Keep Dreaming: 13 Technologies You Won’t See in 2013
Wireless Charging Pads Hit Public Places
The Speculation: If you've been following the news lately you might expect to see wireless charging stations appear at all your favorite haunts in 2013. This past fall, Nokia, HTC and others released phones with Qi-standard wireless charging support built-in while. At the same time, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf announced its plan to install compatible charging pads in its tables and Virgin Atlantic said it will offer the same in its airport lounges. Jay Z also announced a partnership with Duracell to bring that company's charging mats to several New York hotspots, including his own 40/40 club. Could Starbucks, McDonald's, 7-11 and Chucky Cheese be next? Not in 2013.
Why it Won't Happen in 2013: While many new phones this fall support the Qi wireless charging standard, Samsung and Qualcomm have loaned their support to the competing Alliance for Wireless Power (AW4P) standard. There's nothing like a standards war to make restaurant chains invest millions in upgrading their infrastructure to support half a dozen phones, none of which is an iPhone. Don't expect to see many more public places with wireless charging until Apple picks a standard and builds support into its products.
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December 26th, 2012 at 11:57 pm
Regarding Windows Blue – Microsoft has not denied the reports.
>So, for Windows Blue to launch even as late as Q4 of 2013, Microsoft would have to announce a developer preview or public beta at the
>beginning of the year.
They won’t be playing around with that this time around. Blue is coming as either an update or a massive service pack. Think of it this way: Microsoft is in a mad dash to converge Windows Phone, Windows Desktop, Windows RT and to some degree X-Box. To put it a more cynical way: they know their only hope in mobile is to leverage their existing monopoly (desktop) to create another (mobile), which has been the singular business tool MS has employed since the days of DOS. The OSes will be interlinked. To have a mobile phone/tablet OS that only updates once every three years is certain suicide. Windows Phone will need yearly updates and this will mandate Windows Desktop updates too.
There won’t be the giant 3+year roll-outs anymore. Think Apple and its more incremental yearly updates. This will be the new Microsoft approach. Whether it’s called a new version of the OS, a service pack, a “.5″ release, etc. is to be determined, but it is coming and there’s no way MS can finish integrating its product line without this release schedule change. Further point: Sinofsky, the Windows architect, infamous for wanting complete control of his division and anything that touched Windows, was canned a few weeks after Win8 shipped. All the reports said that his need for control was not going to work when the MS strategy was going to be to integrate the desktop, mobile and game divisions. If the next step in integrating is worth firing the man who was once talked about as the next Microsoft CEO, yearly Windows updates are hardly a major change in comparison.
December 30th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Laptop Magazine BLOOOOOOWS
January 1st, 2013 at 9:30 pm
Please stop the slide shows. All of this could easily fit on one scrollable screen. Are you counting clicks for advertisers? This is getting annoying.
April 16th, 2013 at 8:59 am
HTC First, with Facebook Home. Get owned.