Convergence from Technology to Life – Part 1

We just completed a decade in the Millennium. In this 21^st century technology is playing key role in changing lifes in every part of environment. I bet you to pick up any sector, any field of expertise, any job everything is touched by the automation and technology. Specially the Information technology is playing the key role in the everyday changes and is also responsible for the speed of change we all are experiencing day in day out.

Let’s talk about a few areas of our daily life and see how technology and especially information technology is enabling the change as well as a little glimpse of where the future is taking us.

Let’s start with communications. In 1990s we started using mobile phones which gave us an ability to be able to reach out to people as and when we need and every individual could hold one or more telephone numbers. Great leap in making communications speed up and ability to reach people much faster. On one side it helped everyone have their own communications device, although initially not everyone could have one but eventually it spread like utility service and became the need for everyone to have one phone at least. The mobile phones then took a leap in early 2000 to become smart phones to be able to do more than phone functions, like playing music, receiving emails, having calculators, calendars, contact books with more detailed information of individuals. This further enhanced with in few years of last decade to become as powerful as a laptop and also it continued to enhance its processing and storage capabilities to the level that its able to run most of the laptop functions. Today it has enhanced to the extent that it can be used like a mini PC/laptop to do automation activities. Its still not over as it continues to converge itself to be able to do even more sophisticated things that we couldn’t even do with our laptops as these services would only make sense on the mobile device, things like GPS navigation, GPS Image location tagging, Picture scan to know where we are and future unveils that soon we would be able to point our mobile device cameras to any location, landmark on the road and it would bring real time information about that location and possible services, promotions, businesses that exists in that location. Gone are the days of needing a yellow page, green pages to browse for business listings, its an online world where we need the information real time and its of value only when its real time available.

Let’s look at another example and this time focus on entertainment, let’s take TVs for example which are converged from small size CRT displays to large size plasmas to long lasting LCDs and now even more slimmer LED TVs. The core function of the TV has also enhanced itself from playing TV stations, to movies, to games, to photos, to music and now comes the time to bring the TVs to be Online connected to internet. The new ranges of TVs come with internet connection and possibilities to use them for internet browsing, live videos and movies streaming from internet. On one end the current LED TVs are bringing a very high end rich experience of HD images and 3D viewing right at your home then on the other end the convergence and disruptive innovation continues to evolve. The TVs are destined to converge fully using the latest lighting solutions, the Laser rays and Projection devices. The TVs as big size display device in a home will converge to a small size palm device projecting an High Definition Light Displays.