The Future of Technology

by Tom Standage (Editor)

From the industrial revolution to the railway age, through the era of electrification, the advent of mass production, and finally to the information age, the same pattern keeps repeating itself. An exciting, vibrant phase of innovation and financial speculation is followed by a crash, after which begins a longer, more stately period during which the technology is actually deployed properly. 

This collection of surveys and articles from The Economist examines how far technology has come and where it is heading.

Part one looks at topics such as the “greying” (maturing) of IT, the growing importance of security, the rise of outsourcing, and the challenge of complexity, all of which have more to do with implementation than innovation. 

Part two looks at the shift from corporate computing towards consumer technology, whereby new technologies now appear first in consumer gadgets such as mobile phones. Topics covered will include the emergence of the mobile phone as the “digital Swiss Army knife”; the rise of digital cameras, which now outsell film-based ones; the growing size and importance of the games industry and its ever-closer links with other more traditional parts of the entertainment industry; and the social impact of technologies such as text messaging, Wi-Fi, and camera phones. 

Part three considers which technology will lead the next great phase of technological disruption and focuses on biotechnology, energy technology, and nanotechnology.

Genres: Technology, Nonfiction, Ebooks, Science

358 pages, Hardcover

First published July 14, 2005

About the author

Tom Standage is a journalist and author from England. A graduate of Oxford University, he has worked as a science and technology writer for The Guardian, as the business editor at The Economist, has been published in Wired, The New York Times, and The Daily Telegraph, and has published five books, including The Victorian Internet[1][2]. This book explores the historical development of the telegraph and the social ramifications associated with this development. Tom Standage also proposes that if Victorians from the 1800s were to be around today, they would be far from impressed with present Internet capabilities. This is because the development of the telegraph essentially mirrored the development of the Internet. Both technologies can be seen to have largely impacted the speed and transmission of information and both were widely criticised by some, due to their perceived negative consequences.

Standage has taken part in various key media events. He recently participated in ictQATAR's "Media Connected" forum for journalists in Qatar, where he discussed the concept of technology journalism around the world and how technology is expected to keep transforming the world of journalism in the Middle East and all around the world.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Gopi Chandhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book can be useful, right now, if you are trying to anticipate or bring about newideas. But also a few years hence, as a retrospective. When we can assess howaccurate the musings were.Tom Standage and his seven collaborators are to be commended on the precision oftheir thinking and the eloquence of their writing. I especially appreciate, also, theircaution when sharing their thoughts about the future of technology.No doubt they recall (as Standage does in the Foreword) "the hype of the internet boom[which contained] a kernel of truth, although harnessing the new technology provedharder and is taking longer that the cheerleaders of the 1990s anticipated.If you’re a nerd and looking for some realistic historical view of technology , then TheFuture Of Technology is what you should add to your book shelf

[Galicius · Rating 3 out of 5]

My edition was published by Viva Books Private Limited, New Delhi, India. It was purchased in India.
It's dated now but if you want to know the state of biotechnology, energy technology, nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, computer security, in 2004 it's in here.

[Ken Ndirangu]

Outdated.