NEW YORK – In its September 1 cover story, “Your Digital Future,” PC Magazine presents five articles that provide in-depth
insights on the key elements in hardware, software and technology that will be governing our short-term and long-term relationship to the still-evolving information age.
From super-fast PCs to Internet-enabled WAP phones, from the coming e-business boom to ubiquitous, instant access to information, five distinguished PC Magazine editors report on the technologies, companies, and issues that will be prominent in the next five years.
If it seems as if the number five is coming up a lot, there may be good reason. As the cover story points out, Netscape was introduced just five, short years ago. And everything about the way we conduct business, exchange information and even make purchasing decisions has been changing ever since.
PC Magazine Editor-in-Chief Michael J. Miller notes, “Used correctly, technology might enable more efficient businesses, more education, and better communications, thus hopefully leading to more peace and an improved standard of living for everyone. However, it’s foolish to think the potential outcomes
are all positive.”
Wireless application protocol (WAP) figures prominently throughout the PC Magazine cover story, which also indicates that wireless Wide Area Networks (WANs) are not far off. In the E-business section, PC Magazine Senior Editor Sebastian Rupley writes, “E-businesses will use WAP-enabled wireless devices
to access customer data, mine marketing data, and find services and products from suppliers and merchants.”
In the Internet Technologies section, John Clyman, a former executive producer of PC Magazine Online http://www.pcmag.com , writes, “The longer-term trend is clear: Within a few years, just about every device that contains a microprocessor — from your car to your digital camera — will have some sort of Internet connection.”
In the cover story’s Computing section, Nick Stam, a technical director of PC Magazine Labs, writes, “Even with the bewildering array of devices and chip sets that will be available in the next three to five years, they will still
probably be outdated within a year of purchase. On the brighter side, the application benefits are many: Systems will be able to interact with users far more intelligently and naturally, and they’ll seamlessly process rich data and streaming media.”
The Infrastructure section, written by PC Magazine Senior Networking Editor, Frank J. Derfler, Jr. writes that fiber-optic backbone systems will soon have phenomenally increased capacity. “With such tremendous capacity, a new bottleneck appears at the switch level. Photonics, or optical data
handling, accomplishes switching of data packets using light and mirrors. Despite the importance of optical backbone systems, we’ve already achieved the systemic benefit of optical technology’s improved capacity and flexibility. To change the communications equation again, we need to work on high-speed
portability — and that means wireless.”
And in the final section, Frontiers, Bill Machrone, PC Magazine contributing editor, describes a not-too-distant future shopping experience. “Shoplifting will be a thing of the past, but so will privacy. The store will know you and your shopping habits far better than it does today. Documents such as driver’s licenses will contain embedded intelligence, including
personal information, driving record, medical information, vehicle registration, and insurance information. That, plus a credit card, will be everything you need to sally forth into the brave new connected world. The notion of an anonymous cash purchase may become a quaint memory. Privacy advocates cringe, with good reason, at the potential for abuse. We should all
keep a wary eye on these technologies.”
