A year of expansion rather than breakthroughs<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi
\nContributor\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Almost 30 years after the birth of the Altaire and 23 years after
\nIBM came up with the world's first PC, have computer scientists
\nand standard organizations hit a brick wall?<\/p>\n
At any rate, computer components such as modems, scanners,
\nprinters, Web cameras, speakers, 200 GB hard disks and DVD+RW
\ndrives are now taken for granted.<\/p>\n
Cordless peripherals such as the cordless mouse and keyboards
\naccompany today's mainstream PCs. Even flat-panel TFT monitors in
\nsizes exceeding 20 inches very rarely make the headlines --
\nexcept that they cost a lot of money to buy.<\/p>\n
It's all the same with MP3 players, even though we have seen
\nthe birth of market leading MP3 players such as the Apple's iPod.
\nWe call them market leaders not only because they sell like
\nhotcakes but because, after a short while, many other gadget
\nmakers come up with similar products.<\/p>\n
Multifunction devices, Wi-Fi<\/p>\n
Similarly, printers no longer cause ripples. More recently,
\nsingle-purpose printers began to be gradually replaced by all-in-
\none devices that can print, scan, copy and fax documents. More
\nand more printer makers have come up with their AIO models.<\/p>\n
And, what about a PC with a built-in TV tuner and floor-
\nshaking sound? Well, for a long time it has no longer created
\nexcitement.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, you must have noticed that Bluetooth has become a
\ncommon feature in more new digital devices. Its widespread use
\nhas added a new term to the computing lingo: Personal Area
\nNetwork (PAN).<\/p>\n
Wi-Fi is also built into new notebooks today, as Intel keeps
\npushing the Centrino specifications. As more and more people buy
\nCentrino notebooks, hot spots are sprouting everywhere like
\nmushrooms in the rainy season (or Carrefour stores inside
\nJakarta).<\/p>\n
With the help of their high bandwidth, VoIP could become
\navailable to us at faster rates -- and let us save a lot on long
\ndistance and international calls -- if only the authorities were
\non the consumers' side.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, some governments -- including ours -- have
\nstill not grasped the beauty of deregulation.<\/p>\n
What was new in computing?<\/p>\n
So, has 2004 been a boring year for computer aficionados? In
\ngeneral, it has -- except for some new but barely important
\ntrends. For instance, we now have multimedia notebooks with wide
\nscreens and a new resolution standard, WXGA.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, however, Tablet PCs are still struggling to gain a
\nfoothold as \"must-have\" portable computers, while more and more
\npeople wonder if they are actually still-born babies.<\/p>\n
What about CPUs? Are we still hungry for more speed? Today,
\nonly serious gamers and professionals in desktop publishing and
\ngraphics artists want to upgrade their computers. The rest of us
\nseem to have wised up.<\/p>\n
My work PC, for example, still runs on a Pentium III 755 MHz,
\nwhich I overclocked to 812 MHz. So far, I have no justification
\nto replace it with the latest and the greatest.<\/p>\n
By the way, each time we talk about speed, we talk about the
\nprocessor chips that serve as the brain in the entire computer
\nsystems. The processors no longer compete in terms of GHz but
\nmore on true performance.<\/p>\n
Intel's recent move to change the way it labels its processors
\nunderscores the shift. GHz will no longer be part of Intel's
\nPentium processor. So, for instance, what we used to know as the
\nPentium 4 running at 3.2 GHz will be labeled Pentium 4 540. The
\nCeleron processors, which most of us shun, will be labeled the
\nPentium 300 series.<\/p>\n
Cell phones and PDAs<\/p>\n
Throughout the year, attention has basically shifted toward
\nmobility. Not surprisingly, stylish and feature-rich cell phones
\nas well as PDAs that are easier to use have been gaining the
\nspotlight.<\/p>\n
Yes, the PDAs based on Symbian, Palm and Microsoft Pocket PC
\nplatforms are now so user-friendly that we do not really need to
\nread PDAs for Dummies to use these devices. More and more of
\ntoday's PDAs can connect to the Internet using high bandwidth
\nconnection, including EDGE and Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n
The cell phones have also been adopting new -- albeit
\nmarginally useful -- functions. Among others, subject to the
\navailability of the service, some models can now function as
\nwalkie-talkies.<\/p>\n
Their Push-to-Talk (PTT) feature will automatically connect us
\nwith a number of other users -- whom we have included in our
\ngroup -- and communicate with them as if we were using CB-radio.<\/p>\n
A six-month mobile TV trial took place in Berlin, Germany,
\nwith Nokia leading the way. The format they were using is called
\nDVB-H, which stands for Digital Video Broadcast for Handhelds.<\/p>\n
This is different from the standards used in other countries
\nsuch as Japan and South Korea, which have been available since
\nlast year's World Cup.<\/p>\n
\"Why would one bother to have TV on one's cell phone?\" you may
\nask. With mobile TV, we can watch the latest news while on the go
\n-- without having to tote an extra gadget such as one of those
\nCasio TVs.<\/p>\n
Internet and bloggers<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, popups, spam, spyware, phishing and identity theft
\ncontinue to make our Internet life dangerous, especially if we
\nfail to update our system and install the patches. There have
\nbeen suggestions for combating these digital threats, including
\nthe introduction of sender identification -- akin to the Caller
\nID in telephony.<\/p>\n
However, in the digital world, it's never too difficult to
\nfind an antidote to an existing antidote. We are fighting uphill
\nbattles.<\/p>\n
Talking about the Internet, blogs were perhaps the biggest
\ntrend in 2004. The word presumably came from \"Web log\", and it
\nallowed people to publish their personal thoughts on the Web. If
\nyou are repeatedly made unhappy by the customer service of your
\nlocal hypermarket, you can check blogger.com and check what other
\npeople have experienced.
\n
\nLooking Ahead<\/p>\n
What about next year? For one thing, a lot of activities are
\nunder way in bringing broadband to our homes -- wired or
\nwireless.<\/p>\n
The good news is that these are happening in Indonesia even as
\nyou read this. 3G will become available in more countries, even
\nin Indonesia in a limited scope. The issue is, as it has always
\nbeen -- the chicken or the egg?<\/p>\n
Without the assurance that there will be sufficient market
\ndemand, operators will be hesitant in making the necessary
\ninfrastructure investment. Without the availability of the
\ninfrastructure, the public have no idea of what they can do with
\nthe new technology. Patience, patience!<\/p>\n
WiMAX, which some have touted as the 3G killer, is unlikely to
\nbecome available next year. However, it will be interesting to
\nsee whether it will indeed become a disruptive technology, given
\nits 70 Mbps data transfer capability and 45 kilometer range.<\/p>\n
Also, it remains to be seen whether our government will once
\nagain intervene as the high bandwidth makes VoIP a very
\nattractive option.<\/p>\n
Perhaps a hope rather than a projection, research in fuel
\ncells should make more progress next year as environmental
\nconcern grows. Japanese companies such as Toshiba, NEC and
\nHitachi are working hard to come up with practical solutions, and
\nthey have made advances with small gizmos such as cell phones,
\nPDAs and notebooks.<\/p>\n
Next year, for example, visitors at World Expo in Aichi
\nPrefecture, Japan, will be able to rent cell phones that use
\nHitachi's fuel cells and Li-Ion batteries.<\/p>\n
Users can have 13 hours of talk time with these cell phones.
\nHitachi, as reported by Jiji Press English News Service, is
\ntargeting 2007 for the commercial availability of their fuel
\ncells.<\/p>\n
Another category of product that we can expect to become more
\nwidely available next year is the network media player. Using
\nthese computer-based systems, we can distribute different kinds
\nof media-again, with or without the wire-to networked TV sets,
\nspeakers and other output devices around our houses.<\/p>\n
There will be a wide variety of product features, but the
\nbasic idea is to use the PC to store and share multimedia
\nmaterials.<\/p>\n
The Digital Video Player (DVP) is another obscure category of
\ncomputer product that may have a more matured definition next
\nyear. More and more cars now come already equipped with the DVP,
\nwith is basically an MPEG player that combines functions such as
\nvideo recorder, MP3 player and data storage center.<\/p>\n
And, those travelers who always feel helpless each time they
\nget cut off from the Internet may rejoice as more and more
\nairlines will provide Internet facilities -- even mobile phones
\n-- while they are 30,000 feet up in the sky.<\/p>\n
And, don't forget the RFID. Already used to simplify supply
\nchain management, the chips will be attached to the pack of beef
\nthat you buy at the supermarket, the brake shoe that your
\nmechanic fixes into your car, and the medicine bottles that your
\npharmacy disperses.<\/p>\n
Sun Microsystems has already seen a big future in the
\nimplementation of billions of Radio Frequency ID tags, and they
\nare the first major vendor to provide the middleware for RFID,
\nwhich they call Java RFID system.<\/p>\n
What improvements should be made?<\/p>\n
What would I like to see progressing faster? Of course, one of
\nthem is the powerline data transmission. Imagine if people could
\nplug into their wall outlets and obtain Internet access in
\naddition to getting the electricity to power their PCs!<\/p>\n
This technology will quickly multiply the number of people
\nwith access to the wealth of knowledge that the Internet has.<\/p>\n
My other wishes have to do with services rather than the
\ntechnology. One of them is the availability of service that
\nallows motorists to check traffic in real time.<\/p>\n
With such a service, each time I head for Jakarta's Soekarno-
\nHatta International Airport, I could check -- using my cell phone
\nor PDA and the digital video broadcast technology -- whether the
\nairport toll road is congested or not.<\/p>\n
You see, the inventory of advanced technology that we now have
\nis probably more than we need to make our lives more efficient
\nand more comfortable. More than ever, it is the services using
\nthe existing technologies that we need.<\/p>\n
We need these services everywhere, not just urban areas.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ba-year-of-expansion-rather-than-breakthroughsb-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }