(Credit: Jason Cipriani/CNET)
Here's some unsolicited advice to technology companies drawing up their plans for 2014: Dare to be stupid.
We saw plenty of that this year. Samsung Electronics raced to launch its Galaxy Gearsmartwatch, and it was widely lambasted. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talked up the idea of flying drones delivering our Blu-Ray discs and books, which got quickly written off as a publicity stunt. There's even a denigrating term for someone walking around wearing Google Glass: Glasshole.
In fact, the tech world could use a little more stupid and crazy. All too often companies settle on incremental improvement, banking on evolution rather than the revolution. Blame complacency, the need to meet quarterly deadlines, or just the fear of failure but what's clear is that companies tend to stay stagnant too long.
In fact, it's such a rarity to see true mold-breaking breakthroughs that we, as tech journalists, aren't sure how to react when faced with innovation -- we naturally fall back to our default skeptical positions.
Just look at the initial reaction to the Androidmobile operating system, the dominant platform of our day, or the debut of the iPad, which was dismissed as a stretched out iPhone. Even Microsoft couldn't escape unscathed: After years of criticizing the company for being too slow to innovate, it comes out with a distinct touch-based interface for Windows 8 -- which was promptly universally panned.
But it is these leaps forward -- which may not necessarily be appreciated when they're announced -- that are what pushes the industry to do better.
The breakthrough products in 2013 -- even if some were just announcements and stuff of vaporware -- gives one optimism that next year will see companies willing to look dumb and endure the wrath of bloggers to blaze a new trail in technology. As jaded as we all are, we all want better. Yes, that includes Apple.
"I'm hoping there will be some fundamental innovation coming out of those guys," said Avi Greengart, who covers consumer electronics at Current Analysis.
Here's are some current breakthroughs we want to see more of in 2014:
Smart headware
For whatever reason your head was what a lot of technology companies obsessed about this year. There was no bigger breakthrough than the introduction of Google Glass.
For whatever reason your head was what a lot of technology companies obsessed about this year. There was no bigger breakthrough than the introduction of Google Glass.
The smart headgear, which combines a tiny monitor and camera with bone-conducting audio, was the ultimate-in-geek item this year (only members of Google's Explorer program could buy one, and at $1,500 a pop), and made ripples in the industry as competitors clamored to move into wearable tech.
Via: Cnet
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