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Thinner, lighter, faster, brighter [Arab News (Saudi Arabia)](Arab News (Saudi Arabia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) This is the last year Microsoft's CEO will make a keynote presentation and the company won't even have a booth next year. Apple, Google and Amazon already don't have a direct presence at the show. As online social networks grow stronger and the ability to present virtually wherever, whenever to a global audience becomes the norm, more companies are certain to consider ways that their marketing budgets could be better spent than exhibiting at CES. After all, how much can any one product get noticed when 19,999 others are vying for publicity at the same time? It's also mind boggling to consider the environmental ignorance of companies traveling to a single space to physically promote their virtual technologies such as apps and cloud services. By all accounts, the 2012 International CES will be lacking in earth-shattering announcements and instead will focus on refinements to technologies and devices. Thinner, lighter, faster, brighter are the key words in many of the press releases about CES product launches. Ultrabooks, which are thin, lightweight computers, seem to be getting as much publicity as tablet devices. Television manufacturers are bringing out massive Ultra Definition TVs and giant OLED screens at a time when economic hardship has reined in conspicuous consumption. Saudi Arabia with its lack of public entertainment options is definitely the perfect market for such mega TV sets. It's too bad they're being demoed on the other side of the planet. To coincide with the opening of CES, IEEE, the world's largest technical professional association, highlighted what it perceives to be the major consumer electronics trends in 2012 in the US. Some of those concepts such as ubiquitous, nonstop connectivity are still beyond our reach in the Kingdom, but others should be making an appearance soon. IEEE Associate Member Oleg Logvinov explained that consumers will begin to see a new breed of simple, plug-and-play devices capable of finding all available network connections as soon as they are turned on. Such an innovation is possible because new technologies in the semiconductor industry are integrating many different networking technologies into a single chip in a cost-effective way. IEEE Senior Member Tom Coughlin remarked that we will see new advancements in hard drive technologies in 2012. Storage devices that etch data in ceramic will make it possible for stored information to last up to 1,000 years. That brings up other issues of course, such as maintaining devices to retrieve such data. Nahum Gershon, IEEE Senior Member, asserted that consumer technology's influence on business technology decisions will continue to build in 2012. Companies will be forced to cope with employees demanding to use personal devices such as smartphones and tablets in the workplace. Video chat through Skype will become a powerful communication tool among business professionals in different regions. John McCanny, IEEE Fellow, noted that the downside of all the personal mobile devices in the workplace will be that businesses will be vulnerable to cyber attacks and cyber espionage. Based on that prediction, perhaps it would be wise for companies to resist some trends until technology is better able to mitigate risk. One really unpleasant trend in the coming year is that consumers should expect to pay more for many electronic devices. Flooding in Thailand has disrupted manufacturing facilities, leading to a shortage in the supply of hard disk drives (HDDs) - a key component for electronics from videogame consoles to laptops. According to a study conducted by Coughlin Associates, in 2012 there will be a total shortfall of 120-150 million hard drives vs. demand. Gartner backed up that prediction revising downward its outlook for 2012 global IT spending to 3.7 percent from its previous forecast of 4.6 percent growth. Faltering economic growth, the eurozone crisis and the impact of Thailand's floods on hard-disk drive (HDD) production were cited as reasons for the weak growth prediction. "Thailand has been a major hub for hard-drive manufacturing, both for finished goods and components," said Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner. "We estimate the supply of hard drives will be reduced by as much as 25 percent during the next six to nine months. Rebuilding the destroyed manufacturing facilities will also take time and the effects of this will continue to ripple throughout 2012 and very likely into 2013." So if you bought a laptop or tablet last year, consider yourself lucky. Use your tech gadgets and gear gently so they last through till next year, when it's certain there will be cheaper, smarter, more innovative, "must have" products coming to a store bear you. (MYBI) (c) 2012 Arab News All rights reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |