Go tech

Lets go geek this time.. ;-)   Here I've put top tech products the world expects in 2k6.  Comments welcome.

1. Windows Vista  - Ending a long wait, microsoft is coming back with the newest version of Windows - Windows Vista (previously Long horn) at the later half of this year.   Its translucent UI and rich features have already booked its place in top gadget sites.

2. Playstation 3 - Possibly the killer gadget of the year.  Sony playstation 3 is a major improvement from its current PS2.  Sony is also planning an online service that enables the PS3 users to communicate each other and play thru internet.  It also sports a Blu-ray disk drive.

3. UMPC - Supported by Microsoft and Intel, Samsung and Asus are coming with the UMPC (Ultra Mobile  PC).  It comes between a laptop and a PDA.  Featuring Windows XP tablet edition, with audio/video/gaming features and connectivity with Wi-fi, bluetooth, GPRS, it could be a replacement for portable media players, PDAs and portable game consoles.  Also optional support for GPS is a possibility.  Having a 7inch touch screen, it will give a better user friendly experience compared to a PDA. 

4. Intel Macs - Apple Macs used Power PC processors for a long time, which prevented it from using popular OSes like Windows.  Apple recently switched to Intel processors.  It also announced a software called Bootcamp, which enables dual boot for Mac machines.  It has started rolling out Intel Macs recently and is hoping to penetrate to the PC market giving users an option few can resist.

5. Motorola Q - A Blackberry Killer?  Quite possible.   Moto Q is a Smartphone with a QWERTY  keyboard.  Featuring Windows Mobile 5.0, 1.3 megapixel camera, MiniSD, and Bluetooth etc etc..

6. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players - Talk of the year.  Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are successors to DVDs.   Supported by 2 rival groups, both are poised to take on each other to win the format war to become the market leader.  Blu-ray supports around 30GB and HD-DVD around 25.  Both carry High Definition(HD) content.  Players and discs are expected later this year. 

7. A next-gen iPod?   - While there is no official announcement of a next-gen iPod, rumours are flying high.  It could be a touch screen, bigger LCD, higher capacity nano or anything like that..   Lets wait n watch..

8. 750 GB HDD - A new technique named Perpendicular recording is going to change history of hard disk drives.  It increases the capacity 10 times.. That is .. we'll see normal PC hard disks ranging from 500 to 1000 GB, while portable mini hardisks will have 50 to 100 GB?  

9. Mac OS X Leopard - Next version after OS X Tiger.  Coming in August.  It supports bootcamp, runs on Intel and obviously much more.

10. Gadget X -  Leaving this space for a gadget not yet announced.

Note: 
The numbers doesn't mean ranking.. :)