It's been nearly a year since Strategic News Service publisher Mark Anderson unveiled his predictions for 2012. Although the year's not over yet, it looks like things are going the way Mark said they would.
Mark and KPLU's Dave Meyer review the predictions on this month's edition of The Digital Future.
Every December, Mark issues a list of ten predictionsfor the coming year. We focused on three of them:
1. TV Becomes the New Center of Gravity in the Tech Universe
Mark predicted more devices would integrate with our TVs, and that's exactly what's happening.
Smartphones and tablets are increasingly being used as TV remotes, TV shows are adapting to simultaneous big screen/small screen experiences, and people are controlling content on their TVs with voice commands via Microsoft's Xbox Kinect (which also ties in with prediction #2). Anecdotally, Dave notes he's doing more things on his TV that he used to do only on computers.
Mark stopped short of predicting Apple would unveil a major new TV product this year, but he did predict it would be successful if the device came out. That launch never happened, but Mark still expects to see Apple enter the TV space in a big way...just not in 2012.
2. Voice Recognition Comes of Age
Anyone who grew weary of hearing Zooey Deschanel ask her iPhone, "Is that rain?"knows that voice recognition went mainstream this year.
Apple's Siriwas the most visible example, but we're talking to more than just our smartphones. Call your bank, airline or any of a variety of customer service call centers and you're probably going to speak to a machine. There are still frustrations, but the technology just keeps getting better.
Mark is keeping an eye on a new product, Ubi(The Ubiquitous Computer), which allows you to talk to your automated house.
3. Amazon Gets It All
Mark predicted Amazon would have a terrific year, despite the down economy.
Wall Street appears to agree. At the beginning of this week, the company's stock price was up 36% for the year.
Mark says Amazon is firing on all cylinders and has done a great job on everything it's touched so far. The company continues to move into new areas of enterprise, and seems to find success wherever it goes. From Mark's perspective, Amazon is the one to watch.
Stay tuned! We'll look at Mark's predictions for 2013 next month.
