CARS that don’t pollute the environment, televisions with fantastic picture quality, tablets to suit individual preferences, traffic navigation by a machine which sounds like Mom, social media for work.
These are things that may have been merely visualised before but with advancement in technology, these could become a reality this year.
Technologies that have been portrayed in science fiction are coming to fruition and 2013 holds promise of them becoming de rigueur in our lives.
These are expected to gain popularity as a sustainable alternative to petrol and diesel vehicles offer much better energy economy simply because electricity is cheaper.
In terms of emission, electric cars carry very low or negligible emissions and don’t emit carbon dioxide.
Besides that, maintenance costs are much lower. A petrol/diesel-based car has a more complex engine system that require much more effort and money, such as regular oil changes and air filters, to be maintained.
On the other hand, electric cars simply run on the power of a battery that only need change after a few years. There are newer electric cars which claim that the battery is guaranteed to last the entire life of the car.
As of last month, highway-capable models available in some countries include the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi MiEV, Ford Focus Electric, BMW ActiveE and Honda Fit EV.
In Malaysia, an initial initiative to bring in electric cars started last year when Nissan brought in the Leaf model; Mitsibishi brought in the MiEV model. The universal charger for these cars has also been developed by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Advanced Informatics School in Kuala Lumpur.
Last year saw social media playing instrumental roles in the success of the London Olympics and emergence of the Arab spring, particularly through applications like Facebook and twitter.
This year, social media is expected to continue to evolve and transform popular culture and media consumption habits further. From a primarily social tool, a social media strategy will be a priority for the business organisation with improved social technologies, innovative ad models, and an expanded user base around the globe.
Using new-wave social media command centres capable of tracking multiple social stats in real-time, companies will be able to radically improve customer service and predict future buying patterns, not to mention streamline internal communication and increase productivity. This kind of social data is already being used by Nestle and GE.
With more devices accessing and tapping on applications residing on the Internet, for example smartphones, tablet PCs and even smartTVs, and users putting more personal information in the cloud, there are more chances of security breaches.
Many anti-virus companies are predicting that mobile devices will be the new target for cross-platform threats, facilitated by Web-based cross platform exploits. Attacks will also continue to increasingly use social engineering lures to capture user credentials on mobile devices. Other than malware, there is mobile adware, or madware, which disrupts user experience and can potentially expose location details, contact information and device identifiers to cybercriminals.
Ransomware is also on the rise. It is a virtual form of hijacking of the mobile phone by a new worm that can hack into personal data. Celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Munn, Christina Hendricks and Rihanna were victims of Ransomware when their their phones were hacked.
It’s not that we doubt Apple’s capability to introduce, market and see people queue to get it, but after years of rumours, we’re beginning to see that the problem lies in content availability and rights issues. Unless Apple wants to work with Vimeo and other content creators or start its own content portal, we don’t see its smart television product becoming a reality in 2013. Even if it does, Malaysians will still have to wait as the country never made it in on Apple’s initial release list. Meantime, the third-generation Apple TV digital media receiver is as close as you can get if you want an Apple hardware in your living room.
With BlackBerry 10 scheduled for release in multiple countries around the world on Jan 30, it’s time for Research In Motion to go big. Two smartphones are expected to be unveiled during the CES Show, eight more will be released throughout the year.
BlackBerry’s strong points include enterprise-grade features, BBM apps as well as great QWERTY formfactor, but the manufacturer and developers have to offer more to entice consumers. Based on its latest Press releases, there will be a slew of apps pertaining to games and published content, which hopefully will add more charm to the upcoming devices.
Apart from smartphones and tablets, ultrabooks, notebooks and even desktops of 2013 will likely havetouchscreens to suit the new Windows 8 operating system. “The year 2013 will be one that consumer experience touch ramping as a mainstream feature in notebooks and all-in-one PCs. Voice and gesture technologies will also build momentum and be sought after as new ways to interact with computing devices including PCs,” says Intel Southeast Asia managing director Uday Marty. Some manufacturers which have already released or announced their touch-enabled machines include Lenovo, Dell and Acer and Fujitsu.
Trinity College academic, Mads Haahr, is the force behind Haunted Plant, a Dublin-based gaming company with a fondness for ghosts, vampires and all things spooky. Haahr first started thinking about the possibilities of location-based gaming in the early 2000s.
However, appropriate technology was not available to support the concept at that time. The arrival of the smartphone changed this giving Haahr access to a well accepted and widely used device on which to base his games.
Haunted Planet was spun out from the National Digital Research Centre in 2011 and now employs three full-time and three part-time staff.
“We have developed a completely new, technically sophisticated, type of game for smartphones that uses the handset’s camera, GPS compass, and sensors and audio to offer a highly immersive experience,” says Haahr, a lecturer in computer science.
“It is based on augmented reality which means that we overlay the game world on top of the real world, both in terms of visuals and audio. Essentially we turn an Android or iPhone into a paranormal detection device and when people play, they take part in a mystery adventure. A unique feature is that the games are played outdoors, either in a theme park, historical site or simply in the player’s local neighbourhood.”
Haunted Planet launched its first two games in October this year, Pirate Ghost Hunt and Bram Stoker’s Vampires. New games will be added in early 2013. The project has been supported by Enterprise Ireland under the Competitive Start Fund and the company is in the process of raising €250,000.
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