15 New Tech Concepts For 2006

Were this from a source not as fundamentally reliable as Popular Mechanics I would consider it little more than an example of a magazine that missed having an end-of-the-year-top-10 list in hopes of drawing readers. As it is - the list presented here is pretty good. Most of these items have little to do with our professional needs [though are worth knowing as consumers] but as leaders in out various specialities we should always be seeking the access technology angle for anything new we come across.

From the list:

• Metadata: I question how tags and such may impact access technologies - if at all.
• Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) - as campuses ink contracts with sources such as iTunes and expand their cable offerings to students, will it come to pass that content will be delivered more and more through student computers?
• Flash memory - bigger and better and more functional as more and more apps will be launchable from flash drives. We are already seeing this with OpenSource and some commercially viable companies as well - such as Dolphin with their Pen.
• Electronic Medical Records (EMR) - maybe this won't impact us so much but it will touch our offices as access to student documentation will chance. And let me ask you this - how often are you tapped for assistance whenever someone else is having tech-issues?
• Fiber-to-the Home - the number of students taking on-line courses [and the number of courses themselves] continues to grow and this will definitely help speed this growth. How do our offices deal with the technology needs of these students - consider policies & procedures, support for hardware and software, 'in-class' provisions, and the like.
• Ajax [Asynchronous JavaScript + XML] - I'm still a little fuzzy on this (OK a lot fuzzy) but this I just wonder what impact this has on web access - if any?

Like I said - I am not sure if any of these will be anything we should concern ourselves about - but we should at least be aware of them. Unfortunately not every future trend bodes so well for society - as this lengthy treatise on Malware informs.