Last year was all about social networking and cloud computing. And yes, that was the year you got your first iPad. Technology moves at lightning speed, and the landscape can change in a matter of months.
So let’s take out the crystal ball and preview what we’re likely going to be confronted with in 2012.
For starters, the hottest new technology will be NFC, aka "near field communications." This was rumored to show up in the iPhone 4S but didn’t. Now it’s expected to appear on the iPhone 5 in a few months. NFC allows you to connect and pass secure data from your smartphone by waving it or touching it to another NFC device. For example, it will allow you to load credit cards into your phone and then allow you to purchase goods on a vending machine, ticket dispenser or another NFC-equipped smartphone. The range is contact to only about 2 inches, hence you won’t be buying things you don’t intend to and security will be solid.
Once this takes off, it will be a major game-changer for many types of transactions and distribution of personal information.
To be cool in 2012 you also need to be conversant with organic electronics. The term organic comes from electronic circuits that are made from carbon rather than metal. We are already seeing new OLED (organic light-emitting diode) video displays that are thin and flexible as well as transparent. A related development is printed electronics that can add intelligent circuitry to food packaging or posters.
This can be integrated with NFC technology. For example, if you see a poster of a concert, touch your NFC smartphone to the poster and you’ll receive complete information plus a link to purchase tickets and place the event on you or your spouse’s calendar.
What more can you ask for? And the organic electronics are biodegradable.
If you haven’t heard of LTE (long-term evolution) phones, you should add that to your list for 2012, too. This is the actual 4G networking that will finally eliminate the last vestiges of analog technology from our communication systems. LTE will tremendously expand the capacity of communication networks while adding a growing range of devices that will join the Internet via NFC.
You also should learn a little bit about energy-harvesting electronic devices. These work from "scavenged" energy rather than external energy sources. This means that your morning jog could use circuitry in your running shoes to harvest energy to charge your smartphone.
The Internet itself is rapidly changing and creating completely new opportunities. This year these will come from the addition of millions of devices to the Internet. Many of these devices will include MEMS, micro-electromechanical systems that are actually microscopic machines. Remember nanotechnology? This has given birth to the first-generation MEMS machines.
If this all seems too hard to believe, just wait. In January we will see what actually has happened.
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Mike Meyer, former Internet general manager at Oceanic Time Warner Cable, now manages IT for Honolulu Community College. Reach him at mmeyer@hawaii.edu.
