implant data

Soon, you will be able to swallow an iPod RFID implant, that will beam your music library to your iPod. If you walk by another person who has an implant, you can also get access to that person's music library. Along with several other technologies that perform the same basic function, this signals the introduction of a person becoming the receptacle for computer data. The most serious journalist could potentially keep all of his files inside his body, ridding him of the danger of being scooped.

Postman would be horrified. While to some people this would just be an easy way to make sure you are never without your favorite musical selection, Postman would see this as an affront to all that is holy, natural and good. Now, he would say, not only do we reverence technology, but we allow technology to literally become part of us. We have become slaves to technology, letting it take a place inside our bodies. For my part, though, I think this is an interesting idea. My computer holds all of my precious things: songs, photos, written thoughts and contacts with my friends all over the world. My computer has already become a big part of me, and if anything were to happen to it, I would be lost without all of the things it holds.

Facebook's Widgets

Facebook, the social-networking site popular with college students, has recently begun allowing outside companies to develop widgets and other programs that the site will support. Facebook subscribers can download them for use on their personal pages. Blogger Paul Conley says this may cause a shift in the way many companies do business because this will invite other social-networking sites and work-networking sites to do the same. In the future, online companies may look to piggyback on other Web sites to create a clientele and a niche. To those in the media, it may make sense to take a page out of the business model of Facebook. For example, allowing a YouTube-type program on the news outlet's Web site would allow people to make video responses to the news. This could generate interest in a generation that seems to embrace the idea of making public commentary on things. There are a million directions this could go, but it seems to me that anything that gets people more involved personally in the news is a good idea. This would give the media a chance to move their public-forum function into the next phase of technology. The greatest task, I think, would be to mediate the responses for inappropriate content.

Wytricity

What makes this new wireless electricity technology important is the possibilities it creates for traveling and working in places when it could be difficult to plug into electricity. If wireless electricity stations become as prevalent as wireless Internet stations, people with laptops could work as long as they wanted and wherever they wanted. For journalists, this could mean never being tied down by needing to recharge batteries. Instead, they would be able to chase down the stories when seconds matter. If your cell phone dies in the middle of an interview with a source, that could really put a damper on your story.

To the rest of society, the magnet technology that fuels the Wytricity could signal the ability to collect and transfer power more efficiently than we do today. It's always been a goal to be able to capture and transfer wind power from windy areas to other areas that need power. Also, it could bring solar power into higher levels of use.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19098305/

Augmented Reality

Total Immersion's Augmented Reality program D'Fusion means you can "insert real-time interactive objects into live video images," according to the company's Web site. This is especially exciting for journalists because it means we can insert virtual reporters into video of potentially dangerous situations. A news company could create a Second Life-type reporter avatar and make it appear to be reporting from the middle of a war zone without fear that the company would lose another journalist to the violence.

This has the potential to replace all on-air journalists with virtual beings, which cost much less in salary and don't have human traits like greed or fear. The producers could just program the avatars to speak the scripted words and there would be no danger of an on-air mishap.
While this could be very exciting, it also brings up the question of journalistic integrity. If there isn't a real journalist reporting from the location, does the news network have a right to portray it on television as if there is a reporter there? I think having an avatar report the news would lessen the sense that the people giving the news have a personal stake in it. It could alienate TV news viewers even further. The news could end up looking like a weird movie rather than real life. I wonder, though, if the introduction of some avatars would push TV journalists to work harder at including their viewers in the news.

Eye Tracker

Tobii Technology has developed MyTobii 2.3, a system that tracks eye movement across a computer screen and an eye-controlled web browser. It is meant for people who have limited mobility, especially those who are paralyzed, so they can control computer screens without using their hands. In this sense, it is very beneficial to those who may need it. For the population at large, it has the potential to take the place of a computer mouse, once it is developed and sold commercially.

On the Tobii Web site, the company advertizes its older technology as a way for commercial companies to study consumer behavior by tracking where consumers' eyes move. Combining this technology with the eye-controlled web browser makes for a good way to eventually take over the computer/television niche. If a person can control things by moving his eyes, imagine how fast tasks could get done. Typing on a keyboard could become a tedious practice of the past. And imagine how annoying pop-up ads would be if they could track where you look!

handheld computers

First, there was the room-sized computer that could perform only simple processes, requiring hours to complete them. Then there was the bulky box computer with a green screen and primitive graphics. Then came the faster Windows computer, then the sleek laptop, providing a measure of portability. It only stands to reason that computers will keep getting smaller and faster. Handheld computers look like they could be the Next Big Thing in computers. Just look at Apple's iPhone -- it's almost a computer in itself. But what the average telecommuting businessman needs is something that will not only let him listen to music and send e-mails, but will also allow word-processing and basic operating functions. Handheld computers, I predict, will soon gain the ability to do it all. Like the article on MSN suggests, there is already technology in place that will give handheld computers the ability to give customers all they want and need, and I think the iPhone shows that computers are headed in that direction. Keyboards can now be projected onto a flat surface, and soon picture projection will follow. What the ramifications of this may be, I can't be sure. But I think that anything that makes it easier for folks on the go to get their news is a good idea.

Handheld computers may make laptops obsolete.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16042808/

Everyscape

Behold Everyscape, the Web site that is like Google Maps, only better, because it gives a virtual tour of the cities it shows, complete with names and addresses of landmarks, restaurants and shops. It's not everywhere yet, but it very well may be soon. Imagine using this on a GPS-powered, Web-browsing cell phone when trying to find your way in the city. You could know exactly what you pass at every turn. Or, you could take a trip to Paris from your computer screen, or virtually walk from the subway station to a new restaurant so you know your way before you get there. You can even go inside buildings and "look around" from home. Everyscape also has a social-interaction element, where people can chat virtually about the places as they encounter others on the street.

I can see how someone like Postman would fear this kind of technology. How will we learn to interact in real life if we live so much in the virtual world? I think that he could be right, to an extent. If someone opts out of actually experiencing the world and all it has to offer (sounds, smells, tastes) by getting only a virtual picture, there is definitely something missing.

http://www.everyscape.com/