2010 Tech Review

2010 has come and gone and with it lots of new technology was released. Through the year of 2010 there was everything from the new iPod released to the Xbox Kinect. There was also interesting tech news this year like the Google self driving cars and the news that there may be super Wi-Fi in the future that will be able to have a much larger range than the current Wi-Fi technology. This year the music industry also cracked down on music sharing laws which resulted limewire shutting down. There have also been many iPod software upgrades that included game centre so friends could finally play against each other on the iPod touch and iPhone. There have been lots of technology that has been either released or in the news in 2010. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2011 and if any major technology is created or if there are some major improvements to existing technology.

Super Wi-Fi

There was talk yesterday about faster Wi-Fi that may soon be available. Two years ago in the US the FCC voted to open up the airways between TV channels for numerous uses. Super Wi-Fi was one of the uses that were suggested because of the airways that are now available. Canada is unfortunately lagging behind in the digital switch over so unfortunately super Wi-Fi won't be available until Canada switches over to digital broadcasting Canada will switch over to digital broadcasting on August 31, 2010 this is a full two and a half years after the US switched to digital broadcasting. Super Wi-Fi is supposedly going to be able to travel for miles and have speeds of 15 to 20 megabits. The speed does depend on the Ethernet cable it is hooked up to and a lot of residential connections are not this fast. Broadway and other places that use wireless microphones such as churches, theaters and karaoke bars are concerned about interference that this new technology may cause. The FCC plans to put aside two channels for wireless microphone users to solve this problem. They also plan to include big wireless microphone users like Broadway and sports leagues in their database so devices will no to avoid these airways. There are also issues with TV broadcasting problems but the FCC is trying to solve this possible problem by mapping signals. By mapping signals the devices using super Wi-Fi could be GPS enabled so they know to switch to the right frequency. There are many opportunities that come with this super Wi-Fi technology such as sending video to television sets and computers simultaneously and providing Internet to places where landline or Internet by cable is not available. On September 23 the FCC is having another vote to resolve the issues with this super Wi-Fi technology. The technology industry can't wait for the vote so they can start making devices that are compatible with this new super Wi-Fi technology.