By Deborah Netburn and Salvador Rodriguez
As we ring in the new year, let’s raise a virtual glass to all the tech that is yet to come.
We’re hoping for waterproof gadgets, bendable smartphones, a closer look at Google Inc’s revamped Nexus Q TV box, and — God willing — a new way to watch television that involves just one remote.
Here’s our list of the technology we can’t wait to obsess over, write about and try out in 2013.
1. IEverything: We already know Apple Inc will come out with new versions of all its mobile devices, as it always does, but that doesn’t make the announcements any less exciting. Some rumours have said the next iPhone will come in many colours, the iPad will be skinnier and the iPad mini will get Apple’s high-resolution Retina display.
2. Cars and phones that won’t let you text and drive: We need apps and phones that prevent us from texting behind the wheel. There are some good anti-texting apps for Android phones, but we need this technology to be more universal — perhaps built into our phones and cars.
3. IWatch: A recent report out of China said Apple is working with Intel Corp to make a 1.5-inch Bluetooth smart watch running iOS, the operating system used for the iPhone and iPad. This is just a rumour for now, but a smart watch would make sense for the tech giant.
4. A TV our houseguests can use: We want a streamlined television that simply and intuitively lets users find shows, movies and other video content. We’re hoping for a single remote and a single unit — no ugly wires or additional set-top boxes. Keep it minimal. Keep it streamlined. And we don’t care whether it’s Apple’s mythical iTV or something else.
5. Nexus Q: In June, Google introduced a sleek, bowling-ball-shaped, $300 media device that plays videos from YouTube and Google Play. Google decided to delay the Nexus Q in July and add more features. That was probably a good move, but we haven’t heard anything about the Q since. Here’s hoping we see it again in 2013, with more features and a smaller price tag.
6. The universal waterproofing of gadgets: At the International Consumer Electronics Show last year, we saw an iPhone get dunked in a tank of water and emerge just fine, thanks to a water-repellent coating called Liquipel. This year, we’d like to see water-repellent coatings come standard in all of our gadgets.
7. The Amazon, Microsoft and Motorola phones: Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp launched large-size tablets this year to take on the iPad, and rumours have said the two companies will launch smartphones of their own. Additionally, a recent report said Google-owned Motorola Mobility is also working on a top-of-the-line phone that’s being dubbed internally as the X Phone. Watch your back, iPhone.
8. A flexible smartphone: Do we need a smartphone that bends? Who knows! We haven’t tried one yet. But in 2013, we’d like to. The online rumour mill suggests that Samsung Electronics Co’s Galaxy S IV will have a screen made of unbreakable plastic that may have the ability to bend. Anyone else intrigued?
9. Leap: Leap Motion Inc burst onto the scene and blew the tech community away with YouTube videos of its impressive motion sensor control for users’ computers in early 2012. The start-up promised the controller would come out in December or January. Leap Motion couldn’t meet the December target, but hopefully we’ll get to see this innovative tech this month.
10. Google’s glasses and other wearable tech: Google’s Project Glass may be neat, but can you imagine anyone you know actually using, and wearing, a pair of Wi-Fi-connected glasses? Google Glass may not go on sale until 2014, but in 2013 we’d like to see more real-world applications of this technology. — Los Angeles Times/MCT
Everything at your command:
Voice-controlled computing
By Thomas Schoerner
As powerful and necessary to planning everyday life as they’ve become, most smartphones and PCs still have one failing: usually, data needs to be input with a keyboard, not via voice command.
By and large, voice control remains a dream. But there is movement: It’s standard in most smartphones and tablets. Even some game consoles and navigation devices and PC programs can take oral commands.
“Even TVs are available with voice control, but only the top-end models,” says Michael Schidlack of Bitkom, a German technology industry association.
There are even fields where voice control is becoming standard, like assistance devices for the disabled.
Apple’s iPhone and iPad are controlled with a voice recognition system called Siri. Google and Microsoft have introduced similar options.
The features apply to a lot of functions: internet searches, managing diaries, setting alarms, opening apps, navigating, checking scores, accessing mail or contacts or just telephoning.
“Even if the operating system doesn’t offer the service, there are enough apps by now that have their own integrated voice recognition,” says Moritz Stueckler of German technology magazine t3n.
In some ways, Apple has the most advanced software.
“Siri can reserve a table in a restaurant, so long as the establishment accepts online reservations,” says Dennis Steimels of the German magazine PC Welt.
With Android, some manufacturers are imposing their own interfaces on top of the original system. That’s how Samsung’s Galaxy 3 came up with the voice recognition function S-Voice.
“You can even take pictures,” says Steimels.
Cloud computing systems are one of the reason voice recognition has become so much better.
“Instead of conducting the relatively complex analysis of the language in the comparatively low-power device, it’s taking place in the much more powerful server system,” says Stueckler. Of course, this has the drawback that the devices must be online for the voice recognition to work.
Voice recognition has also expanded to non-mobile devices.
Windows users have been able to dictate texts and even simple commands for opening programs or copying and pasting documents since the Vista system was introduced. There are similar functions with Apple’s OS X.
Cars are also getting into the act, with ever more functions becoming voice-controlled. It’s not just about making it easier to handle the car, it’s also supposed to make driving safer.
“The driver doesn’t have to take his hands off the steering wheel and can focus on the road,” says Stueckler, while the computer focuses on making phone calls or picking new routes.
But today’s voice recognition is not 100% reliable, says Steimels.
“The software doesn’t always understand what’s said, or it misunderstands completely and suddenly wants to navigate you into a foreign country, even if we just wanted to go to the closest bakery.”
Background noises like loudspeaker announcements in public areas are hard to filter out and can distort the spoken order. The systems also have problems with long or complex sentences.
A lot of advances would be possible if the software could recognise its user’s voice.
“Apple and Google are going in this direction, whereby the program gets to know the user and reacts to his needs and preferences,” says Steimels.
Non-native English speakers having trouble with voice recognition might want to switch to English.
“At least in the mobile segment, the most work and resources is going into the analysis of the English language,” says Stueckler, noting the large market for English and the language’s relatively simple sentence structure. — DPA
More real-world applications are needed for Google’s Project Glass.
