10 years ago many people thought the world would end as all the computers went pop thanks the the millennium bug.  That all ended in a bit of a whimper of course, and technology progressed at an incredible rate.

We now have digital cameras everywhere and film has become a specialist market populated by the hardened stalwarts and artisans. Most mobile phones have digital cameras in them that is as powerful as the mainstream digital cameras of 10 years ago.

The Internet has given birth to ‘Social Scientists’ who are experts in things like Twitter and Facebook and offer wise words and direction for people looking to ‘connect’ with the world.

Flickr is now home to an incredible array of talent that has made good use of the new found freedom offered by advances in digital photography and the supporting software.

The personal computer has become small enough to fit into a pocket and even comes with the ability to make phone calls and send texts.  You don’t have to worry about asking directions anymore either since that same computer has GPS embedded and can direct you to the nearest coffee shop or bookstore, and when you arrive you can browse the Internet using the built in Wireless networking whilst sipping on your chockamockalatte with an extra shot.
Don’t worry about the website loading slowly since they are all smart enough to realise you are browsing on your… ‘phone’ and will resize to suit.  even if you do decide to ‘go large’ and use your netbook instead, the pages will still load quickly and thanks to a sprinkling of AJAX and Flash you’ll be enjoying websites that are functional, funky and fresh in no time.

Operating systems are not so boring anymore either we’ve seen Windows XP become a huge success despite many flaws, we’ll ignore Vista and instead Skip to 7 which has seen Microsoft reclaim some of the excitement we saw at the end of the last decade with Windows 98.
Linux has become mainstream and has seen huge success in the form of Ubuntu, and people all over the world have been reaching into cupboards and drawers to dust off the old laptops and PC’s giving them a new lease of life all thanks to the Open Source revolution.
Of course Apple still leads the way with it’s functional and sexy OS, it’s just a shame you need to spend a fortune on hardware to get it.

I can now load my entire album collection onto a tiny little storage card and pop it into my MP3 player of choice, which currently serves as a pocket size computer and phone too, and using Bluetooth I can chew through my collection anytime anyplace.

Suffice to say that the last 10 years has seen an amazing amount of progress which can only mean that the next 10 years are going to be bloody scary, and yet also exciting ;0)

Have a great new year folks!