Features

How did we do last year?

31st December 2007 [PC Pro]

So having looked into our crystal ball for 2008, it seems only fair to turn the clocks back a year and see how we did with our predictions for the top techs to watch in 2007.

BBC IPlayer
Hit!
The iPlayer certainly made a huge impact when it launched in July, but not for the reasons the BBC had hoped. Technical glitches, a shoddy interface and a lock-out for anyone not running Windows XP mired the BBC's TV catch-up service in controversy.

High-definition monitors
Hit!
With HD screens filling the shelves and support for Intel's HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) growing, we're confident we got that one right.

Software as a service
Hit!
Apps hosted over the internet have come on in leaps and bounds in 2007, with services such as Google Docs, Zoho, Picnik and Jumpcut leading us to write a feature (web ID: 130877) asking whether it was possible to live on such apps alone.

Vista sideshow
Miss!
We've still got big hopes for SideShow - the Vista feature that allows you to run a secondary screen on a laptop without turning on the PC - but, sadly, it's failed miserably to catch on with the PC makers.

Hybrid phones
Hit!<

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Virtually every high-end smartphone is now Wi-Fi enabled, as we predicted. Sadly, we didn't foresee greedy networks blocking off VoIP services on such handsets to protect their own call revenues.

Multicore computing
Hit!
With quad-, triple- and dual-core processors now commonplace in PCs, we pretty much nailed this prediction. If only software would take full advantage of all this spare power...

Virtualisiation
Hit!
Possibly the technology of the year in 2007, with VMware's highly successful flotation indicating just how critical virtualisation has become to businesses. Even Microsoft's getting in on the act with Viridian in Windows Server 2008.

Widsets
Miss!
"Mobile internet is still crying out for a killer application... it might finally have arrived," we stated, a little over-optimistically. Sadly, Nokia's WidSets - mini-apps for your mobile - have proved to be closer to dead than deadly, but we're not writing them off just yet.

Mobile WiMAX
Miss!
Another one for the "ahead of our time" list. Intel is now integrating WiMAX into the Centrino chipset and WiMAX networks are being trialled in the UK, but it certainly hasn't taken the country by storm.

UMPCs
Miss!
Samsung's Q1 Ultra (web ID: 120480) raised the bar for ultramobile PCs, but the format is still struggling to find acceptance. New dedicated Intel processors might help. Then again...

Back to 'Ten techs to watch in 2008'