2011 Technologies
By: conark
Published On: 1-2-2011
I just finished reading this article on TechCrunch regarding 2011 technology predictions. Rather than talking about predictions, I think what would be better is assembling a nice wish list of possibilities that have potential (as opposed to simply making bets on them like a drunk gambler):
- Internet filters - I've been telling people that the notion of internet filters is a necessity. Google has become the primary access to information on the internet, but the amount of information collected by Google has made it impossible to navigate. As a result, people had started vertical search engines, but none really have taken off as probably some have envisioned. I think what's truly needed is simply more filtering attributes on Google's search (or any for that matter) that is distributed such that black and white list are curated by the public. These list cannot be controlled by a single company, but through the rigorous contribution of people (kinda like a Wikipedia or AdBlock for websites).
- More apps that require you to do less thinking - I'm a big fan of technology when it serves the need of reducing my to-do list. That doesn't mean I need another simpleton to-do project list app. What it means is that I need a technology to offload unnecessary tasks in my life so that I can concentrate on important matters. A good example is an application that tells me what to eat. Urbanspoon made a trivial attempt at this, but the randomization factor still wasn't good enough. No, I need to know exactly what to eat. Kinda like having a cafeteria minus the physical location in my house. But think about this application for a second. It's lunch time, you're with some coworkers, you've eaten at every single place around the block or there's too many spots around the block. You want to eat healthy and need something to be your babysitter because you cannot make appropriate decisions for yourself. What better way than to have an application that decides this for you?
- Android gets rid of Java completely, moves to the Chrome OS platform and everything becomes Javascript/JSON extensions - Why is this significant? I truly believe that mobile should not displace the web as Apple seems to want. I think the web should become the main platform for applications and that we should start eliminating the idea of native run applications in favor of powering the backend via the cloud and the front end via CSS, HTML and Javascript. The main reasoning is to unify platforms into a single entity that's a standard rather than forcing developers to re-program apps every single time a change goes out. Android is in a great position to dominate the mobile market, but they make things even more difficult by introducing their own Java based OS as opposed to a web based OS that Chrome is.
- More open data sources - As a developer, one thing that I find frustrating at times is locating good data. It's tough to just employ communities to populate your databases and it's expensive to purchase content. Most available data repositories charge and/or limit your access. This is reasonable to a degree because they don't want people mining and/or shutting down their services from a DDoS type of request. However, it would be nice to see some types of data made publicly available.
- Yahoo becoming an open media platform - I've written this up previously. I don't want Yahoo to become a so-called content farm. I'd prefer them to open that farm up for developers to access so that we can develop kickass mashups for people to enjoy. I see this as a win-win situation for everyone if they manage to pull this off.
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