We’ve just taken delivery of a new batch of PC Pro mugs – aren’t they beautiful? – and to celebrate, we’ve been asking our followers on Twitter and Facebook to share their tech predictions for 2014, with ceramic prizes for our favourite ideas. Here are the winners:
“Cheaper and cheaper smartphones … Nicole to declare them ‘very hot’ in the podcast.” — @harryandrews
The judges say: “Based on the arrival of the Motorola Moto G and the Nexus 5 in recent months, it does indeed look like handset prices are going to be squeezed in the coming year. So far the effect seems to have been limited to Android, but it creates pressure on Apple and Nokia to follow suit. And it’s fair to say that Mr Andrews has got the measure of our news editor’s priorities.”
“Google jokingly names its new robot devision ‘Skynet.’ Google Skynet becomes self-aware 2.14am Eastern time, August 29th 2014.” — @dario006
The judges say: “Dario (no relation) suggested several Terminator-themed scenarios, but this one struck closest to home. Google ended 2013 owning a suspiciously large portfolio of robotics laboratories, including at least one with a military background – and the vast data banks it’s collected across its many services could indeed form something like a neural network. Worrying stuff.”
“There will be a boom in the use of MOOCs to supplement the learning process of students, allowing them to learn wherever, whenever.” — @RichyJT
The judges say: “As Richy suggests, we expect Massive Open Online Courses primarily to supplement, rather than replace, conventional learning methods. But let’s not underestimate their value to students who lack traditional school facilities, such as those in third-world countries. Online learning presents incredible opportunities for those who would otherwise have no way to reach their potential.”
“Healthcare is going to get personal. Expect more wearable devices and integration with patient records, supporting preventative care.” — @iam_lost 53s
The judges say: “This one might be optimistic: companies such as Intel have been talking about building healthcare functions into wearable devices for years, with very little visible effect so far. But with ‘smartwatches’ finally starting to appear on the market – albeit in rudimentary forms – it would be nice to think that 2014 could be the year personal healthcare technology finally takes off.”
Apple will buy a major cloud provider to shore up its cloud offering. Someone will also buy Dropbox – Google or Microsoft.” — @fortyrunner
The judges say: “A sharp observation: cloud storage is a huge and growing business, and right now iCloud simply isn’t the equal of Google Drive or Microsoft’s SkyDrive. Dropbox, meanwhile, continues to outpace them all, something the ‘big three’ surely aren’t happy with. We can certainly picture a major player seeking to corner the market by assimilating Dropbox.”
Honourable mentions:
- “Apple shares will drop and they’ll produce a new version of exactly the same product.” — @dario006
- “Hover boards – surely we’ve waited long enough now?” — @stewchambers
- “2014 to finally be the year of the desktop for Linux, XP users flood to open source.” — Danny Balman (via Facebook)
- “Apple to sue Samsung for having an A in their name. Samsung’s defence: it’s lower case.” — @Relwots
- “HTC to launch a new smartphone with a screen so large it will require a handbag.” — @Softfun
- “I predict there will be a security scare re a hacked password server. Sorry, I meant certainty!” — @AdamGashead
- “It’ll be more cost effective to store data in a cloud-based service than to store it on site.” — @benb3342
- “Blackberry will die… (runs to make sure this hasn’t happened yet… no…. hits send…)” — @ataccounting
- “A senior manager will use the term “cloud” and know what it means.” — @benb3342
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