Emerging Technologies Bring Promise and Danger

Click to see the slide show

When you cover and analyze emerging technologies, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement and the promise of these new technologies. And it's even easier to look at these technologies only from a positive angle.

And what's not to like? After all, most emerging technologies were designed from the ground up to bring about positive ends. Their creators want to improve people's lives, boost productivity, cure disease, provide security and bring about new waves of technology where anything is possible.

But almost any new technology that has a positive side also has a negative and more dangerous side. Technologies that can cure disease can also cause disease. Products that provide convenience imperil safety and privacy. Tools that ensure security also help secure criminals from law enforcement.

Such is the nature of innovation. But some new technologies are more dangerous than others. With that in mind, here is my list of the 10 most dangerous new technologies either available today or being worked on for the near future. Please comment below and let me know what technologies would make your list.

And, oh yeah, I decided to limit this list specifically to computing technologies, so that's why there aren't any biotech or genetics entries.

This Week In Emerging Technology - February 13th

Here are the emerging technologies stories for the week of February 11th.

More Android Sightings - At the World Mobile Congress in one of my favorite cities, Barcelona, there have been several interesting demos of the Google-based Android mobile operating system.

Speeding up Secure Connections - Interesting white paper on research into improving the performance of SSH and SCP connections.

Integrating Identity Management - Expect to see more integration between products in the Identity Access Management market.

The Holy Grail of Nanotech - Researchers at the Brookhaven National Lab have created a three dimensional nanoparticle, a key step in the advancement of nanotechnologies.

More Terabytes Please - IBM is announcing plans to deliver terabyte drives for their data center systems.

Canon Keeps an Eye on Watermarking - Canon has filed for a patent on a technology that takes an image of the photographers retina when taking a picture and then using this image as an embedded watermark to help protect photograph copyrights.

The Most Overhyped Technologies of the Century

Click the image to see the slideshow

In the world of technology, hype is like the sun. A little bit of hype can be a good thing, especially for emerging technologies, by bringing attention and light to unknown technologies and products and helping them grow. But like the sun too much hype can be a bad thing, crushing bad products unworthy of hype and even making good technologies seem less worthy or even appear to be failures.

When this happens technologies become overhyped, and this new century has seen more than its fair share of products, technologies, and technology trends that received way more adulation and praise then they deserved. And many of these technologies aren't failures or flops, but instead received so much hype that it was impossible for them to ever live up to early expectations.

With that in mind I present you with this list of the ten most overhyped products, technologies and technology trends of the century. And don't forget to comment here and let me know what would make your list of overhyped technologies.

Networking Your Projector

One of the many interesting and simultaneously confusing things about Windows Vista is that more than a few features and capabilities of the Microsoft operating system are designed for hardware and systems that didn't exist when Vista was launched.

One such feature that users probably run across and wonder, "what's that for?" is the Connect to a Network Projector wizard. However, in my tests of the new NEC NP3150 projector I was finally able to answer that question and use the Connect to a Network Projector wizard.

That's because NEC's NP3150 is one of the first projectors available that utilizes Vista's Connect to a Network Projector wizard. The NEC NP3150 comes with capabilities to connect to company networks both through standard Ethernet cables or through the integrated wireless connection built into the projector.

Getting the projector connected to the network in either configuration proved to be fairly simple. Hitting the menu button on the top of the projector displayed a menu option on the projected screen that allowed us to view and configure the network settings along with the network password for the projector. The projector used DHCP to get an IP address but I could also define a specific address.

The Year In Emerging Technology: 2007

In most industries, change comes at a slow, plodding and predictable pace. Many workers today have new tools and processes, but the job they do isn't much different from what a similar worker was doing 20 years ago.

But, for those of us lucky enough to work in the technology industry, there is nothing slow, plodding or predictable about the changes we deal with on a regular basis. And the forces that feed and bring about these changes are emerging technologies.

The history of IT is filled with examples of the massive changes that can be brought about by core emerging technologies.

In the mid-1980s, IT workers were concerned mainly with configuring stand-alone PCs; managing access to central mainframes; and, by the end of the decade, setting up basic network access. In the early 1990s, workers were concerned with e-mail and groupware systems.

And then, in the mid-1990s, came a new thing called the World Wide Web. Of course, the Web radically changed the course of business and the IT workers who supported it. In just 10 years, IT workers' main focus shifted to building a Web presence for their organizations.

By the early 2000s, even this had changed, with Web presence morphing from mainly static pages to dynamic and increasingly interlinked sites using SOAs (service-oriented architectures) and Web 2.0 technologies. Once again, it took only 10 years for IT professionals' roles to change radically yet again.

So, what is the next big thing? What emerging technology will change your day-to-day job and the face of business?<

The Biggest Emerging Technology Disappointments of 2007

Click the image to see the list
When a product or technology is still emerging, it can be tough to call it a flop. In many cases these technologies are still trying to find their sweet spot when it comes to capabilities and usage scenarios.

But while it may be too early to refer to some technologies as flops, it isn't too early to be disappointed by the failures of some originally promising technologies.

(illustrations by Brian Moore)

The past year has seen quite a few exciting new technologies that failed to deliver or actually took steps backwards in their progress. In some cases this was because of overblown promises, in some because of technical limitations and some failures were due to politics and aggressive competition.

However, all of these technologies can take solace in the fact that history has shown many cases where a technology that initially disappointed eventually became a major success.

Click here to see our list of The Biggest Emerging Technology Disappointments of 2007.

Podcast: Citrix and the Next Generation Web

Click here to download the Tech Rising podcast or click here to listen to it using the integrated eWEEK podcast player.

New technologies effect every one of us. For example, the Web 2.0 world has changed the way we socialize and communicate and how we use and even create applications.

And of course large technology vendors are not immune to these effects, if anything, new technologies effect them more than regular users and businesses. For these vendors, adapting to new technologies can mean the difference between future success or irrelevance.

I recently had the opportunity to speak to Wes Wasson, Chief Strategy Office for Citrix, about how Citrix is responding and adapting to new technologies, especially those in the Web 2.0 arena.

Waiting For Green Tech

As someone who tracks lots of new and exciting technologies, one of the more interesting areas is in green technologies. On a regular basis I receive studies, releases and sometimes even demos of new products, techniques and technologies that will reduce power usage, cut down on waste and improve efficiency of computing resources.

And it's all really great stuff. Fuel cell technologies that can run everything from a cell phone to an entire server room. Displays that work well using just a trickle of electricity. New power sources that make it possible to take technology to the most remote areas.

Yep, this is all really exciting stuff. I just can't wait until all of these, and many other advancements, find their way into the technologies that I and many businesses use on a daily basis.

But unfortunately waiting is exactly what I and every one else is doing. In fact some of these "new" green technologies aren't even all that new. Some have been in the works for many years now but have somehow still not made their way into the most recent computing systems. Sure new technologies can be unpredictable and no advancement is preferable to not ready for prime time implementations, especially in some of the possible uses of fuel cells.

But there has to be some kind of happy medium between a no holds barred risky rush to deploy new technologies and our current glacial pace of green technology advancements. Look behind the many breathless pronouncements of "green" computers and other technologies that you see today and what you often find is a system that is at best just a few percentage points more efficient than systems from a few years ago.

So what's going on here? Are green technologies too difficult or impractical for technology vendors to deploy today? Some would probably say yes but there is evidence to the contrary.

Broadband Isn't Taking Care of Business

If you pay any attention whatsoever to technology issues, than you know that the United States has a serious problem when it comes to broadband. Compared to most other countries we in the States have fewer options, pay more and get slower connections when it comes to broadband.

However the discussions about the failures of broadband in the United States tend to focus on options for regular consumers and on the lack of access for people in rural areas. But there is another party who is also suffering from the lack of broadband options in the United States and who they are might surprise you.

This group that is also being underserved by broadband is business.

Now for many of us, the first real Internet connection we ever used was at our office. How can it be that business is underserved by broadband when it was one of the first groups to invest in Internet connections?

The problem is that there is an actual distinction between Internet connections and broadband connections. Yes, nearly every business has access to traditional T1 connections. But a T1 connection isn't ideal for all business cases (especially those that aren't hosting servers) and many businesses would prefer to have the option for the faster downloads and less expensive broadband connection cost provided by cable, DSL or fiber.

However, if your business is located in an office park or large office building, there is a very good chance that there are no broadband options available to you.

5 Potential Winners from DEMOfall 2007

Click the image to see the list
Over the years new products launched at the DEMO show have gone on to become huge sensations that changed the way people used technology (some of the hits have included Tivo, the Palm Pilot and Salesforce.com).

Of course, the hits at DEMO have been greatly outnumbered by the misses, as making a big splash at DEMO is hardly a guarantee of future success and there are many cases of products that generated lots of buzz at DEMO but failed to generate any enthusiasm in the real world.

But what about this week's DEMOfall show? Out of the overwhelming crush of digital video and social networking products that dominated this week's show, are there any products that might actually prove useful in the real world?

It's always hard to predict the future but looking at products that were shown at DEMOfall, I've picked out five that look like they might have the one characteristic that will lead to long-term success, actual usefulness. And one or two of these products might even turn out to be as influential as the TiVo or the Palm Pilot.

So take a look at my list of Five Potential Winners from DEMOfall.

Also, check back here at eWEEK's Emerging Technology site as I test out and review some of these products as they become available. And please comment here on these choices or other products from DEMOfall that you think are winners.