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As we gaze into the future using our crystal ball smartphone app, we came up with some predictions about what phones will be like in 2050. But this is just our own idea of what might happen and we want to know what you predict! Share your thoughts with us in our comments section. Forecasting the technological future is tricky at best. Back in the 1980s, the thought of carrying around a small, portable phone seemed to belong in the realm of science fiction. Then in the 1990s, imagining a phone that would allow you to browse the World Wide Web -- something that didn't even exist until 1990 -- was outlandish. Today, smartphones can surf the Web, run applications, play games and those with a near field communication (NFC) chip can act as a transaction method for purchases. Oh, and they can still make phone calls too. Based upon phone customer behavior, I imagine the future phones will rely more on integrating our physical lives with our digital lives.
They probably won't resemble the handsets we're used to now. They'll be built into other devices and products. Imagine a pair of glasses that can display a digital overlay on top of your physical surroundings. I don't think video chat is taking off despite services like Skype and FaceTime. Rather, the trend seems to be toward asynchronous communication. That means the two or more people in a conversation complete a discussion over time. We might even see the phone part of phones disappear. Recent phone customer behavior suggests that texting is a more popular way to communicate than telephone calls. Future phones will need a way to display messages but not necessarily incorporate voice communication. Since we're talking 2050 here, there's even the possibility that research into brain-computer interfaces will have reached a point in which we won't need a physical screen or microphone at all. Electronics could be built into clothing or other accessories. You'd link the devices to an interface connected to your brain and direct applications and messages just through thought. It'd be a technologically assisted form of telepathy. But what do you think? Will we be wearing devices that let us communicate effortlessly? Or will we be carting around the iPhone 47 and answering texts between games of "Angry Birds"? Let us know your predictions in the comments section. You can even use more than 140 characters to say it!
Have you ever wanted to try out a new personality? Since we're stuck with ourselves, day-in and day-out, our own personalities might sometimes feel a little tired from time to time. So what can we do about this? There are, of course, costumes, which are probably the reason so many people look forward to Halloween -- they can be their favorite superhero for a night and revel in a little creativity. But not all of us are willing to play dress up throughout the calendar year, mainly because doing so violates generally held social norms. After all, most Web sites that offer some kind of online community allow their users to create avatars, an electronic image that represents the person controlling it. Generally, members can be as creative as they like with their avatar, either fashioning it as close to their appearance and personality as possible or creating an entirely different personality.
One of these social networking services is Zwinky, a service launched in 2006 and owned by InterActiveCorp (IAC). Zwinky lets its members create their own cartoonish, large-headed and big-eyed avatars, which they can use in several different ways. One thing to keep in mind: Zwinky is open to anyone age 13 and older. If you're younger than 13, you won't be allowed to make your own account, not even with parental permission. Zwinky profiles can also be set to "private" if you're 18 or older, but profiles of Zwinky users younger than 18 are automatically set to private. So how does Zwinky work? What can someone with a Zwinky avatar do? And what kind of place is Zwinktopia, anyway? This may be a slightly unfamiliar approach for members of other social networking sites -- most simply request that you create a username and password and fill in some personal information, including e-mail addresses and phone numbers.
Zwinky, however, requires you to download a Zwinky icon onto your Web browser, which users click on to access the program's interface. When you've successfully installed the Zwinky program and opened up the program window, it's time to customize your Zwinky character. Every Zwinky has a personal wardrobe, which users can access by clicking on the "Open Wardrobe" button near the bottom of the screen. You can manipulate a Zwinky's appearance to make it look however you want, and users choose traits including gender, skin tone, hair style and color, and more. To move a Zwinky from one place to the next in a specific area, members simply use the mouse to point and click. You can make new friends or see a list of the ones you already have by clicking on the "View/Add Friends" button at the bottom of the interface. This button allows you to either send an e-mail to a fellow Zwinky requesting friendship or to see where in Zwinky's world your friends are.
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