I think this is as good time as another to try and predict the future of technology. I’m going to organize this by looking at the Past, Present and then finally the future. I feel going about it this way we can see the trends and see how different parts of technology were embraced while others were shunned, or simply discarded. To make it a little more organized, I’m also going to split this up into, what I think are, the big industries of our time. Since these are also the industries most affected from technology, they also in someway have a big say as to where things were and where they’re going.
Past
Music: The earliest industry which was affected by technology has to be the music industry – first came the real live performances, then came the vinyl disc, then came the televised performances, the radio, the tape, the CD, and finally the mp3 player, and its current master the iPod/iPhone. The champ here used to be the tape/CD, and there’s no doubt that the driving force here was quality and quantity in a nice portable package. These two also have the added advantage of convenient sharing with your friends. Needless to mention, both of these allowed for easy content creation and customizing your own playlist.
TV: After the music industry, it was the TV. The television allowed people to watch and share experiences with people around you, sure it’s progressed from a simple black and white, to a high def television less than an inch thick. Of course, they are now entering the internet connected age, but until recently, there wasn’t much differentiating TV A from TV B. With it, we also got all sorts of portable media that could store and playback your favorite programs. The champ here used to be VHS, and the new contender is Blu Ray. Both offer the same features, but Blu Ray restricts the copying and sharing to a certain extent.
Computers: Computers were probably the last of the technologies to be embraced, but this was largely because of their size. When it was first introduced in the 60s, one computer was the size of a room. Shortly after that, Microsoft took on the bold goal of having a computer in every household – a goal that is quickly becoming a reality.
Mobile Phone: Lastly, the mobile phone was the last of the big technologies to become a common place in the household, and became a convenient and portable way of getting in touch with people. In its early days, it was big and expensive, now they’ve become affordable and small. All the while, adding new features and starting to overlap with the above industries.