Current/future technologies to look out for
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
I feel like doing up a post about upcoming relevant technology advances for 2009 and 2010 in layman terms. It might be because I am acutely aware that I have a desire to revamp my computer when I ORD next year that these changes become apparent but nonetheless, they are still pretty big changes that imo, are worth noticing.
Here are some of the things you should look out for if you are looking to buy a new computer or upgrade your computer, be it now or in the near future.
Here are some of the things you should look out for if you are looking to buy a new computer or upgrade your computer, be it now or in the near future.
1) Windows 7 Operating System
It's coming out around the end of this month. If you are using Vista, it's going to be a must to upgrade it. If you meet the conditions,Microsoft can send it to your house at a low cost instead of having you buy the OS (which will cost over a hundred). If you are using XP, it might be time to consider upgrading it (perhaps giving it a few months to iron out any remaining problems).
There was a pretty huge beta testing for Windows 7 and most of the reviews came out positive, claiming Windows 7 to be the smoother and friendlier version of Vista, with a lot of clutters taken away to be replaced by a non-demanding sleek system. Looks like the time for XP to retire is coming close.
2) IEEE 802.11n (A.K.A. Wireless draft-n)
Are you still using the ugly Linksys blue and black router that looks like some out-of-place plastic casing among all your sleek black equipments? (The D-Link one looks better but I am assuming most people uses Linksys router here anyway) The new wireless-n router has not only a much nicer design but also 2x the range and up to 7x the speed. It's the new standard, superseding the 6 years old G protocol, which is what most of us are using now. And yea, this is only an upgrade if your internet surfing is powered wirelessly. If you're using LAN cables, they are still faster than wireless setups.
Wireless draft-n has been out in the market for a short while and many places now sell wireless-n routers. It's definitely worth the upgrade if you have several PCs connecting to the router wirelessly. If you are going to opt into the broadband upgrade (elaborated below), this should be a worthy investment.
3) USB 3.0 source: USB.org
Yeps, your ever convenient USB hub is going to get an upgrade in speed too. Currently every system around is installed with USB 2.0, which is already in use for 9 years. The USB 3.0 is going to be 10x the speed, transforming from "Hi-speed" to "SuperSpeed". The time taken to transfer your files from your camera to computer is potentially 10x faster if USB SuperSpeed is adopted globally. It's backward compatible too, so fret not, all your old devices are still able to connect to USB SuperSpeed.
USB 3.0 is slated to be available in early 2010, but there's really no point waiting for USB 3.0 if you are waiting a new machine because it's estimated to take about 1 or 2 years after release before it will become mainstream and utilized properly. It may be a slow transition but watch out for it!
4) Blu-ray
Heard of this term before? If you haven't, here's what it is. Blu-ray refers to a kind of disc that has an even higher storage space than DVDs. It's relatively new, having just came out early last year, and it's way more powerful than the DVD. Anyone into HD (High Definition) videos or audios would have certainly heard of this term by now. A normal Blu-ray disc can store up to 25GB as opposed to 5GB in a normal DVD disc and it can also be read faster than a DVD. As far as I know, PS3 has games being sold in this medium already.
What's more, machines aimed at multimedia consumers such as the vaio I was drooling over before are increasingly being fitted with a Blu-ray player with DVD/CD burning capabilities. With this level of penetration, Blu-ray is only going to get more popular. Just one downside, if you want to fully enjoy the wonders of this technology, your screen needs to have this logo.
5) Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network source: IDA Singapore
Here's some local news.
Even if you haven't heard of that term before, you will have surely read from somewhere in local news that several districts are having their fiber optics upgraded to higher speed. They are the same thing essentially. It's a plan to upgrade Singapore's broadband speed, which is lagging behind many countries. If all goes as planned, our maximum download speed can potentially be increased to 1GBps, 10x the speed now, but taking all the factors into consideration, the value is probably overly exaggerated and we should just deem it as a modest speed upgrade until proven otherwise.
Despite having a broadband penetration rate of near 90%, our speed requirements barely reach current demands, ranked at 28th of 66 analyzed countries in a study conducted by Cisco. It's time that we have a proper hardware upgrade if we were to stay competitive globally.
The upgrade is a opt in thing though, and they have to install a small gadget in your house for you to access the upgraded connection. More can be read here. It says that the services is slated to be provided in 2010 so things still seem pretty vague to me. Do we have to terminate our current subscription and subscribe to their services or are they going to let us upgrade our current internet subscriptions? How much will we have to pay and what kind of jack are they providing for the connection? They either didn't cover these questions or have hid them pretty well because I haven't read any of such things thus far. Well, it's still more or less in its infancy stage so that can wait.
As I have said, I am not satisfied with our local ISPs and still remain skeptical about their provision of services. We badly need the upgrade but if our service providers aren't going to maintain the quality of the link, the investment is as good as a lost cause. I am gonna wait and see.
That's about all the main stuffs I wanted to say. I still ended up typing a bit too much when it comes to our local internet but W/E. The list is by no means exhaustive but I believe it covers most of the important upcoming developments we'll see.
It's coming out around the end of this month. If you are using Vista, it's going to be a must to upgrade it. If you meet the conditions,Microsoft can send it to your house at a low cost instead of having you buy the OS (which will cost over a hundred). If you are using XP, it might be time to consider upgrading it (perhaps giving it a few months to iron out any remaining problems).
There was a pretty huge beta testing for Windows 7 and most of the reviews came out positive, claiming Windows 7 to be the smoother and friendlier version of Vista, with a lot of clutters taken away to be replaced by a non-demanding sleek system. Looks like the time for XP to retire is coming close.
2) IEEE 802.11n (A.K.A. Wireless draft-n)
Are you still using the ugly Linksys blue and black router that looks like some out-of-place plastic casing among all your sleek black equipments? (The D-Link one looks better but I am assuming most people uses Linksys router here anyway) The new wireless-n router has not only a much nicer design but also 2x the range and up to 7x the speed. It's the new standard, superseding the 6 years old G protocol, which is what most of us are using now. And yea, this is only an upgrade if your internet surfing is powered wirelessly. If you're using LAN cables, they are still faster than wireless setups.
Wireless draft-n has been out in the market for a short while and many places now sell wireless-n routers. It's definitely worth the upgrade if you have several PCs connecting to the router wirelessly. If you are going to opt into the broadband upgrade (elaborated below), this should be a worthy investment.
3) USB 3.0 source: USB.org
Yeps, your ever convenient USB hub is going to get an upgrade in speed too. Currently every system around is installed with USB 2.0, which is already in use for 9 years. The USB 3.0 is going to be 10x the speed, transforming from "Hi-speed" to "SuperSpeed". The time taken to transfer your files from your camera to computer is potentially 10x faster if USB SuperSpeed is adopted globally. It's backward compatible too, so fret not, all your old devices are still able to connect to USB SuperSpeed.
USB 3.0 is slated to be available in early 2010, but there's really no point waiting for USB 3.0 if you are waiting a new machine because it's estimated to take about 1 or 2 years after release before it will become mainstream and utilized properly. It may be a slow transition but watch out for it!
4) Blu-ray
Heard of this term before? If you haven't, here's what it is. Blu-ray refers to a kind of disc that has an even higher storage space than DVDs. It's relatively new, having just came out early last year, and it's way more powerful than the DVD. Anyone into HD (High Definition) videos or audios would have certainly heard of this term by now. A normal Blu-ray disc can store up to 25GB as opposed to 5GB in a normal DVD disc and it can also be read faster than a DVD. As far as I know, PS3 has games being sold in this medium already.
What's more, machines aimed at multimedia consumers such as the vaio I was drooling over before are increasingly being fitted with a Blu-ray player with DVD/CD burning capabilities. With this level of penetration, Blu-ray is only going to get more popular. Just one downside, if you want to fully enjoy the wonders of this technology, your screen needs to have this logo.
5) Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network source: IDA Singapore
Here's some local news.
Even if you haven't heard of that term before, you will have surely read from somewhere in local news that several districts are having their fiber optics upgraded to higher speed. They are the same thing essentially. It's a plan to upgrade Singapore's broadband speed, which is lagging behind many countries. If all goes as planned, our maximum download speed can potentially be increased to 1GBps, 10x the speed now, but taking all the factors into consideration, the value is probably overly exaggerated and we should just deem it as a modest speed upgrade until proven otherwise.
Despite having a broadband penetration rate of near 90%, our speed requirements barely reach current demands, ranked at 28th of 66 analyzed countries in a study conducted by Cisco. It's time that we have a proper hardware upgrade if we were to stay competitive globally.
The upgrade is a opt in thing though, and they have to install a small gadget in your house for you to access the upgraded connection. More can be read here. It says that the services is slated to be provided in 2010 so things still seem pretty vague to me. Do we have to terminate our current subscription and subscribe to their services or are they going to let us upgrade our current internet subscriptions? How much will we have to pay and what kind of jack are they providing for the connection? They either didn't cover these questions or have hid them pretty well because I haven't read any of such things thus far. Well, it's still more or less in its infancy stage so that can wait.
As I have said, I am not satisfied with our local ISPs and still remain skeptical about their provision of services. We badly need the upgrade but if our service providers aren't going to maintain the quality of the link, the investment is as good as a lost cause. I am gonna wait and see.
That's about all the main stuffs I wanted to say. I still ended up typing a bit too much when it comes to our local internet but W/E. The list is by no means exhaustive but I believe it covers most of the important upcoming developments we'll see.
Posted at 4:36 PM
