Bold new year for technology

MANILA, Philippines—It’s the start of another year in technology. Here are some of our bold and brazen predictions for 2008:
MacWorld is just around the corner. Rumors of two new iPhone models may come to a reality in the middle of the year. The first of the second-generation iPhones will come with 3G capabilities and a second camera for video. The second iPhone will be a smaller version with less features.
Microsoft will release its own version of the iMac. With the problem of Vista not being able to run well enough on most computers because of the high system requirements, Microsoft will release its own “Microsoft branded box” to give consumers a more elegant hardware option for running Windows.
It will finally be time for the broadband shakedown. New companies will come and offer Real 1MB - 2MB upload and download speeds, bumping up the current offerings of PLDT myDSL, Globe, Smart. At the end of the day, consumers win as service improves and pricing becomes even more competitive.
The launch of Blizzard’s Starcraft 2 for the PC will take the world by storm. It would be best not to schedule any important meetings on that day as an influx of coincidental sick leaves will leave managers baffled. The same thing happened with the launches of Halo 3 last year and of World of Warcraft in 2004.
Electronic paper will be more widespread. With the Amazon Kindle’s relative success as an eBook reader that doesn’t give you eye strain, the technology will be further improved and patented onto several other devices. The “digital ink” technology allows devices to last five days on a single charge. The technology also prevents eye strain as it really looks like you’re reading ink off a book.
Street. Fighter. 4.
The new Apple MacBooks will feature a new trackpad technology that bears some similarity to the iPod touch and the iPhone. You will be able to do some advanced finger gestures on the trackpad such as pinching and pulling to zoom into your desktop and photos.
The Playstation 3 will fall to the hands of pirates.
We’ll be seeing more and more accelerometers built into phones and other pieces of hardware. The Apple iPod touch, iPhone, the Nintendo Wii and some of the newer Nokia phones like the N82 started this craze of being able to have your screen adapt depending on the device’s orientation. And besides, an accelerometer chip costs about $2.50 to manufacture.
Resiklo II will make it to the film festival and will feature even more special effects, more anti-alien capoeira and more Bong Revilla Jr. Source: inquirer.net