FutureVigil (r) » mobile devices

E-Book Tidal Wave: The Future Has Arrived

Jeffrey Newman — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:13:30 +0000

The e-book digital revolution is sweeping the world and altering the playing field for the book industry disrupting the traditional publishers who have dominated for a century. Electronic books comprize only 5% of the market today but are accelerating exponentially. By the end of 2012 digital books will exceed 25% of unit sales and another 25% sold on line which means roughly half of sales will be on the internet. Some are projecting that books stores will follow the music stores which closed en masse when consumers began downloading music digitally. With the arrival of Apple’s IPad the potential for downloading any book available became a reality. The consumer stands to gain with the price of on-line books being only a fraction of hard copies.

THE MOBILE DEVICE INVENTION I’D LIKE TO SEE IN 2010

Jeffrey Newman — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:12:26 +0000

There is one invention concerning mobile devices that I’d like to see advanced next year, for the safety of the American public and my sanity. I would estimate that over half of the drivers in America text while driving. This estimate is entirely anecdotal, based on my own observation of accidents, near misses and crazy driving during texting/emailing. It drives me insane (excuse the pun). I realize that the temptation to do so is enormous, given the pace of business and the obsession to stay connected , but the fact of doing it is aburd. I can’t really understand why a device has not been developed to allow a person to respond to an email via voice recognition. I envision it working this way. An email comes in and a voice says to you, “you have an email from Donald Cramer, would you like to respond to it?” “Yes,” you say. “Ok. Donald says, ‘hi. Can we meet at at 2 today?’”
“Sure Donald,” you respond and the device translates this and types a response to Donald via email. Now it is my understanding that technology such as this already exists on the shelf. If it does, not only should this device be embraced, the government should create a tax credit for individuals to use it, as it might prevent people from texting while driving, a phenominon which I am sure is costing thousands of lives and even more injuries now. So all of you inventors and techies, please help to launch this product. I thank you in advance. Jeff

SOCIAL MEDIA PREDICTIONS FOR 2010

Jeffrey Newman — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:48:32 +0000

Social media has become the subject of a lot of writing and discussion and its hard for someone not in the field to get a sense of the realistic trends for the coming year in this arena. Here is what I have come up with for social media predictions (probable trends) for 2010; 1) New kinds of searching on the internet will evolve. Instead of going to sites like Google, users will receive customized search results in the context of what they are currently doing (similar to Amazon only more broadly applied). So, if you are researching travel plans, you will be sent links and summaries rirectly related to the topic. If you are researching an illness, you will be sent articles and summaries of studies closely on point, automatically; 2) Social media interaction on mobile devices will skyrocket, especially as tablets come on the market next year; 3) Augmented reality will continue to emerge in the form of applications on mobile phones and tablets which superimpose computer-generated info like instructions or labels or pricing over real world data; 4) Facebook will continue to grow in popularity and will come into greater use as a business networking device like Linkedin, only with more flexibility and less rigidity. In addition, Facebook will become a repository of directory information to find stuff; 5) Twitter will also continue to expand, as will the development of more uses for it including the immediate distribution of critical news and information to users on a highly customized format. Twitter will evolve quickly from its present use as a fun tool to an essential one.

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS eREADER EXPLOSION

Jeffrey Newman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:03:54 +0000

According to Forrester Research, one of the major successes in social media in the near future will be the breakout of sReaders for books, magazines, newspapers and other publications. There are a number of reasons why eReader sales ar gorwing faster than expected including lower prices, more content availability and lots of media buzz. In addition, new technology for eReaders is about to burst on the scene in the form of a whole newe generation of tablet PC’s from Apple, Microsoft and others making use of E Ink and LCD screens. In 2009, eReader sales in the U.S. were about 2 million units. Sales in the U.S. in 2010 are expected to be beyong six million units, three times as many! Competition among many companies is expected to enhance design and technology and lower the price. Content developers should also benefit.

THINGS THE MOBILE PHONE WILL MAKE OBSOLETE

Jeffrey Newman — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:22:26 +0000

Recombu.com had an interesting article about ten items the mobile phone will make obsolete. Some are obvious: a) Phone booths; b) wrist watches; c)landline phones; d) alarm clocks; e) compact digital cameras; f) handheld game consoles;g) paper; h) mp3 players. What about the not so obvious like Kindles; Blackberries; handheld gps devices; radios; paper calendars and restaurant ads in any other media. Your thoughts?