Five Technologies That Will Change the World in 2013

Five Technologies That Will Change the World in 2013 - Keeping up with the newest technologies can be a challenge for even the most tech-savvy business owners and entrepreneurs. However, that challenge got a bit easier, thanks to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Technology Review, which today (April 23) released the 10 technologies they expect to change the world this year. 

For the list, MIT focuses on groundbreaking advancements that give people a new way to use technology.

"Every year we pick the 10 technologies we think most likely to change the world," said Jason Pontin, publisher and editor in chief of the MIT Technology Review, which published the list. "We are interested in how technologies can solve really hard problems, whose solution will expand human possibilities. These technologies are an expression of our preferences and emphases, and they grow out of our reporting over the previous year. This is the stuff we like."

Some of the technologies that have the biggest implications for businesses include the following. The full list can be found at the MIT Technology Review website. 

( http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/513981/introduction-to-the-10-breakthrough-technologies-of-2013/ )

Temporary social media

While social media has changed the way people interact in a big way, many social sites such as Facebook and Twitter have also presented problems with privacy and the availability of information. Enter temporary social media platforms like Snapchat, which allows users to send pictures that will automatically destruct after a given period of time. These new platforms are allowing users to interact socially while not broadcasting those interactions to the world. Other companies in this space include Gryphn, Wickr and Burn Note, MIT says.

Ultra-efficient solar power 

The search for practical alternative forms of energy has been going on for decades. However, the rise of ultra-efficient solar power is coming closer to making the reality of alternate energy forms come true. These breakthroughs are allowing solar power, in particular, to compete with fossil fuels.

Smart watches

Growing popularity of smartphones has changed the way and ease with which people get their information. Smart watches are taking that one step further by gathering information from smartphones and displaying them on an interactive watch. Some key manufacturers include Pebble, Son, Motorola and MetaWatch.

Robotic advancements

Advancements in robotic technology have the potential to dramatically impact the workplace as well. One new technology that is driving innovation in the workplace is Baxter, a new creation by Rethink Robotics'. The new technology is helping robots and workers work side-by-side more safely by empoloying safer technology and facial recognition software. 

Additive manufacturing

One of the most popular trends of the past year has been the development and popularization of 3-D printers. Companies are now starting to take advantage of printers that build up several layers of materials to form a fully functioning product or part. Recently General Electric has begun to take steps to print fuel nozzles for new aircrafts through 3-D printing, MIT says. ( LiveScience.com )

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Hyundai unveils the future of personal mobility, because walking doesn’t cut it

Photo: Hyundai 

Hyundai unveils the future of personal mobility, because walking doesn’t cut it - Despite modern advancements in sneaker technology, walking remains a slow way to go. Running, however, achieves acceptable velocity, but even with a smoothie made by Lance Armstrong, we tire quickly. The Segway never truly caught on for those not on government payrolls and, let’s face it, skateboards went out of fashion shortly after the first "Back to the Future."

Hyundai decided it’s time to change all this, and at the Seoul Motor Show, its engineers unveiled a moveable egg concept that promises speeds faster than a Segway, and a strange helmet that makes you look far cooler than any skateboarder could ever dream.

The egg is entitled the E4U – standing for Egg, Evolution, Electricity and Eco-friendliness. The result of an annual invention contest among Hyundai engineers in South Korea, the odd-egg was designed as a potential future of personal mobility: It can travel up to speeds just shy of 20 mph, weighs 176 lbs. (sounds mobile to me), and boasts a 24V battery attached to a 500W electric motor.

The steering appears to be controlled somewhat akin to the Segway, with an abundance of tilting, pivoting, and other unnatural behaviors required to induce motion.

According to tech site Nikkei Tech-On, who witnessed a demonstration in Seoul, the E4U stands on semispherical balls. The driver (rider?) must tilt the egg to move, but it appears to be in a rather counterintuitive way: you move forward by putting weight on your left foot, backwards by transferring the weight to your right foot, and left and right by tilting backwards and forwards respectively. Tech-On mentioned the driver stated, “Without some practice, it does not move in the desired direction.”

Hyundai make a point of emphasizing the streamlined stance of the E4U, because, you know, aerodynamics play a large role at speeds as high as 18 mph. Perhaps the best feature is the helmet, however. It appears to be your regular bicycle helmet with a clear plastic screen draped over the driver’s face; presumably to prevent bug splatter while maximizing operator shame.

While I appreciate the sentiment in trying to make personal mobility easier, I can’t imagine nipping to the shops aboard an E4U; my legs may be inferior to the propulsion generated by the world’s largest egg, but the humility of wearing that helmet would be too much to bear. What was wrong with the bicycle, again? ( Motoramic )

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8 Tech Products That Won’t Make it to 2014

8 Tech Products That Won’t Make it to 2014 - Who can forget when HP spent $1.2 billion for Palm, only to give up on its entire ecosystem just 57 days after launching the first webOS tablet? Does anyone even remember Microsoft’s Kin phones, which disappeared in 2010 after just 48 days on the market? That’s faster than most Kardashian marriages.

Right now, there are a number of highly touted new technologies getting ready to take their place in the history books . . . as footnotes. These eight tech products aren’t likely to make it to 2014.

Windows RT

When Microsoft first announced that it was making a version of Windows 8 for ARM-based processors, we were excited by the possibility of a new generation low-power devices. Unfortunately, rather than doing what it does best -- providing a flexible platform for partners and developers -- Microsoft put Windows RT on lockdown, preventing it from running desktop applications and limiting it to a handful of devices that don’t cost much less than their Windows 8 counterparts.

Even worse, the company gave Windows RT the same exact UI as Windows 8, potentially confusing consumers who buy RT devices thinking that they’re getting the “real” Windows. Sales for Windows RT devices have been so bad and return rates so high that chip-makers like Nvidia have publicly voiced their disappointment while partners like Samsung have cancelled planned devices. Analyst firm IDC predicts Windows RT will achieve only a 1.9 percent marketshare in 2013 which will grow to just 2.7 percent by 2017.

What Microsoft should do is make Windows RT compatible with x86 desktop platforms and work with OEMs to lower the price of devices so they are price-competitive with Android tablets. What it will do is kill this failing platform by the end of the year.

Chromebook Pixel

Chromebooks as a category are doing very well, with the $249 Samsung Chromebook dominating Amazon’s list of best-selling laptop computers. With low prices and long battery life, Chromebooks are the 2013 answer to the netbook. However, just as consumers wouldn’t have paid $1,300 for a premium quality Eee PC in 2009, they won’t pay that much for a nicer Chromebook today.

When we reviewed the $1,299 Chromebook Pixel, we were impressed with its beautiful high-res touch screen, comfy keyboard and attractive design. However, for over $1,000 users want a complete desktop OS like Windows or Mac OS X. After its overpriced device fails to catch on with consumers, Google will put the Pixel out to pasture and stop selling it by the end of this year.

Ubuntu Phone

Firefox OS, Tizen, Ubuntu Phone: how many new operating systems does the mobile phone market need? This year, all three of these new platforms are due to make their debut, competing with iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10.

The PC market has room for an infinite number of platforms, because users can install the OS of their choice on any computer, even one they built themselves. On phones, your platform is worthless if both hardware vendors and carriers, both of whom are extremely conservative, don’t support it.

Samsung is throwing its weight behind Tizen and may even use the OS instead of Android on all its smartphones at some point. Several carriers and handset makers, including Alcatel and ZTE, have already shown off working Firefox OS phones that real carriers plan to sell outside the U.S. It looks like Ubuntu Phone, despite its attractive UI and ability to run desktop apps, will be the odd man out.

ASUS Taichi and Descendants

Dual-screen laptops have a rich but checkered history, with Lenovo, Kohjinsha and Acer all briefly experimenting with them. ASUS now offers its own unique dual-screen design with the ASUS Taichi 21, a notebook that has 11.6-inch screens on both sides of its lid. While the backfacing screen doesn’t give the users any additional screen real estate, they can show presentations or movies to people sitting across from them, a boon for business. However, even with just one screen activated, the Taichi’s battery life was a weak 4 hours and 37 minutes, a time which shrank to just over 3 hours with both displays on.

For $1,600, users expect more, but they won’t get it from ASUS. The innovative company knows when to drop a concept that isn’t working and Taichi isn’t. I don’t expect to see a sequel to this Gigli-like laptop.

Motorola Droid Line

From the long-lasting RAZR Maxx HD to the compact RAZR M, Motorola’s Droid line of Android phones are among the best in the business. Unfortunately, the company only sells its best products on Verizon, dumping mid-range and low-end handsets on the other carriers. To be a real success in the smartphone business, you need to sell the same flagship product across multiple carriers like Samsung has done with its Galaxy S III.

Now that Google owns Motorola, the Android-maker expects to “drain the pipe” of current phones in development and start focusing on creating a few high-quality devices. I expect that part of that strategy will be an end to Verizon-only products as Motorola seeks to broaden distribution and simplify its product line. If the company comes out with any more Verizon exclusives this year, they’ll be the last.

Small-Time Smart Watches

Does anyone remember the Nokia 770? How about the Pepper Pad? Both devices were slate computers that came out the year before the first iPad. However, after Apple changed the market, these half-baked early stabs at a tablet were toast.

Today, we’re on the verge of a revolution in smart watches. Apple, Samsung, LG and Google are all reportedly working on major products for release this year. Meanwhile, early players like the pricey, unstable I’m Watch and the grayscale-only Pebble have either delivered unstable performance or a mediocre set of functions. By the end of the year, most of these first-gen watches will have been swept out of the market by big-name competitors with more polished products.

HTC Zoe

HTC’s not the clear market leader in smartphones by any stretch, but it’s still trying to build support for its own proprietary short video format, which it calls Zoe. If you own an HTC One phone, you can record 3-second clips and then share them on HTC’s Zoe share site. Because Zoe is not a standard, the clips can’t be embedded in popular social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.

If you have some other brand of phone or even a different HTC handset, you can’t capture Zoes. Meanwhile, Twitter’s Vine videos, which are twice as long as Zoes, are becoming extremely popular and will likely soon extend beyond iOS to other platforms. Animated GIFs are also very popular, which is why Samsung has a special Cinema mode on the Galaxy S4 that lets you create them. I can’t imagine HTC continuing to push Zoes when its users want to create the same kind of short videos as all of their friends. short video niche.

Windows 8 Sliders

Sometimes, you have a good idea on paper that just doesn’t work in the plastic and metal world of hardware design. Since the launch of Windows 8, we’ve seen a number of hybrid systems that look like tablets but have keyboards and stands that slide out of the screen to turn them into clamshell shaped notebooks. Unfortunately, systems like the Sony VAIO Duo 11 and MSI Slider S20 offer the worst of both worlds: a thick, heavy tablet and a notebook with an uncomfortable keyboard and no wrist support. The MSI Slider S20 doesn’t even have a touchpad or pointing stick. Even worse, most of these devices cost a lot more than the combination of devices they’re meant to replace as users could buy both an iPad and a $700 notebook for the price of the $1,199 Duo 11.

While we don’t have sales numbers for sliders specifically, we know that few consumers want high-priced, uncomfortable devices. Manufacturers will catch on and, if there are still any sliders selling in the fall, this holiday season will be their last. ( LiveScience.com )

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4G LTE to Dominate Chinese Telecom

4G LTE to Dominate Chinese Telecom - Research firm IHS iSuppli predicts that 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) will propel the next phase of growth in the Chinese telecom space on account of which China Mobile Limited (CHL) will have a significant lead over its rivals based on its early efforts to deploy TD (Time Division) LTE network in the country.

The news comes on the back of the country’s ambitious goal of adding 100 million 3G customers in 2013, which depicts the growth potential of the Chinese telecom market.

The research firm expects 4G customer bases to surge from an expected 1 million in 2013 to 439.9 million in 2017 with China Mobile boasting the biggest share of 52%, followed by ChinaUnicom Limited (CHU) with 26% and China Telecom Corp. (CHA) with the remaining 22%.

China Mobile’s biggest flaw is that it offers 3G mobile service based on Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) technology, which is not very well supported by the handset makers including Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPhone.

China Mobile, which covers more than half of the Chinese mobile market, has so far been successful in penetrating only 13% of its huge subscriber base with 3G customers, while China Unicom and China Telecom have 33% and 44% of 3G customer concentration respectively.

In an attempt to tide over this difficult situation, China Mobile started early to develop its much accepted TD-LTE technology and has set a target of deploying 200,000 base stations by 2013. According to IHS, the base station count will increase to 600,000 by 2017 while China Telecom and China Unicom lag behind with 400,000 and 300,000 stations respectively.

IHS anticipates 4G growth to pick up pace gradually with the maximum growth coming in 2016 and 2017 as 3G is expected to be phased out by then. With more than a billion plus cell phone users, China Mobile offers a huge smartphone market, which is still being dominated by Android and iOS.

China Mobile has been in talks with Apple for quite some time to offer iPhone through its network. Availability of the latest version of iPhone from its stable is only expected to add to the company’s impressive 4G story. We believe that with a billion plus population, a steady per capita income and increased choice of LTE supported devices the expected 4G performance is quite achievable. ( Zacks.com )

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How Voting Machines Work

How Voting Machines Work  - Whenever national elections occur, debates arise over which voting technology is most accurate and least susceptible to tampering. The arguments have been waged ever since mechanical machines arrived more than a century ago as an alternative to paper ballots.

Lever machines dominated U.S. polling places from the 1930s through the 1980s but are now used only in New York State, having been gradually replaced by optical scanners and touch screens. The scanners are similar to equipment used to score standardized tests. Touch screens, known as direct recording electronic (DRE) machines, operate somewhat like ATMs.

Various studies have reached disparate conclusions about which technologies more accurately count votes and which are hardest to hack, although voter mistakes are lower for DREs. New York State asserts that lever machines are as good as other technologies, but some experts disagree. A review by California, which uses a mix of options, found none to be clearly superior. Even though lab tests have shown differences, “when you factor in real-world variables, like ease of use and proper administration by poll workers, accuracy ends up being similar”—about one error in 10,000 votes, says Douglas W. Jones, a computer science professor at the University of Iowa and an expert on voting technology.

Better ballot design could also reduce mistakes. “We’ve been designing hard-to-use ballots since this country began, and that’s not about to change,” Jones quips. The latest worry is about tampering with DREs. Before polls open, workers insert a flash memory card into each machine to set the ballots. A virus impregnated in the cards could alter the recording of results, a scheme demonstrated by Edward W. Felten, a computer science professor at Princeton University. Only one allegation of tampering has been brought to court, however, and investigations showed that the odd voting pattern was because of bad ballot design.

Increasing spending on elections could improve security, accuracy and ballot design. But jurisdictions try to run elections on the cheap, Jones says, so machine makers operate on thin margins and there is little money for testing.

Did You Know ...

ABSENT: For most absentee ballots, voters fill in ovals on a page and mail it to their county election center. High-speed optical scanners that can count 10 ballots a second process the returns. The scanners reject problematic ballots, which are supposed to be adjudicated by a resolutions board but sometimes just get ignored, according to Douglas W. Jones of the University of Iowa. It is not uncommon for 4 to 10 percent of absentee ballots to go uncounted.

ONLINE: Internet voting is increasingly used for company shareholders’ meetings, but it is rare in politics. Estonia, the Netherlands and Geneva, Switzerland, have tried it for general elections, and Okaloosa County, Florida, is promoting a pilot project for the race this November. But until security can be ensured—a tall order—most computer scientists say states should not commit. ( scientificamerican.com )

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Interest in 1940 US census paralyzes website

Interest in 1940 US census paralyzes website — Interest in the newly released 1940 U.S. census is so great that the government website with the information was nearly paralyzed shortly after the records became available to the public for the first time.

Miriam Kleiman, spokeswoman for the U.S. National Archives, told The Associated Press that the site registered more than 22 million hits in just four hours on Monday, from almost 2 million users. In a tweet posted after 5 p.m. on its official Twitter account, the archives said the website had received 37 million hits since the information was released at 9 a.m.

FILE - In this April 2, 1940 file photo, William L. Austin, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, right, helps President Franklin D. Roosevelt fill out the large form at the White House in Washington. Interest in the newly released 1940 U.S. census is so great that the government website with the information was nearly paralyzed on Monday, April 02, 2012, shortly after the records became available to the public for the first time. (AP Photo, File)

Computer experts were working on the site to bring it up to speed as soon as possible. A notice posted on the website early Tuesday said some improvements had been made and that "further enhancements" would be made on Tuesday. The public was thanked for its patience.

The government released the records for the first time after 72 years of confidentiality expired.

It's the largest collection of digital information ever released by the National Archives. The records allow individuals and families to learn details about their past.

Susan Cooper, a second spokeswoman, said the problems began as soon as the information was released on the website. She termed the problems a "virtual traffic jam."

"The problem is, we just weren't expecting the huge volume that we got," Cooper said.

"We're adding a lot more servers, a lot more muscle to the website," she said.

Bob Timmermann, 46, a librarian from Tujunga, Calif., said the lure of the 1940 census is that, "You find out if what your parents told you about their lives was actually true."

He said he had tried for several hours Monday to access data, but was unsuccessful. "People just need to be patient," he said.

More than 21 million people still alive in the U.S. and Puerto Rico were counted in the 1940 census. The census followed a decade when tens of millions of people in the U.S. experienced mass unemployment and social upheaval as the nation clawed its way out of the Great Depression and rumblings of global war were heard from abroad.

Monday's release includes digitized records for details on 132 million people. Access to the records is free and open to anyone online, but they are not yet searchable by name.

For now, researchers will need an address to determine a census enumeration district — a way to carve up the map for surveying — to identify where someone lived and then browse the records.

Every decade since 1942, the National Archives has made available records from past censuses. The records, which include names, addresses and income and employment information, are rich with long-veiled personal details. ( Associated Press )

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1940 US Census now available for free online, but it’s not your only option

1940 US Census now available for free online, but it’s not your only option - The internet age has made a wealth of information available to anyone with a working connection, and being able to move backward in time through detailed records offers the chance to see our family trees in a whole knew way. The United States National Archives has just released an excellent tool for researching just this type of information: a website that houses scans of the entire 1940 U.S. census.

The census is a great way to research your family tree, but there are plenty of other free genealogy resources

If you're looking for details about your ancestors, the 1940 census contains a wealth of information you may find useful. The site is filled with high-resolution scans of the handwritten census data, but unfortunately the records aren't searchable by name. You can, however, search by county, city, and even street name, which should help you find what you're looking for.

Once you locate a person of interest, each entry is filled with standard census data that can help paint a picture of life in 40s. Individuals are detailed with information including:

• Age
• Marital Status - Typically given as either "S" for single or "M" for married.
• School history - Showing the highest grade completed at the time the census was taken.
• Living situation - Lists of each home and each person's relation to the head of household.
• Employment status - Whether the person has a job, and what that job is.
• Place of birth - Either the state in which the person was born or the country, if not the United States.
• Yearly Income

This is invaluable information for anyone trying to fill in some gaps of their family tree. If you happen to know the general area — the most specific the better — where your ancestors made their home here in the U.S., it shouldn't take you long to paint a picture of your past.

Genealogy for free!
The government census website isn't the only tool at your disposal when researching your lineage, and some are better than others. Some sites charge for their memberships but will attempt to lure you by allowing you to create a free account, then encourage you to purchase a subscription by preventing free access to all the information and photos you are searching for.

However, there are plenty of free options that have much of the same data — and even more, in some cases — that you can browse for absolutely free.

USGenWeb - A nonprofit project that lets family historians submit any information they might have, which is then curated for easy browsing. The data is broken down by state, and each has its own web page full of data about its residents and their ancestors. County records, maps, census reports, and other statistics are available, and even activity ideas to help kids and their parents connect to the past.

FamilySearch - This site allows users to browse based on name or life events such as births, marriages, and changes of residence. Using the basic search feature should yield plenty of results, and narrowing down each name to find the person you're looking for is as simple as tweaking the search criteria and checking each entry for things like age, hometown, and relatives. The site will sometimes prompt you to search for photos or other visual aides on Ancestry.com — which typically charges for this type of information — but there is plenty of information to be found for no cost.

Cyndi's List - The nice thing about the internet is that when it comes to finding information on your family tree, you can be certain that someone else has probably already had the same idea. Cyndi's list is a massive database of genealogy sites both large and small, many of which are dedicated to specific family names. The site currently boasts over 300,000 links, and finding information about your family tree could be as simple as typing your last name into the search bar. Give it a shot, after all, it's free! ( Tecca )

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KILL THE CAPS LOCK - And four other modest proposals for improving the contemporary computer keyboard

KILL THE CAPS LOCK - And four other modest proposals for improving the contemporary computer keyboard - Perhaps it should have occurred to me years ago, but it wasn’t until recently that I fully realized that everybody hates something about their computer keyboard. I was in the company of several family members and friends, and had just mistyped my Gmail password for the 458th time in calendar 2011. I knew straightaway what had gone wrong—caps lock was depressed by accident—but instead of simply taking my lumps and re-entering my password, I vented: “Is there anything on the computer keyboard more annoying than the caps lock key?”

Yes, my companions told me matter-of-factly, there is. Thirty minutes of conversation ensued, with each participant attempting to outdo the others with tales of keyboard frustration and fiery screeds relegating various keys to eternal damnation. The conversation was painfully nerdy, yet cathartic—and eye-opening.

Since that initial conversation, I’ve spoken with dozens of folks about computer keyboard annoyances, and I’ve compiled a list of five small-scale adjustments that would greatly improve the typing experience. My goal in compiling this list is narrowly tailored. I don’t want to fundamentally change the way we type—I don’t have time to learn the Dvorak keyboard, and I suspect you don’t either. These are small, one-key fixes that could make typing easier, faster, and less prone to error.

1. For starters, please allow me to reiterate the following: CAPS LOCK IS THE WORST! It is of very little use to the average citizen. Nearly everything that results from depressing this key is annoying.

While it’s important to consider the interests of groups that rely on the key (those with disabilities that make it difficult to press more than one key at a time, for instance, and people engaged in professions that frequently use all-uppercase text), caps lock also inherently favors yell-y Internet commenters, people who design terrible flyers, and others who deserve little consideration. For the rest of us, the key is a nuisance, its prime real estate leading us to depress it unintentionally and often unwittingly. The next thing you know, you’re submitting to a security-question inquisition from your banking institution, trying desperately to prove your identity having thrice entered your case-sensitive password incorrectly.

The utility derived from not having to hold down “shift” when drafting venomous complaint emails to Time Warner Cable does not justify all those needlessly mistyped words in other contexts. So, as a first-step move aimed at improving the keyboard, let’s scrap the caps lock key altogether. (Disabling it by using the Keyboard tab in System Preferences on a Mac, or specialized anti–caps lock software for PCs, doesn’t result in any freed up space on the board for new keys.) For the serially furious or enthusiastic, there would of course still be a caps lock function: Upper-casers could use a new key-combo or, for instance, access the function as iPhone users already do, by quickly tapping the shift button twice. Google eliminated the caps lock key from its laptops, and though the company replaced it with a branded search key that can still be annoying when pressed by mistake, it’s high time for other computer makers to open up that space for new, less-infuriating keys.

2. One change that should have been made to the keyboard decades ago is the addition of a dedicated em-dash key. An em-dash is meant to indicate an abrupt change of thought within the context of a sentence. Writers of all stripes use them often—sometimes too often—but they can be a real pain in the carpal to type.

To make an em-dash using a Mac, you have to do this: First, press the option key. Next, while holding down “option,” press “shift.” Now, while keeping those other two buttons pressed, hit the hyphen key. It’s too much—three keys for one mark. On a PC, there’s a handy “shortcut.” Simply hold down “alt” and then type 0151 on the far right number pad. (Next challenge: safecracking.) Although some popular word processing programs will automatically create an em-dash when you type two consecutive hyphens, that’s no reason to prolong the mark’s banishment from the board.

(At least partially because there’s no dedicated em-dash button on the keyboard, people mess up this mark in many annoying ways. Some use two hyphens--like so. It’s not an attractive replacement. Other typists resort to a single hyphen as a stand-in for an em-dash-like so. That’s just confusing.)

Software programs such as DoubleCommand and Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator allow users to remap keys by adding new characters and symbols in place of existing ones, or by moving letters around on the board. But should typists be forced to hack their keyboards in order to get an em-dash typed in a single step? It’s time to create a permanent button on the keyboard for this commonly used mark.

3. And while we’re reassigning keys, here’s an easy one for keyboard improvement step number three: Put the exclamation point on the same key as the question mark!

As it stands, the exclamation point lives in the upper left-hand corner of the keyboard as the shift option on the “1” key, surrounded by things like the @ symbol, the tilde, and the letter “Q.” The period and question mark reside at the bottom right of the keyboard. By moving the exclamation point to the position now taken by the forward slash and placing it on the same key as the question mark, all of the sentence-enders would reside in the same general area. That makes sense. Right? Hell yes!

4. In discussing step four, it’s necessary to return to the iPhone, while at the same time giving a nod to the expanding influence social media has on computing. The nifty “.com” key the iPhone offers users makes good sense, even in an era of autofill-aided web browsing. Anyone writing about or discussing the Internet types “.com” often. At the same time, email—and more recently, Twitter’s more than 100 million active users—has helped make the “@” symbol more important, and more frequently typed, than at any other point in history. Bring those two modern computing realities together, and, voilà, a new key: an @ button with “.com” as its shift option. Just like you shouldn’t have to press three keys at once to type an em-dash, you shouldn’t have to hit shift to make an @ symbol appear. Thanks to step number four, it just got a lot easier to send an email to a friend relaying another friend’s Twitter handle or email address.

5. As for the fifth and final tweak, it seems only fair to cede the floor to, well, tons of folks who have keyboard-related pet peeves. When asked for one small-scale keyboard fix, respondents from all walks of life polled in a completely unscientific fashion chimed in swiftly and with great passion. The resulting gripes and fixes ran the gamut. Many professed a desire to remove seldom-used keys. And a large number of those in this camp, effectively highlighting the differences between Mac and PC keyboards, suggested getting rid of keys that appear on the far right of a PC board but have already been phased out by Apple—buttons such as scroll lock, for instance, and pause/break.

According to Cornell University ergonomics professor and alternative keyboard design expert Alan Hedge, calls for the removal of keys should not be surprising. “There is a lot of built in redundancy in keyboards,” Hedge says, calling out the number pad on PC keyboards as an example. “You could reduce the keyboard down quite a lot and still have the same functionality.” Speed typing celebrity and recent Ultimate Typing Championship winner Sean Wrona agrees. He says he has the keyboard layout mapped into his brain, and wouldn’t change much, but confided that the right-hand shift, alt, and control keys wouldn’t be missed if they disappeared from the board prior to his next race.

Not everyone is in favor of streamlining, though. Anil Dash, founding director of Expert Labs and blogger extraordinaire, says he misses some of the keys Apple has removed. “And I love the anachronistic keyboard leftovers like system request,” he adds, praising the open-ended nature of such keys. “They track back to obscure hardware decisions made in 1980 at IBM—how many other vestiges of that era do we still have?” Writer and Studio 360 host Kurt Andersen is a bit more focused on the practical. He wants a dedicated ellipses key. (“I just finished a book that contains 165 ellipses,” Andersen says. “So why not a key that with a single stroke types the three (or four) periods and correctly spaces them as well?”) And Chirag Mehta, founder and developer of an iPad application that aims to make typing easier for those with disabilities, was one of many who suggested adding keys for the copy, paste, and cut functions.

Everybody, it seems, has a preferred keyboard tweak. But the most-requested one-key change involves yet another button that appears nowhere on the Mac board: the dreaded insert key. Similar to the caps lock key, “insert” causes all sorts of damage when pressed by mistake. Typists intending to hit the backspace button only to graze the insert key residing immediately to its right on many keyboards unleash a silent killer that wipes out existing words and phrases. This hostile action stems from what’s known as overtype mode. Instead of the cursor simultaneously moving all characters to the right as new letters are typed, the new characters overwrite letters—as well as words, sentences, brilliant prose, complicated mathematical formulas, important phone numbers, and other important content—that already exist.

There are a few instances when the insert key can be useful—while filling out certain forms that already include words in the relevant boxes, for instance—but these do not justify its continued existence as a dedicated key. In the most recent versions of Microsoft Word, the insert key is disabled by default. That’s a start. But it doesn’t address the button itself.

Again, there’s always the hacking option, but enough already, keyboard gods. The people have spoken. Show no mercy. Treat the insert key as it has treated the already typed words of millions worldwide: Make it disappear.

Do you have a most-hated keyboard key, a key that you would like to see added, or a relatively simple, intuitive keyboard fix whose time has come? Submit your preferred tweak ideas in the comments. I’ll highlight the best suggestions in a follow-up post. ( slate.com )

READ MORE - KILL THE CAPS LOCK - And four other modest proposals for improving the contemporary computer keyboard

CES 2012 predictions

CES 2012 predictions - Each January, all the major players in the consumer electronics industry (except for a certain fruit-named company) head to Las Vegas to show off their latest and greatest. The show sets the stage for what we'll see in tech for the coming year, and it's where many companies announce their new flagship services and products.

So what does next year have in store for us? Read on as Tecca's editors share some of their CES predictions for 2012.

Windows 8 is poised for a big show

Windows 8 tablets hit the scene

2011 was the year of the Android tablet, and this year, we think we'll start to see some Windows tablets hitting store shelves as well. Microsoft has already teased us with a Samsung-branded Windows 8 tablet that is anticipated to be released in the second half of 2012, and Nokia is rumored to also be working on a Windows 8 tablet to come out in June of next year. We're likely to get at least a few official tablet announcements at CES.

Windows 8 has the look and feel of Windows Phone and is meant to make all Windows devices, from phones and tablets to laptops and desktops, feel the same. Check out our first look at Windows 8 to get a look at what's in store.

Could the next Xbox be just days away?

Xbox 720 gets official

While no official announcement has been made, rumors have been circulating for a while now that Microsoft plans on updating its Xbox console in 2012. Nintendo should be in Vegas showing off the Wii U to CES attendees, and Sony has its Vita handheld system to talk about — but with neither expected to announce big new projects, this leaves the door open for Microsoft to steal the gaming spotlight with the Xbox 720. 2012 is also Microsoft's last year at CES, so they'll want to make a big impact as they head for the door.

The Xbox 720 is rumored to have an AMD processor, Blu-ray disc drive, Windows 8 compatibility, and deeper Kinect integration than the Xbox 360.

Connected and social TV takes the spotlight

As more and more content becomes available via streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, television manufacturers are going to be looking for more ways to incorporate that technology into their TVs.

Most of the televisions we'll see at CES 2012 will offer access to web content, with exciting features that encourage you to buy a new TV rather than simply connecting your existing set to something like an Apple TV or Roku. Companies that already offer smart TV options will also likely update those widgets and offerings, possibly adding more social integration through sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Samsung has already released a teaser for its 2012 television lineup, showing what appears to be an Android-controlled TV.

Could a few tweaks make Windows Phone a contender?

Windows Phone Tango dances its way onto smartphones

Microsoft will likely announce Windows Phone Tango, the next generation of its Windows Phone operating system, at CES. The software update will allow Windows Phone handsets to support LTE, and we'll likely see at least a few LTE Windows Phone handsets. Rumors already point to both a HTC and Nokia model.

Earlier this year, Microsoft partnered with Nokia to produce Windows Phone handsets. The first phone of that partnership, the Lumia 710, was announced for T-Mobile earlier this month. At CES, we're likely to see quite a few other higher-end phones from Nokia headed to other U.S. carriers such as Verizon and AT&T.

The next version of Android is ready to impress

More Ice Cream Sandwich

The world has already gotten a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich with the Galaxy Nexus, and CES is bound to be a huge ice cream social, with Android 4.0 handsets coming from most if not all of the major cell phone manufacturers.

Google's Eric Schmidt has already told an Italian newspaper it plans to release a Nexus tablet "of the highest quality" running ICS mid-2012, and we're likely to see quite a few Ice-Cream-Sandwich-flavored tablets pop up at this year's show as well.

NFC comes to more devices, payments go more mobile

After Google announced Google Wallet earlier this year, we expect CES will show us more mobile payment solutions as well as NFC (near-field communication) integration in more devices. NFC is poised to be the next hot new innovation in mobile tech in 2012, with as wide an array of applications as the hot little black and white boxes we know as QR codes.

An NFC phone could be tapped on the cash register at your local coffee shop to buy your cup of morning joe. The technology can also be used for other things such as checking in on Foursquare or getting information quickly about a business or location you're visiting. Nokia recently released a bluetooth speaker that is paired with your phone using NFC by simply tapping your handset on the top of the speaker.

Smartphones just keep getting smarter

Smartphones and tablets upgrade from dual-core to quad-core

Dual-core processors were all the rage in 2011, but 2012 will likely bring with it quad-core smartphones. Quad-core processors will not only improve the overall performance of smartphones, but also will aid in things like video playback and help phones keep up with the new speedy 4G LTE networks.

Nvidia officially announced its first quad-core processor for tablets and phones in November. The company claims that the chip performs five times faster than the dual-core Tegra 2 processors currently used in many smartphones and tablets.

Will 3D finally break through?

3D hits the big time

3D technology has been integrated into televisions shown off at CES for the past few years and has started to make a regular appearance in the cell phone industry.

This year at CES, we expect to see 3D show up in all the usual suspects, on top of seeing glasses-free 3D in tablets, laptops, cameras, and other unique locations such as flexible screens. ( in Tech )

READ MORE - CES 2012 predictions

The Top 10 tech trends for 2012

The Top 10 tech trends for 2012 -- From the continuing rise of tablet devices to the daily-deals craze and the return of the Internet IPO, 2011 has been a transformative year for technology.

The pace of change has become blisteringly fast, with traditional industries -- bookstores, video-rental chains, newspapers -- crumbling more quickly than we could have imagined.

Predicting what will happen in 2012, therefore, is a shot in the dark: A year is virtually a lifetime in the digital era. And yet we can at least make a guess at what will happen in the early part of next year simply by looking at the trends that are shaping the latter half of this year.

Here's my best estimate of some of the innovation we'll see in 2012:

Bendable interfaces will let you zoom in, zoom out and scroll around a page by twisting your phone or tablet

1. Touch computing

New input methods will be the dominant trend of 2012. Tablet computers such as the iPad might seem like a nice alternative to desktop and laptop computers, but I believe they're more than that: They're replacements. Just as the command line (remember that?) gave way to graphical user interfaces, so the mouse will be superseded by touchscreens.

The signs are obvious: Windows 8 and Mac OS X Lion, the latest desktop operating systems, borrow heavy from their mobile counterparts. These new interfaces essentially impose a touchscreen-inspired interface over the traditional desktop environment.

Over time, this half-step will become a whole one, and mobile operating systems will dominate. The transition won't be complete by the end of 2012, but we'll be much further down the path, and using computer mice much less often.

2. Social gestures

In the social media realm, social gestures appear to be the leading trend of 2012. Launched by Facebook in September, this so-called "frictionless sharing" functionality removes the need to click a button to share media with your friends. Instead, everything you listen to, read or watch is automatically posted to your profile once you approve the relevant app.

If you've seen apps such as Spotify or Social Reader in your Facebook news feed, you're already aware of these features.

The trend makes sense for social networks: With 800 million people already on Facebook, its growth is bound to slow. But if sharing becomes automatic, the volume of content on Facebook will grow at an accelerated pace. There's a big problem, however: Users may be "creeped out" by all this automated sharing of their Web activity and grow suspicious of the apps using it.

3. NFC and mobile payments

Google Wallet, Google's mobile-payment system, may become more widespread in 2012.

Next year is likely to be the year when mobile payments blossom. While we've seen a great deal of innovation in mobile payments technology this year -- including the success of Square's iPhone dongle, allowing anyone to accept credit card payments -- 2012 is the year of NFC.

What's that, you ask? Near Field Communication essentially lets you replace your credit cards with your phone: Wave an NFC-enabled phone near the credit card reader in a store (or taxi cab), and the money is deducted from your account.

By 2013, 1 in 5 cellphones are expected to be NFC-equipped. Early contenders include Google Wallet, Visa Wallet, Serve (by American Express) and ISIS.

4. Beyond the iPad

If touch computing is the future, then the iPad is surely king. And yet the iPad came up against serious competition in the latter part of 2011: As I wrote previously, I expect the new Amazon Kindle Fire to outsell the iPad in 2012. Why? Simply put, the iPad costs $499 while the Fire costs $199.

Amazon's advantages don't stop at the price point, however: The company owns an entire content store of movies, e-books, TV shows and other media. With tablet devices, the hardware is somewhat important but the content available for the device is absolutely critical: With plenty of media available for the Fire right away, it's an appealing proposition.

Why does one device constitute an entire trend? Well, as a true competitor to the iPad emerges, content producers, distributors and even app developers may have an entirely new platform on which to push their wares. (And yes, the Kindle Fire does indeed run Google's Android operating system, but Amazon's version is so unlike other Android tablets that neither users nor app developers will perceive it as "yet another Android device" -- it's a whole new platform.)

5. TV Everywhere

So you thought you'd be able to watch all your favorite shows online and get rid of your cable subscription for good? Not so fast!

The cable companies have a cunning plan: They'll let you watch live TV, plus on-demand movies and TV shows, on your connected devices if you keep your cable subscription. Dish Network, Time Warner and Comcast are among those offering the service.

TV Everywhere has been buzzed about since 2010, of course, and could be a dud -- but the rise of tablet devices would seem to create increased demand for a "TV in your hands."

6. Voice control

Here's another trend that's got a moderate chance of taking off in 2012: Voice control.

Siri, the voice-control feature in the iPhone 4S, may spread to other devices.

The novelty of Siri on the iPhone 4S -- which allows you to send texts, create reminders, search the Web and much more using just your voice -- may be the start of a new trend in voice controlled devices.

Surely voice control has been around for years? Yes, but it wasn't very accurate.

Siri and its ilk define a new era in which we talk, and our devices understand -- often on the first attempt. Other device makers will likely follow suit. What's more, Apple may use voice control to replace the TV remote.

7. Spatial gestures

Other input methods are gaining traction too: Microsoft's Kinect, for instance, has given rise to interfaces that use spatial gestures. Just like in "Minority Report," your devices can be controlled simply by waving your hands in the air.

Thanks to the many innovators who have hacked Kinect to work with other platforms, we may see more devices using this input method next year.

8. Second-screen experiences

"Second-screen experiences" is a buzz-phase among TV and movie execs these days. It refers to apps (mainly on the iPad) that listen to the audio output of your TV and display content related to the show or movie you're watching. The chances are that you already use your tablet computer or phone while watching TV, so there's ample opportunity to make the viewing experience a more interactive one.

Disney already has second-screen apps for movies such as "The Lion King" and "Bambi," while multiple TV networks have similar offerings: We can expect many, many more to be released in 2012.

9. Flexible screens

Personally, I just can't wait for flexible screens: These awesome new bendable interfaces will let you zoom in, zoom out and scroll around a page simply by twisting your phone or tablet.

Nokia and Samsung have both hinted they may release phones with bendable displays in 2012. The really exciting stuff, however -- like paper-thin devices that roll up to fit in your pocket -- is still years away.

10. HTML5

Can I squeeze in one more trend? It's HTML5 -- the fifth iteration of the HTML standard -- and it lets developers create richer, more interactive applications than ever.

Why does this matter? As developers tire of building applications for every operating system out there -- from Android to iOS to Windows Phone and beyond -- HTML5 offers the opportunity to build an app once and have it work everywhere.

The rise of HTML5 is bound to be accelerated by a recent revelation: Adobe is killing off Flash for mobile devices, meaning one of the primary methods of serving videos and rich applications on mobile phones is about to disappear. HTML5 will fill that gap. For us as consumers, that means richer applications and experiences on all our devices.

In short, 2012 is all about new ways to interact with our devices through touch and voice control, new lightweight ways to share content, a revolution in mobile payments and a plethora of rich Web applications -- not to mention the hundreds of new innovations that we've yet to dream up. I can't wait. ( cnn.com )

READ MORE - The Top 10 tech trends for 2012

The Best Technologies of 2011

The Best Technologies of 2011 - Some people—mostly teenage boys—believe that I have the best job in the world. Every year, I get to try out dozens and dozens of new tech products and services. Most of the time, though, this is duller than it sounds. That’s because much of the new stuff that comes to my door isn’t very good, and some of it is downright terrible (I’m looking at you, BlackBerry Playbook!)

But I did come across a few stand-out technologies in 2011, gadgets and services that I’m guessing you’ll love as much as I did. Here are my favorite things of the year:

The MacBook Air is one of the best gadgets of 2011

MacBook Air. Starting at $940 for the 11-inch model, $1,235 for the 13-inch.

A year ago, I bought Apple’s then-new 11-inch MacBook Air for one main reason: The TSA announced that it was thin enough to pass through security without removing it from your bag. That turned out to be a lie—TSA agents across the country demanded I remove it—but I fell in love with the Air anyway. Here, for the first time, was a tiny computer that didn’t feel compromised in any way: It was speedy, it had a great keyboard, and it sold for less than $1,000. Every other computer maker struggled to make something as good for so little—Intel launched a $300 million fund to spur PC-based competitors to the Air—and, indeed, this year the Air was eclipsed. Trouble was, it was Apple that did the eclipsing: This year’s models are substantially speedier than last year’s, and the prices are just as attractive. I replaced my old 11-inch with the new 13-inch. It’s the best laptop I’ve ever owned.

Windows Phone 7. Available on several phones for all major U.S. carriers.

Microsoft arrived late to the modern smartphone business, but apparently it wasn’t snoozing. Windows Phone 7—which was released late last year, and then substantially updated this year—has a terrible name, but it’s the best-looking smartphone operating system in the industry, and it’s probably the easiest to use, too. As I explained a few months ago, Microsoft has put a premium on speed; common tasks that take two or three steps—or require third-party apps—in the iPhone and Android can be done with just a click on Windows. The only downside to Windows, now, is its relatively paltry app store—but as more people buy these wonderful phones, developers will surely join the party.

Sonos Play:3 and Sonos Play:5 wireless music systems. $299 for the Play:3, $399 for the Play:5.

I’ve always loved the concept behind Sonos’ wireless speaker systems: The devices work together to play music—the same music or different music, from your own collection or from online services—in one room or all of your rooms. This year, Sonos upped the ante by making its products both cheaper and easier to set up. Get a Play:5 for a room where you need big sound—the living room, for instance—and the smaller Play:3 for a more tucked-away spot (on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen). Once your speakers are set up, you can control all of your music through your smartphone or your PC. Yes, it can be expensive to accumulate several of these Sonos speakers. But this year my wife and I took the plunge and bought three of them, and now our music is finally liberated from our earbuds and tinny computer speakers. We can listen to all our music, everywhere in the house, all at once. Every day's a dance party.

Nest Learning Thermostat. $249, not including installation.

The Nest was designed by Tony Fadell, the guy who created the iPod at Apple, so it’s more striking than any thermostat you’ve ever seen. But it’s more than just a pretty face: I tried the Nest out for a few weeks this winter, and I found that it really did what it promised to do—after observing my temperature preferences for a few days, the Nest automatically created a perfect heating schedule for my house. The Nest costs more than just about any other thermostat on the market, but it’s loaded with sensors and learning algorithms that other devices can’t match. If you’re in the market for a new thermostat (and who isn’t?) get this one.

Google’s Chrome Web browser. Free.

Last year I called Chrome the best Web browser on the planet. Google quietly updates Chrome seemingly every few minutes, so naturally it got even better in 2011. Among other improvements, the company added something called Instant Pages, a system that “preloads” the first Google search result into the browser’s memory. This makes for faster searching—when you click on the first link in any Google result, the page loads up in pretty much no time at all. All of Chrome’s great features are helping it win converts: This month, Chrome’s market share surpassed that of Firefox. Download it now and help it beat Internet Explorer.

Custom-made men’s shirts. Starting at $60 at Blank Label.

I’ve got a strangely proportioned body, so finding off-the-rack dress shirts that fit me has always been a drag. This year I tried three services that promised to make shirts exactly to my size for less than I’d spend on shirts at a department store. I liked shirts from all three companies—Indochino, J. Hilburn, and Blank Label; each was better than any other shirt I’d ever purchased. But I liked Blank Label best for its low prices and terrific customer service.

Amazon Prime. $79 a year.

Prime has long been an amazing deal—for a small annual fee, you can get free shipping on millions of products at Amazon, a feature that will change your approach to shopping (you’ll start to buy everything at Amazon, and you’ll make back your Prime investment in a couple months’ time). But this year the Prime deal got even harder to resist. Amazon added thousands of movies and TV shows that you can stream for free (on your TV, computer, or Kindle Fire). Sure, most of them are bad, but hey—they’re free! Then there’s the new Kindle Owner’s Lending Library: Prime members who own a Kindle get to borrow one free book every month. Some of them are pretty good, too!

Dimmable LED light bulbs. Around $15 to $25 per bulb, depending on the model.

This year I saw the world’s greatest light bulb—an energy-efficient alternative to the old incandescent bulb that isn’t as ugly or as toxic as compact fluorescents. The amazing new bulb—created by a company called Switch Lighting—generates light using LEDs, and it solves all the problems that have long plagued LED bulbs. The Switch bulb’s light is warm yellow, not harsh white, and you can dim it. That bulb isn’t selling to the public just yet, but many other dimmable LED bulbs are now on the market, and we’ll see a lot more next year. These light bulbs of the future may sound expensive, but many promise to last for decades. That means that over the long run, they pay for themselves.

Square’s Card Case app. Free.

Paying for stuff with your phone is the hot new thing in the tech industry—which is odd, because it’s a dumb idea. What’s the point of paying with your phone when you can just pay with your credit card? Square, Twitter-founder Jack Dorsey’s company, invented a better way to pay: by doing nothing. When you shop at a Card Case-compatible merchant, your phone and the store sync up without you having to remove your phone from your pocket, start up an app, or swipe and sign. Just tell the cashier your name. She sees your picture on her screen and taps it. That’s it: You’ve paid. Card Case satisfies the main requirement of any revolutionary technology—it feels like magic.

Amazon’s E Ink Kindles. Starting at $79.

Last year I predicted that Amazon would cut the price of its e-reader—which was then selling at $149—to $99 before the year was out. “And at $99, demand will be unbelievable,” I predicted. Well, I was wrong—Jeff Bezos kept the Kindle above $100 last year. But this year he’s not messing around. The new Kindle line-up gives you the same great e-reader for a rock-bottom price. Even if you already read Kindle books on your iPad or smartphone, it’s still worth a look. After all, E Ink is easier on the eyes than an LCD screen, and you can read it in bright sunlight. Plus, owning a Kindle gets you access to Amazon’s Prime Lending library—which means free books. This is a deal you can’t pass up. ( slate.com )

READ MORE - The Best Technologies of 2011