Windows 8
Windows
8 will be seen as a failed digital mashup. The Jeckle and Hyde nature of
attempting to combine two UI paradimes does not resonate with users. Those that
upgrade find they live in either one UI or the other, but rarely switch between
the two. The old school Windows users find it does not significantly improve Windows
7 and removing the start menu frustrates many. Microsoft eventually
relent and launch a campaign telling users how to reinstate the start
menu. Those that looked forward to the bright new world of touch are
equally disappointed by the limited functionality of the core apps,
and the low number of 1st rate apps available in the app store. The effort
required to learn the charms metaphor or hidden functionality proves too
annoying a hurdle for those used to the iPad's on screen approach. The
minimalist design attracts while the minimal functionality confuses.
As
a result PC sales continue their decline. Hundreds of millions of copies will
be sold via OEM sales and a trickle of expensive touch enabled laptop hybrids
will cater to the business market. Despite Microsoft's best efforts Windows 8
and Surface and the undelivered promise of Courier will further hasten the decline from what was once global
dominance.
Second Screen
Sports
will fuel the second screen revolution. The use of the second screen as an
integrated supplement to TV broadcasts has started to arrive in the US but has
yet to make significant inroads in the UK. 2013 will be the year when it goes
mainstream. Data rich events such as sports events are the ideal content for the dual screen approach. Sky will continue to lead the charge.
They will extend the functionality of their second screen enabled iPad apps to
include data on a wider range of sports. There will be a closer integration
with social media, and the ability to share realtime self commentary with your
social circle. More and more people will augment their viewing experience of
live sports events both at home and in the stadium by using a second screen.
Making sense of all this data and deciding what stats to display and the level
of information required by different user types will prove a significant UX
challenge.
3D rights
Staples
are set to launch a 3D printing services in two European cities with plans to roll the
service out over the course of the year. But in order to print people need
models. 3D modeling is still a specialist skill, even tools such as Google
Sketchup require a significant effort to become adept at producing complex printable models. The 3D clip
art market will expand as witll portable scanners. 3D smartphone based scanning
apps such as 123D Catch, will proliferate. Now with a smartphone and an app anyone can create a facsimile of a 3D object.
Admittedly the intial offerings will be low fidelity but 2nd and 3rd
generation apps will make significant increases in quality. The mainstream
press will latch onto the dire concequences of such a capability. Stories will
abound about who owns the rights 3d rights to objects. Museums will have to
consider if they allow visitors to scan their artifacts. Brands will try to
protect the 3d rights of their products, as a whole and in component form. Celebrities will charge for 3d files of their bodies.
Questions will be raised in the house.
Bot Menus
Tesco
and other data rich retailers will employ more proactive and intelligent
shopping bots. Regular grocery shopping will automatically take into account
calendar events, school holidays, festive periods, birthdays. Weather
predictions will inform alternative choices based on personal and aggregate and
regional tastes. Users will be able to specify how the shopping bot can assist
them. Any shopping list can be analyised to deliver, cheaper, healthier, and
ethical or celebration alternatives. Users will be incentivized to employ the
bots by preferential prices on staple goods. Brands will have to pay the
supermarket chain to be part of the schemes and to feature their products in
the initiative. Some will go as far as to offer "surprise me"
features for new menu selections.
Eyes in the sky
Low
cost aerial drones fitted with video cameras will be the top geek presents for Christmas
2013. Just as remote helicopters have moved from the domain of hobbyist to the
general public so will quad copter. In 2013 these four and six motor devices which
range from the cheap and cheerful with a low power video camera to robust
versions capable of carrying the owner’s own camera will find a mass market. As
these will be designed for non commercial purposes they will escape the existing
legislation. Even so privacy issues will be raised and the public will be wary
of these toy eyes in the sky. Digital services will spring up to allow users to
geotag their movies as we all get up close and aerial with our, and our
neighbor’s world. Police and security forces will employ them in a more
Orwellian fashion. In 2013 it will be the norm for strikes, public
demonstrations and even small scale public events to be monitored from the
skies.
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