2008 tech predictions revisited: how did we do?
We run the rule over our forecasts for 2008. Right or wrong?
That means more high-def TV and movies, and more games that take advantage of all that technology that's waiting to be set free in the PS3." Yep, we've got more content. And yes Blu-ray is gradually descending the market. But it's going to take a little more time before things really start to come down.
Prediction 3: The rise of the netbook
Martin also touched upon the now ubiquitous netbook (although we didn't know what they'd be called yet). "It's great to see the traditional computing fraternity waking up and giving us an affordable mobile computing alternative to the next all-conquering smartphone. We need some more." And we got 'em.
TechRadar contributor Gary Marshall predicted that "the big one in 2008 will be flash storage. We'll see some pant-threateningly exciting new laptops once the hard disk is no longer obligatory. We should see some interesting form factors too, and the long-awaited Mac Tablet might even make an appearance."
We'll let Gary have this one, after all, we did see the MacBook Air hit the shelves back at the end of January, but as for a plethora of flash-based lappies, we'll dream on. He managed to get the 'understatement of the year' too, about the iPhone. "Once the SDK's released we'll see some decent third-party apps. It should force other firms to raise their game too, which is good news for everybody."
Prediction 4: Faster, faster, faster for everything
This was an easy one - you can't go wrong betting on Moore's Law. Contributor James Morris said he was looking forward to trying out Virgin's 50Mbits/sec broadband (launched only yesterday), as well as "AMD sorting out its quad-core production, so it actually produces some faster chips." And even though the statement was more out of hope rather than expectation, the end of the year has seen AMD pick up its game once again.
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Jeremy Laird touched on a similar issue. "The really exciting arrival should be Intel's all new Nehalem CPU architecture. The Core 2 processor is already impressive, but Nehalem promises to defenestrate that chip's final weakness - the clunky old front side bus - in favour of a more modern integrated architecture." Nehalem has certainly been an eye opener – despite us thinking we wouldn't be blown away, we were certainly impressed by Intel's latest CPU line.
All in all, we didn't do too badly. Onwards to next year then...
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Dan (Twitter, Google+) is TechRadar's Former Deputy Editor and is now in charge at our sister site T3.com. Covering all things computing, internet and mobile he's a seasoned regular at major tech shows such as CES, IFA and Mobile World Congress. Dan has also been a tech expert for many outlets including BBC Radio 4, 5Live and the World Service, The Sun and ITV News.