Sunday, December 27, 2009

Twitter reveals 2009’s trends, #Gaza high on the list

As we wrap up 2009, and following our series of columns on the top trends, products and events of the past decade, it’s time to just look back at 12 months and seek indicators for what the first few years of the next decade could bring.

And what better tool is there than the ‘real-time trend barometer’ which is Twitter. Twitter is not just a social networking tool, it also played an important role in breaking, spreading and even forming big news stories this year. The micro-blogging service’s most-discussed topics of the year included the Iranian election and demonstrations, Obama’s inauguration, swine flu and even reality TV show stars!

A Twitter spokesperson, Abdur Chowdhury, writes in his blogpost launching the chart saying that “2009 Twitter’s Trending Topics helped us understand what was happening around the world showing us that people everywhere can be united in concern around important events. Among all the keywords, hashtags and phrases that proliferated throughout the year, one topic surfaced repeatedly. Twitter users found the Iranian elections the most engaging topic of the year. The terms #iranelection, Iran and Tehran were all in the top 21 of Trending Topics, and #iranelection finished in a close second behind the regular weekly favorite #musicmonday.”

Gaza was also high on the list. Even as we speak, the anniversary of the war in Gaza has prompted Arab Tweeters- also known as Tweeps- to remind the world about it by tweeting it, hash-tagging it, and changing their avatar photos too. This could, possibly, push #Gaza up on the Twitter trends list before the year is out. Twitter may have to change it's end-of-year chart!

Already, in the Arab World, Twitter has become a barometer of public issues, albeit among tech-savy and Internet enabled individuals. But, as Internet penetration increases, we’ll be seeing more Arabs on Twitter.

Last week, in an interview on Al Jazira news channel, I spoke about the power of the Internet to unite Arabs behind humanitarian causes, and to attract the attention of the world. There is strength in our numbers, and finally there are tools to help us shape global opinion.

As the decade draws to a close, social networking tools have become one of the best means to make a statement. We are entering a decade where the way we communicate will evolve in the direction set by the past few years, and who knows what other tools we’ll be using soon. Happy New Year 2010, and wishing you a good ‘Tens Decade’.

zanasser@gmail.com

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Top “things” that became obsolete in the 'Noughties' decade

Everyone expects that new technologies and products replace old products, and can radically shift the way we do things. That’s why, as the decade ends, we should take a look at the ‘things’ that have become obsolete in the decade referred to as the ‘Noughties’.

Photo Film: Digital cameras stole the show. It made sense. No film cost, the ability to download or upload photos instantly, and possibility to print photos if needed (a diminishing need at the moment). Kodak re-invented itself as a digi-cam and battery production company.

Music CDs: The CD killed vinyl records in the 90s, and MP3 music players and Internet distribution has almost completely killed CDs in the second half of this decade. The drop is CD sales, year-on-year is alarming.

Music & video stores: Next up, and already becoming obsolete in Europe and the US, are music shops. Video stores have also suffered due to online services like Netflix, coupled with high-speed broadband. These outlets are not quite obsolete yet, but this decade wiped out the need to leave your home for music or movies.

Public phones, fax machines and land-lines: Clearly, 100% of the adult population carrying a phone in their pocket, nobody needs the public phone booth anymore. And, email has managed to almost completely kill the fax machine. Land-lines are suffering the double effect of mobile phone penetration, and voice-over-IP. Free international calling at home or the office probably means you can soon disconnect your phone!

Maps, phone books, dictionaries, encyclopedias: These ‘data sources’ were indispensable in year 2000. Do you actually still use any of them now? Never heard of Wikipedia, electronic directories or GPS? Have you been in a cave for ten years?

Postal services (mail): Only old-fashioned banks and government institutions still insist on printing and mailing your statements or bills. But, in reality. The post office box is already abandoned by almost everyone. In more advanced nations, you get these ‘documents’ by email. Maybe someone needs to remind people in our region that it’s the age of the Internet.

Lying just outside this list, and currently ‘almost obsolete’ are newspapers, magazines and print media in general.

If there’s one bet I am willing to make, it’s that a review of the decade in 2019 will put ‘paper’ on top of the list. If we’re all still here, we’ll see for ourselves!

zanasser@gmail.com

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Top 10 Gadgets of the Decade

We continue our look back at what characterized the past decade. This list is a compilation adopted from several sources, and most of us will agree that these are the high-tech gadgets that shaped our lives in recent years.

iPod: It wasn’t the first digital music player when introduced in 2001, but it is now the ‘industry standard’. Along with iTunes store, the iPod popularized the mp3 player and changed the music and applications industry forever.

GPS Devices:
Completely replacing folding printed maps. Starting in 2000, GPS evolved, led by Garmin and now voice-enabled devices sit on dashboards of cars all over the world, and GPS is available on mobile phones too.

The BlackBerry: Research in Motion's highly popular BlackBerry mobile device was first introduced as a two-way pager in 1999, but the now-common BlackBerry smart phone was introduced in 2002. It is considered the most efficient phone to send and receive e-mail and access the Internet.

Digital cameras: In the nineties, it took days to see photos you’ve taken with a camera. Nowadays, you can see them on a little screen and edit them on your digital camera seconds after taking them, within minutes the world sees them uploaded online.

Digital Video Recorder (Tivo): TiVo introduced the device in 1997, but it was in the 2000s that the ad-skipping DVR really took off. Now, other manufacturers offer a DVR-integrated television.

Nintendo Wii: The Wii pulled gamers off the couch and into the action, revolutionizing video game play with its wireless, motion-sensing controllers.

USB Flash Drive: More durable than discs, tiny and capable of storing mountains of information, USB sticks are now part of life.

iPhone: There are 40 million units in use of this impressive touch-screen device. Along with BlackBerry, the most successful smart phone of the decade.

E-Book Readers:
Wave goodbye to printed books as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader are adopted by consumers. Sales of digital books tripled this year too.

Netbooks:
Smaller and cheaper than typical laptops. These fully-functional mini-notebooks have boosted sales of PCs since their launch in 2008. Blurring the lines between bigger PCs and small portable digital devices, netbooks will be popular in the next decade.

zanasser@gmail.com