When the first iPhone came out on June 29, 2007, it didn’t have a keyboard, no copy and paste, had only limited e-mail options and cost $600 a piece. Since then, Apple has sold 217 million iPhones worldwide. The Apple culture is imbedded in our society and the younger generation can’t get enough of it.

The author of iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us states that “The iPhone has changed everything about how we relate to technology”. He further states that 30 percent of people born after 1980 get anxious if they can’t check Facebook every few minutes. It has become an obsession.

The Cupertino, California based Apple’s revenue increased from $24 billion in 2007 to $108 billion in 2011. Telecommunication companies such as AT&T are also benefitted from the Apple success during this time period. The Apple’s App Store generates more jobs and handsome revenue to many app developers. The App Store currently offers over 650,000 apps that covers almost all aspect of our lives.

In the near future there will be more mobile phones than the world population. The iPhone will continue to enhance our lives and help the humanity during crisis such as natural disasters.

Once a powerful technological company Sony is fading away under the intense competition, introduction of new products by others and new technology. Sony brand was unmatchable for decades and it appears that it is losing its commanding position since 2007.

Sony introduced the mobile music concept to the world. However, it lost its dominance to Apple’s iPod.

Sony introduced the home gaming systems to the world and lost its prominence to Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

Sony was also known for its good quality TVs and lost its dominance to Samsung Electronics. Samsung outsells Sony by two to one.

Apple commands the tablet computing market with more than 60 percent of the market share. Sony’s Tablet S even with a new style had become an “also ran” product.

In the smartphone market, Apple and Samsung have the lion share of 46 percent. Sony recently bought Ericsson to compete with Apple as well as mobile phones run on Google’s Android software, it sells far fewer phones and the completion is fears due to Motorola Mobility, HTC, and Huawei.

In the meantime, Sony continues to lose revenue month after month. Due to strong competition from others, moving forward Sony is expecting to concentrate on digital imaging, mobile and videogames.

The world renowned Computex 2012 will be held in Taipei in June 2012. Host of Windows 8 based devices including ultrabooks, smartphones and tablets are expected to be showcased at the event. A widely circulating rumor indicate that Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has a 80-inch tablet in his office that runs on Windows 8 which operates on touch interface. Windows 8’s multi-touch capability will be the most sought after feature by customers of tablets and smartphones. However, it will be available for those who still use keyboard and mouse.

If all current Windows based devices are converted to Windows 8, it will amount to 500 million devices worldwide. It is up to current customers whether they want to convert to the new operating system or not. The capability of touch optimization will increase the use of Windows 8 in tablets and smartphones where Microsoft was behind the curve in the past.

Windows 8, Microsoft’s next version of operating system will be one of the main events in 2012. It will have tile based start screen replacing the previous Windows menu. It will allow easier switching between running screens. It will enhance touch-optimized browsing while working well with mouse and keyboard. Yet, it will be fully compatible with Windows 7 PCs, software and peripherals.

Samsung is getting ready to release new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ in late August 2015 according to media reports. Along with it they are expecting to release new Galaxy Note except in Europe. Galaxy S6 Edge+ is a large format (5.7-inch screen), high-end, handheld device. The screen of the new phone is 0.6 inches larger than its previous large phone and the screen is scratch resistant. Many call it a “phablet.” Apple’s shift to large format phone prompted Samsung to introduce a competing phone from them.

The new Edge+ will have the curved glass screen that is customary to many smaller Samsung devices especially smartphones. The new “phablet” comes with extra gigabytes of memory, up to 4GB of RAM, helping with multi-tasking capabilities. This will also help with faster processing. Camera in the new phone will allow 1080p live broadcast of high definition video.

Samsung holds the lead (73 million units) over Apple (47 million units) in regard to shipments of smartphones worldwide. The new phone comes with a metal edges and glass back giving it a trendy look and feel. The new phone will help to promote its new payment system, Samsung Pay that it expects to introduce soon.

Streaming video services are becoming more and more demanding and service providers are clamoring to get your attention. Also, there are new providers who are glutting the market with new products and services. It is good news for consumers.

Currently there are established streaming video providers including Netflix, Amazon.com, YouTube from Google and several others. Additionally, there are TV bundlers including Comcast, Walt Disney, and CBS. Some of these services including Comcast, Disney and Twenty-first Century Fox are cooperating with each other to provide services such as in Hulu to provide unbundled content to customers. Hulu reportedly paid $160 million for the entire episodes (180) of “Seinfeld.” They claim that they have more than nine million subscribers. Among the new entrants to the digital video service is streaming music service provider Spotify. They are in discussion to create Web-based video hub. Reports indicate that they are interested in bite size content generated by users for the moment.

Technology to deliver digital streaming video services over the Internet is already in place or service providers are working hard to establish. 4G LTE provides faster downloads for mobile devices to watch videos and movies and video chat.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research commonly known as CERN is located in Geneva and using the world’s powerful equipment known as the Large Hadron Collider conduct research on particle acceleration. The 17 mile long circular path for the collider can run 11,000 laps per second, very much close to the speed of light. It cost $6.6 billion to build and took more than 10 years to complete. It has an annual budget of $1.3 billion. It started its operations in 2008 and currently undergoing $105 million upgrade. The next phase of research is planned to start in March 2015. It is expected to unravel mysteries of the universe through its research, primarily by colliding atoms.

A new director is scheduled to take over operations of CERN in January 2016 and she is working hard to recruit new member countries to reduce the financial burden on current members. Most of its members are from Europe and Israel joined the organization last year as a full member. The scientists of the CERN are looking for the building block of the universe that vanished after the big bang. The organization uses its own software to analyze data they collect.

Rough and rigid robotic arms were not only unable to handle delicate work but also disliked by many. This is why new breed of developers including Empire Robotics and Pneubotics are developing much softer arms. They don’t have electronics components but still grip delicate items such as a bulb due to softer grip connected to a hard robot. Some are even testing pumped air into the robotic arm to provider softer touch. Vinyl material containing veins that hold air, water and hydraulic fluids that work like muscles are connected to motors instead of more rigid parts to provide the softer touch.

New breed of robotic companies are working on gently handling sick patients, pull bricks at a disaster site to save an injured person, and even safely place an elderly on a bed. The United States government is also supporting some of these efforts through the U. S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Some estimates that the robotics market worth more than $10 billion a year and many startup companies getting into the fray. Not just the hardware developers, software to run gentler robots are also increasing their efforts to come up with programs to run these robots.

The largest mobile phone operator in Japan, Softbank intends to sell robots they call “Pepper” in Japan in February 2015 and in the United States within a year through Sprint which they took control recently. Created by Aldebaran, the robot is priced at around $1,900. It is already greeting and welcoming customers at Softbank stores in Japan.

Pepper is an intelligent and first of its kind humanoid robot designed to live with humans. The social robot can recognize and react to your emotions and live without any assistance. Unfortunately it will not cook or clean for you. But he can be a good companion that reacts to your voice, touch and emotions. Pepper’s great ability is its reactions to your emotions. It can recognize your burst of laughter, your frown, anger, joy, sadness and translate that into its reaction. Analyses of your facial expressions, body language and words and adopting itself to cheer you up are Pepper’s sheer strength. He can play your favorite song for you no matter what the condition you are in. More you communicate with him, more data that he will gather to react and comfort you. What a companionship it will be?

Newer cars are full of technology that does everything from detecting blind spots to automatic breaking. Models from Hyundai Motor are full of technology produced by many manufacturers. The automotive chip industry is expected to generate $27.9 billion this year and grow at a 6.1 percent per year. A new car carry more than $329 worth of semiconductors in each car and compare this to no more than $20 worth of semiconductors in an iPhone 5. The top suppliers of chips for automobile include Renesas Electronics, Infineon Technologies, STMicroelectronics, Denso, and Freescale Semiconductor. Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia are trying hard to cut into the field and supply only very small amount at this time. Audi A7 uses Nvidia’s Tegra processor and Intel is making inroads with BMW, Nissan Motors and Hyundai.

Safety and reliability standards for chips in vehicles require far more compliance than computers and smartphones. Automobile chips require zero failure rate compared to 10 percent tolerance for electronics. Another difficulty is making chips that can withstand huge temperature fluctuations. Once installed, chips need to work for many years without having to replace constantly. Consumer expectations are also increasingly getting higher due to influence from other fast improving segments for higher speeds and power.

Introduction of curved TVs by Samsung, LG and others draw our attention to OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology. OLED is different from traditional LED (light-emitting diode) because it uses organic substance that glows when electric current is introduced. The organic carbon-based compound emits its own light when treated with electrical current. A thin film transistors turn on and off of each pixel helping OLED to come up with thinner, lighter and higher resolution products such as TVs. The new material helps to reduce weight and thickness, and increase the size of TVs. When passes through filters it generates spectacular pictures for your viewing pleasure.

When compared to conventional cold cathode fluorescent lamp LCD (liquid crystal display) which requires backlight, OLED do not require a backlight and as a result pixels becomes truly black providing a higher contrast. Since elimination of backlighting layer, OLED hardware becomes thinner and lighter. The LED (light-emitting diode) also requires backlighting which is no longer required under OLED. OLED not just helps it to become thinner, it also provides a superior color reproduction due to pixels that turn on and off producing true blacks. The OLED technology also promotes energy efficiency over LCD and LED technologies.