2008 was a great new year for killer new tech. But 2009 is set to be even better, with amazing innovations giving us gadgets that just a year ago we could only dream of.
Jump in and check out the new tech that’s set to change everything next year.
OLED
Sony’s 11-inch OLED wowed us all in 2007. As the screens get cheaper, you’ll see that dinky version appear in super–slim lappies that make the MacBook Air look positively huge.
RFID payments
O2’s wireless wallet trial was a runaway success. 2009 will see the nifty tech make its way to more mobiles, as we all start paying for sweets and ciggies thanks to RFID, as well as using it to get from A to B, just like an Oyster card.
Multi-touch everywhere
Apple started the multitouch revolution with the iPhone, but now everything from the BlackBerry Storm to the latest Eee PCs pack the touchsreen tech. Expect it to rock up in countless phones, laptops and desktops as getting touchy–feely becomes mainstream.
12 megapixel cameraphones
Eight megapixels? Pah! Sony already has 12 megapixel sensors primed and ready to go and they’ll be hitting Blighty sooner than you think.
Wi–Max
The super–fast wireless tech is set to go global in 2009, with HTC prepping Wi–Max phones and US networks already live. Wi–Max PCs will be everywhere come the end of 2009.
Open CL
Using a graphics chip to help normal processing, Open CL is set to make OS X Snow Leopard motor. It won’t just be making its way to Apple either. Windows 7 will doubtless be packing it too.
Proximity-sensitive wireless
Sony showed off TransferJet proximity–sensitive wireless at CES 2008. It’s taken a while, but 2009 will see gadgets exchanging data just by getting up close and personal.
Wireless HD
2009 will finally see us cut the cord and and kiss goodbye to cables. New codecs and N–standard Wi–Fi will have us streaming HD round the house. Sony’s already talked up its plans for wireless HD, with it built into several models launching next year.
The Cloud
So far, The Cloud has been the realm of geeks and first adoptors, but it’ll go mainstream in 2009. Microsoft is sending Office online, Nokia’s pushing hard with Ovi and MobileMe is set to explode, meaning we’ll soon be backing everything up online.
Windows 7
After the disaster of Vista, Windows 7 will remind us why Microsoft kickstarted the home computing revolution. Lightweight, fast and refined, it will doubtless claw back ground lost to the might of OSX.
So where’ the killer new tech? All this stuff is old tech, still waiting to be rolled out into actual products. I think Dr Tech is letting us down here.