2012: A look ahead at the future of tech
Source: Sahar Fikouhi
SOPA: a battle for the internet's future looms
The end of 2011 saw furious opposition erupt online over the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. The controversial bill would allow the government to force ISPs and search engines to alter the DNS system and search results to remove sites that traffic in stolen content and counterfeit goods ― effectively remaking the architecture of the internet to combat piracy. The bill stalled out in the House of Reprentatives after encountering fierce protests from opponents who say it will affect both the technical operation of the internet and free speech online, but we're sure to see more of SOPA and its sister Senate bill, the Protect IP Act, in 2012.
Cyberwarfare and internet espionage
In the past we've only followed the occasional National Security story, but this year it's become an increasing part of our coverage ― and in 2012 this will most definitely continue to be the case. In the past two months alone we've seen attacks against the US Chamber of Commerce, Landsat-7 and Terra-AM1 satellites, various chemical companies, and more. While China isn't the only country guilty of this sort of thing, it's generally agreed that Chinese hackers are "the world's most active and and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage." That's according to a report called Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace published by the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive this October.
A quick look at the report anticipates a future where the increasing proliferation of connected devices (with ever more complex hardware and software, and companies less willing to take the time to properly test them), the widespread adoption of cloud computing, and the further growth of multinational corporations (causing national boundaries to become increasingly irrelevant) creates a level playing field for both states and non-state actors engaging in cyberwarfare. While China and Russia will continue to be big players, the report lists "hackers for hire" and hacktivist groups as possible "game changers," in a sense democratizing the threat these attacks pose.
High-def phones take over
A trend that started late this year with devices like the LG Optimus LTE, HTC Rezound, and Galaxy Nexus, 720p displays are poised to take the mobile industry by storm in 2011. It wasn't more than a year and a half ago that WVGA was considered the cream of the crop ― but since then, we've blown right through qHD and into 1280 x 720, a resolution that finally matches (and, depending on screen size, exceeds) the stunning "retina display" pixel density that debuted on the iPhone 4 in 2010. These screens are so dense, in fact, that it's unclear whether we'll ever need a higher resolution on sub-5-inch devices.
Content creators finally embrace converged devices
Smartphones, tablets and smart TVs all demonstrate how far technology has converged over the past decade, but content creators still aren't on board: rather than let you seamlessly slide your multimedia from computer to TV to phone and back again, they've long fought tooth and nail to keep it siloed. We're already seeing some loosening of the restrictions, however, with Netflix and Hulu Plus making it to mobile phones and set-top boxes with theoretically open software on board ― not to mention all the streaming music services we've seen ― we have a feeling that it's only a matter of time before the right DRM and monetization opportunities tempt content creators to embrace the likes of Google TV completely. Or, maybe Steve Jobs really did "crack" it, and 2012 will be the year that Apple's television changes everything.
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