TECHNOLOGY Technology Tools

Be on the lookout for these technology tools to become available and to grow in popularity in 2013:

› Phablets — An amalgamation of smartphone and tablet, which serves as a communication and Internet device, available at a lower cost than a tablet and offering a larger screen than a smartphone. › Holographic display and infared keyboards — Which should help smart- phone users type and interact with a much larger keyboard. › Near-field communications (NFC) — Now included in the iPhone 5, NFC technology allows commercial transac- tions to be done wirelessly through mobile devices without the need for data cards. The phone can be paired (placed next to another phone) or can tap products in order to transfer files, read product information, and finalize financial transactions. (See this month’s Working Smarter column on p. 36.) › Voice assistants — Siri was just the beginning. It is expected that future incarnations will be better at

interpreting human commands, able to provide map-related answers, and recall user contacts. › Sixth Sense technology — Ability to use gestures to manipulate all sorts of daily activities, read information from the Internet, and project information on any wall. › Wearable computing — A revamped iPod Nano, the Pebble watch project, and other similar tools will enable people to check their watch or a necklace regularly for messages from their friends instead of checking their smartphones. › Cloud computing — Trillions of dol- lars of IT spending are moving from data centers and software licenses to cloud services. Soon you’ll be able to read about companies with 10,000 employees who don’t have dedicated data centers.

SOURCES: convn.org/phablets and convn.org/forbes-tech

EMAIL, VIDEO, AND APPS

› The use of email declined last year for all age groups from 12- to 54-year-olds, with an increase only evident for the 55–64 and 65-plus age groups. › Video as a communica- tion tool will become the standard, supported strongly by social channels. Mobile networks will be equipped to handle video calls, and Cisco claims that every endpoint they sell will be video-enabled by the end of 2013 — and that 85 percent of all Internet traffic in 2015 will be video. This means we will see an increase in video events and video collateral, and a more collaborative workforce. › There are nearly 500,000 apps to download and more than 10,000 new ones sub- mitted every month, not including Android or any other platforms.

SOURCE: garethcase.wordpress .com

Smartphones and Tablets

‘THE NEW MULTI-SCREEN WORLD’ Consumers are often switching between multiple screens during the day, with smartphones leading as a starting point for online activities, according to Google’s recent study “The New Multi-Screen World: Understand- ing Cross-Platform Consuming Behav- ior.” Among the findings: › Of the 66 percent of smartphone users who first accessed social media on their devices, 58 percent continued the experience on a laptop and 8 percent

moved to a tablet for the same purpose. › Sixty-five percent of consumers begin a search on a smartphone, with 60 percent of users transitioning the task to a desktop and 4 percent moving to a tablet. › Other top online activities that begin on a smartphone include searching the web, shopping, managing finances, and watching an online video.

SOURCE: mobilemarketer.com

PCMA.ORG

NOVEMBER 2012 PCMA CONVENE

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