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...technology take over. We're all wireless, cordless and some might say clueless about how fast all things technical have moved. Here's a snapshot of just some of the good, bad and ugly advances that have marked 2007 and look like they'll be marching into 2008 with a fanfare...
Bored room becomes a virtual board room?
Grown tired of going to meetings? Wish you could make your business appear bigger than it actually is? Travel costs of getting your widely dispersed employees or colleagues in one place causing a headache? The answer could be on the virtual horizon.
A company called Qwaq are building technology due out in 2008 that will take desktop video conferencing to the next level by building virtual rooms - ie the building of environments where people can get together and work as if they were in the same place. The advantages are obvious - no environmental impact of travelling for one - no heating and cleaning bills and best of all the space doesn't disappear when the meeting ends, it remains just the way you left it, down to documents left on virtual tables. Participants will appear as what is known as avatars - realistic humanoids, but while it all sounds like a great way to inject some fun back into meetings in a cost effective way - what about the tea and biscuits?
Upwardly mobile
2007 saw the last mobile free refuge fall foul to the phone. Airlines announced plans to allow passengers to talk in the clouds. Good news for business users or one step too far? While airlines appear keen to let their passengers talk as much as they like several thousand feet above ground level, costs of calls are still up in the air, so it could be a while before the handsets come out of the hand luggage.
Wi-fi under scrutiny
The last year has seen increasing attacks on the security measures designed to protect wi-fi users from being spied on when online, meaning many users are now having no alternative but to use much weakened protection systems. Data is encrypted using a key which is meant to prevent attackers gaining access to confidential information, but it has been suggested that it has become easy to crack the key and gain access to the network and data. The risks are not only someone gaining access to confidential data, but using your broadband connection for potentially illegal activity...
...and it's not only wi-fi security that made the news this year. A study is due to be conducted to examine the effect that wireless networks may have on user's health. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) will carry out the research, aiming to establish the average exposure to low level radiation emitted by wi-fi access points. While a microwave oven emits 100,000 times the radiation intensity of a wi-fi network, critics of wi-fi usage point to the lack of evidence to support a claim that wi-fi is 100% safe. However, there is no evidence to suggest it is unsafe either - hence the need for further study say the HPA
No email
Some companies have taken the lead from their stateside counterparts and encouraged their employees to have one 'no email' day a week; talking to colleagues and contacts rather than mailing them. Research has shown that individual workers sent on average 37 emails a day in 2006 - with predictions that figure will have risen to 47 by the end of 2007. Many workers check their inbox as often as 30 to 40 times an hour actually reducing productivity. While the idea to have a email free day seems sensible, won't the following day just be spent clearing the inevitable back log?
And finally...
No mention of 2007 would be complete without the technology turkey that saw the security of 25 million records compromised. A reminder if ever there was one that while some advances have been very rapid, there are still some people out there copying entire databases onto a cd and popping it in the post, endearingly antiquated and a nod to the ghost of Christmas past indeed... | |
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