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Buzz Out Loud Lounge: 2008 predictions
Safe to wear at work
by luc-mobile - 12/28/07 1:24 PM In reply to: BOL shirt by mementhYou will need permission from Fark dot com before it is deemed "safe to wear at work".
My predictions
by Kilarney - 12/28/07 10:19 AM In reply to: 2008 predictions by thriftyT1) Verizon's promise of an open network for wireless devices will not have taken off. It will turn out to be much more hype than reality, with few, if any devices, available to take advantage of an open network. It turns out that the announcement had more to do with stemming defections to the IPhone.
2) Amazon Unbox and Apple ITunes will be the only dominant players in the video download business, with smaller companies falling by the wayside. ITunes has access to countless IPods, and Unbox's alliance with TIVO will put both companies firmly on top.
3) Big shake-up in the web 2.0 world. Scores of social networking sites will throw in the towel. Facebook will lose market value.
4) RIAA will reduce (or possibly cease) lawsuits against ordinary Americans. They will focus on the worst offenders. Some colleges will pay a flat "licensing fee" to the RIAA to shield students from lawsuits.
5) The Kindle will be a failure. It will still be offered, but it won't take off until a color version comes out a couple of years later.
6) Blockbuster will be on the verge of bankruptcy. Netflix stock will be down. All of this is because Apple becomes a major player in the movie rental business.
7) Apple will announce a new and improved Apple TV aimed at the masses.
8) Netflix will announce a dedicated set-top box or a partnership with a company sells set-top boxes.
9) TIVO will release a series 4 device.
2008 Predictions
by Renegade Knight - 12/28/07 11:58 AM In reply to: 2008 predictions by thriftyTPS3 “Arrives” and the marketplace is split 3 ways. Game companies start being reluctant to develop single platform titles. Look for more spin offs from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.
Hints of the PSP-2 start surfacing.
The DS-2 is a Fall 2008 device. Backwards compatible with DS Games it will meet the PSP head on. The DS will continue to be marketed.
The Xbox 360 Handheld will be released fall 2008. Think ZuneBox Portable. This is Microsofts Home Run. Archos + Xbox.
Vista SP1 disappoints and does not fix the majority of the annoying compatibility issues. MicroSoft will hail Vista as a success, but the groundwork will be set for the Vista Replacment to flop, flop, flop. (Alas MS’s fix to the pending flop are a 2009 Prediction).
The iPhone’s breakthrough use of a touch screen invigorates the phone market resulting in many innovative phones, and more unlocked phones available to the consumer.
The current iPhone will fizzle out. It’s 15 minutes will fade in 2008. (Unless apple fixes the business model which is based on skinning the early adopters).
The iPhone Newton will be released.
Convergence will continue.
At least one Gaming Console with Media Center/DVR functions akin to Windows Media Center or Tivo will be announced. Variations on this theme include including receiver functions so you can use your “Entertainment Console” as your receiver. Potentially both.
At least one mainstream receiver company will add DVR functionality to their new Media line.
Apple TV will come out with Version 2.0 with DVR.
Rumors of an Apple Gaming Console will start to surface.
Internet TV will continue to grow. Someone is going to pioneer the use of “Channels” so their version of internet TV will be akin to using a regular TV. Consumers will “Get it”. Plan B, would be instead of Channels a DVR like interface.
The First Internet Network (akin to TV of old and Cable now) will be born. They may be the ones to offer Internet TV. Not just the crippled offspring of a current Media Giant.
Congress will pass exactly one law friendly to consumers. Either getting rid of a former bad piece of legislation or giving us a small bone christmas treed to some unrelated bill.
The first Linux Desktop will be a Budget Laptop that garners good ratings and sells.
The combined Acer/Gateway will lose market share.
Palm will release their next generation of their OS along with several products to replace the aged Trio’s. Palm will go after the mainstream. Most of whom still don’t use a smart phone. The Palm “Touch/Flip” (aka iPhone clone with keyboard) will have a slider keyboard for texting and be a hit with Teens.
The Folio will come back.
Wireless speakers will hit the market and finally be viable.
A Private Investment Firm will win the 700mhz spectrum. The net result is the continued mobile data and communications lock down even as the 700mhz spectrum is developed. Communist China will have a more consumer friendly cell phone market than the US.
Sirus and XM merge. The combined company still bleeds red ink in 2008.
The final word on Google and Double click will be “no”.
A Minor but recognized Media company will “get it” and go digital and start making money. Buy their stock now…if you can figure out which one it’s going to be.
Verizon and/or Sprint will announce the equivalent of a GSM sim card for CDMA.
The first viable Electric commuter car is released and sells. Ironically the Heater will probably burn gas, alcohol, or propane.
Dataplan/Bandwidth lockdowns continue to hit the news.
Apple will buy a gaming company. Sega perhaps
Verizon and/or Sprint will announce the equivalent of a GSM.
by shoelace_510 - 1/2/08 9:44 PM In reply to: 2008 Predictions by Renegade KnightHaving worked in the cell phone business I can tell you that this one is not going to happen. In order for this to be a possibility it would take MILLIONS on either's behalf to upgrade ALL of their towers to support sim cards. And yes, it would be a hardware issue and not simply a software fix. Instead, I can see either or both coming out with some sort of easier way to back up phone #s, pictures, etc. w/o paying extra $. Hope this helps your predictions some. Also, I agreed with most of the rest of it. Nice work!
Predictions for 2008
by VintageVirago - 12/28/07 1:14 PM In reply to: 2008 predictions by thriftyT<ul>
<li>While Microsoft won't admit that Vista is a failure, more people will be moving back to XP, waiting for the next OS from Microsoft instead of using Vista.</li>
<p>
<li>NBC will come running back to iTunes with their tail between their legs</li>
<p>
<li>There will be a major crash of the Internet in the US and maybe even the world. It'll be large enough to be a very sobering reminder of how much we depend on the web and that we need to deal with our infrastructure now.</li>
</ul>
I suppose it's to early to predict/hope that we will be able to jack into the Internet directly through a node in our heads??? Just a modest little link behind our ears maybe?
Predictions...
by Synerjinx - 1/3/08 7:06 AM In reply to: Predictions for 2008 by VintageViragoQuote from Vintage Virago: "I suppose it's to early to predict/hope that we will be able to jack into the Internet directly through a node in our heads??? Just a modest little link behind our ears maybe?"
...as totally cool and gross as that would be to have wetworx in our systems, i think we/society missed that shadowrun / cyberpunk boat. If we do have something it'll be wireless, probably with nanobots running in our system <something more like the Ghost in the Shell anime>....and then god help us, someone could hack your body... and gawd.. what viruses we might get then....
sigh.... I would love to have a direct connect to the net ALL THE TIME, but i don't think we're gonna get that in any way my mind can currently comprehend due to safety and security issues...
SynerJinx
I wanna play too
by luc-mobile - 12/28/07 1:37 PM In reply to: 2008 predictions by thriftyT1. Apple launches iPhone 2.0. People line up to buy it again. It's better than 1.0 (being worse would be quite a feat), but sales figures are just about the same as that of 1.0.
2. A new Vista or Service Pack really straightens everything up. Vista becomes VERY popular and people slowly begin to scoff at the clueless "luddites" who still use XP.
3. Linux on the desktop becomes more irrelevant than ever. Compiz was all they ever got to get regular Joes slightly interested.
4. The Kindle is beaten by a competitor in sales/popularity.
5. Android doesn't really take off due to feuds and conflicts of interest among Google, all carriers and manufacturers that were supposed to support it. Bloggers get mad, call names and point fingers at those who dared not appease to their god's Holy Will.
6. Apple launches a new product based on a new concept created by an 11-year-old kid. It is a modest hit. Still, a hit. Kid shares stage with Jobs.
7. Palm finally launches new phone and platform. It runs on Linux and fills a couple of voids that Android wanted to fill. It is very good, but nothing fantastic. It is the talk of the year nevertheless and all competitors soil their pants over Palm once again. Rumor mills about what they're gonna do in response work overtime. Bono Vox promotes Linux.
8. HTC launches a subnotebook and pits it against Asus' EEE. HTC has a better product and no, it does not run on Linux. Who cares what Bono says? Windows is the operating system of the masses!
9. Molly Wood leaves BOL (noooooooooooo!) She has other plans. Rafe and someone else become regulars. Jason keeps his usual low profile. Tom sticks to BOL, but kicks off something new and big.
10. Veronica gets married, but no babies just yet.
11. It is a tough year. Economy stinks and war breaks out for real in the Middle East soon after the U.S. elections. The holiday season is the gloomiest in decades.
12. Alex From Miami Beach gets e-mail advertising Black Friday anyway.
Note: I seriously hope I am wrong on most counts! I'm just sharing some gut feeling. Though I think the last one is a sure shot. 
My Predictions
by firestarter - 12/31/07 2:13 PM In reply to: 2008 predictions by thriftyT1. The Major Networks Will not fully recover from the writers strike.
2. By the end of the year Microsoft live version of office will be on par with google docs
3. Xbox 360 and wii will still continue to dominate and the PS3 will still struggle to show if they are worth the price.
4. the new version of the Iphone will put some basic function that it was missing but they will not make it available to the first gen phones.
5. The MPAA is the new RIAA
6. Itunes will not offer DRM-free MP3 instead they will only do AAC
7. The labels that when DRM-free will struggle at first but it will be a success in the end.
8. the last label will not go DRM free unitll the last half of the year.
9. Google Android will turn out to be nothing but nice words on paper. Some company will follow it and some wouldn’t.
10. web 2.0 will start to see its demise the buble will start to burst.
1 more thing
by firestarter - 12/31/07 3:45 PM In reply to: My Predictions by firestarteri thing that netflix will release a setup box or will team up with xbox live and PSN to do deliver show to you.
Dr. Karl's predicitons:
by robstak - 12/31/07 3:33 PM In reply to: 2008 predictions by thriftyTK, these are kinda general and I'm sure repeated, but I've stalled long enough...
1) 2008 is the year of wireless. BT headphones and speakers go mainstream. Home automation from your cell phone b/c...
2) 2008 is the year of the touchscreen. While the microsoft surface is still some time away, everyones obsession with the iphone interface is fed in some pretty ridiculous ways, but also in some good ways (see below)
2) 2008 is also the year of the smartphone.
a) 2nd Gen iPhone drops.
b) 1st Gen iPhone taught people about smartphones, HTC has some great phones on the horizon.
c) WM7 is good, but Android really starts to take off. OS war in 2009.
Either way everyone realizes smartphones are the wave of the future; sales skyrocket. On a slightly larger scale...
3) based on the success of the eee, palmtop computing gets huge; everyone hails the Palm Foleo as ahead of its time. Major brands like Dell jump on board. But of course these'll also have wireless broadband.
4) prediction 2 + 3 = cell-co's get everyone onto the mobile web. Business booms even without 4G.
5) Music and Movies.
a) Music DRM collapses. Studies are published proving DRM is a waste, funding is cut to the RIAA and we are free. All 4 major labels are now on board.
b) Movies and TV however are still years behind, HOWEVER, on-demand goes full speed and the majority of tv shows and movies will be available online immediately after their original airing.
c) Advertisers will realize what a huge market this is as Hulu becomes huge.
d) Also Joost fades away and IPTV does nothing.
e)Finally streaming delivery goes HD with solid set-top boxes and more fiberoptic wires in your neighborhood.
6) With HD streaming and the continued expansion of on-demand content, the DVD format war continues to be a stalemate, but both sides take a hit. Blue-Ray drops to $150 by black friday to compete with HDDVD.
7) More cheap PC's. Despite bad reviews, cheap PC's continue to sell, even with Linux. Prices for mainstream computers will continue to drop becuase of this competition. Dell offers a new PC for $200.
8) Microsoft. The vista debacle blows over in 2008. Also, next gen Xbox is announced as well as plans for an xbox portable device, maybe with the zune namesake.
9) Seeing green. Green is clearly the new pink... or is it black? Ppl continue to brag about how much better for the environment their products are. The public gets fed up.
10) No web 2.0 burst, social networks become even more integrated into work environments with collaberative tools and the such. Banking even takes off...
11) Mint and the such go big as everyone becomes ok with managing their money online. Old fuddy-duddies still stash cash under their matresses, but when the mortgage crash finally levels out in Q3 of 08 people start investing their money again, Mint and similar sites get big, and online banking becomes the standard.
12) Finally, a little medical prediction. Electronic Medical Records become the standard to be judged against, FINALLY!!!
That's what I got for now. I guess most of these aren't big leaps, but hopefully they are right!
-Dr. Karl
wow. my predictions are eerily correct! weird, lol.
by robstak - 6/11/08 8:19 PM In reply to: Dr. Karl's predicitons: by robstakwell with the exception of the foleo that is lol.
My Predictions fo 2008
by brianooomac - 12/31/07 8:01 PM In reply to: 2008 predictions by thriftyT-Apple will introduce a slimmer macbook encased in aluminum
-The Zune will fail into a miserable oblivion even though its cool
-Vista SP3 will be a flop and make vista worse
-RF powered devices will become widespread
-bluetooth will make its way into many popular MP3 players
-wireless n will become a new standard and over publicized
-Apple might buy Yahoo!
-BOL will be even mightier
That is all i can think of at the moment
Direct to Download Console Games
by bgreen00 - 1/1/08 1:40 PM In reply to: 2008 predictions by thriftyTOne thing I would like to see in 2008 is the release of a major console title directly to download. Instead of having to buy the disk, just use the Wii, PS3, or XBox 360 to networking capabilities to purchase and download the game.
Thats allready happened
by mclaren5 - 1/2/08 8:19 PM In reply to: Direct to Download Console Games by bgreen00A full game downloadable from a console has already happened on the PS3 with Warhawk.
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