Play along with friends, share scores, stats and even connect using your gaming console and your Facebook profile. A new report from Nielsen Co. says Americans spend nearly a quarter of the time they are on the Internet on social-networking sites and blogs. Research has also shown that gaming has passed email as the second most popular activity online, but2011 should reveal whether this phenomenon has staying power.
Also on topic, Mashable has posted its take on tech trends from CES. By definition, a trend is tied to a moment in time –whether these trends live up to their hype and become integral to how we do things is what remains to be seen and what keeps me excited about the technology industry.
— Ebony Clark
