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Technology: hot tips for 2008
Another year, another batch of new technology to dazzle, delight, confuse and amaze. The British love-in with swanky electronic gizmos showed no sign of cooling last year - and 2008 promises more developments. Andrew Stucken plugs in to the gadgets we're most likely to get whizzy with this year:
Expect ultra-slim, tougher laptop computers to gain ground at the expense of the clunking great desktop PC. The development of solid state PC hard drives using flash memory chips means laptops will increasingly be built minus their delicate, spinning hard disks - thus withstanding damage much better.
Reports of the death of the desktop PC may be a little premature. But as lighter, sturdier, more powerful laptops emerge, the desktop may not roam the earth for too much longer.
Still on the subject of computers on the move, Ultra Mobile PCs are expected to make inroads in 2008. Known as UMPCs for short, they could bridge the gap between Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and laptop computers. Attempts to launch such products in the past have never gone mass market owing to poor battery life and high prices.
But new products hit the market late last year which show promise for 2008. Asus EEE has the highest profile, costing under £200 and about the size of hardback book. Like the new breed of laptop, it relies on Flash memory instead of hard disk - and the manufacturers expect to shift five million units this year. It runs on Linux, the open source alternative to Windows. Apple is meanwhile launching an ultra-thin Macbook.
Hard on the heels of BT’s Fusion – which marries mobile telephones with home phone services – comes mobile VoIP. Voice Over Internet Protocol, to give it its full title, has been around for some years now thanks to providers such as Skype.
VoIP enables free telephone calls via an internet connection to other VoIP users - or to land lines or mobiles for fixed fees. Rates which, it must be said, are not as cheap as some conventional providers.
And towards the end of last year mobile network 3 launched a Skype mobile phone and Nokia already has four VoIP-enabled handsets.
It will be interesting to see how they fare alongside Apple's new iPhone, whose version 2.0 is set for a launch Stateside in July. It is expected to include faster 3G wireless networks and Wi-Fi connections, plus GPS – essentially, Satnav for your mobile. It is set to compete with the now-famous Blackberry by Apple's rival RIMM, whose version 9.0 is rumoured to look very much like the iPhone.
The devices both sport touch screen technology, another development tipped to make it big in 2008. Described as "the biggest revolution in interface technology since the invention of the mouse", it has already been used in the iPhone (see above).
Google and Microsoft are both investing heavily in their respective projects and the latter is marketing its multi-touch Surface system, a £5,000 table for shops and restaurants. Diners will simply touch the surface to order from the menu or pay their bill. Bad news for waiters and those who prefer the human touch.
After Amazon's successful launch of its Kindle electronic book in November, digital pens are set for another stab at success this year. Three companies - Nokia, Livescribe and Epos - are marketing pens which store what you write on your computer. Livescribe's smartpen is unique in that it records ambient sound as well.
Finally, for those of us who find a conventional living breathing dog just so passé, Sony is said to be reviving its robotic canine, the Aibo PS.
After being abandoned last year, the project has now been revived and the robot hound is expected to be controlled using a PlayStation Portable Games console or a PlayStation 3. It will bound up to its doting owner when email arrives.
