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What do you think this year's "hot" technology or killer application will be?

In recent years we've seen P2P networking come out of nowhere to become a major force in "informal" data sharing and we've seen WiFi technology change the way we think of local area networks.

Of course there have also been some real duds. Does anyone know what happened to Bluetooth -- the wireless technology that was going to revolutionise the way our computers and cellphones talk to other devices and peripherals?

And how about those flexible colour displays eh? They've been "just a few years away" for almost two decades now.

While reading an old (1960's) issue of Popular Science the other day I also noticed that hydrogen-powered fuel cells are "just around the corner" and should start appearing in vehicles some time in the 1970's.

Technology's a funny old thing isn't it?

All too often it's the things that look simple and most useful that are the most difficult.

Where's my Dick Tracy video-phone/watch eh??

Where's my flying car?

Readers Say (updated irregularly) Hot for 2003... - Dave Digital Sources come of... - Jason From yesterday... MS-Linux... - Allister MS Linux? What? Haven't... - Richard Microsoft Linux... - Peter MS Linux... - El_Man It's not a threat... - Dominic Have Your Say

But to return from the world of fantasy for just a moment, what will be the hot technologies of 2003?

Well I expect that WiFi will continue to be important as it makes further inroads into LAN and wider area networks.

I expect the greatest area of interest however, will be that of digital PVRs such as the Tivo and the PC-based unit that is the Aardvark PC-based Tivo-like box.

Having spent an inordinate amount of time investigating, evaluating and actually using the various options I can honestly say that the tape-based VCR will soon be dead.

I will be publishing a "wrap-up" feature on this project sometime in the next week or so. This will include details of the final configuration which is what I consider to be a fair compromise between functionality, price and performance.

Of course I fully expect that in the coming year we'll start to see a growing number of digital VCRs/PVRs appearing on the shelves of our stores but so far I've been less than impressed with the price/performance ratio of these devices when compared to the "roll your own" version.

Then there's the spectre of digital rights management that I'm sure will soon become a part of any commercial units. Neither the content producers nor broadcasters want people recording and sharing large archives of digitally recorded material and, as we've seen with the music industry, they'll go to incredible lengths to try and stop this happening.

In the meantime, here (based on several months of actual use) are just a few of the reasons that you'll fall in love with a PC-based PVR:

• No more scrambling to find a blank tape when you unexpectedly come across an interesting programme that's just starting -- simply hit record. An 80GB hard drive will store over 100 hours of material recorded at near-DVD quality.

• Skip the ads in the blink of an eye -- just hit one button to instantly jump past all the ads and go directly to the start of the next programme segment.

• Edit out the ads and burn a whole 1-hour program to a single CDR or a full-length movie to two CDRs, with a playback quality that far exceeds regular VHS tape. Friends have asked "where did you get that DVD?" when watching a broadcast recording edited and burnt this way.

• Save money and space -- at $0.50 per hour for the media, CDRs are a lot cheaper that VHS tapes and a fraction as bulky.

All we need to really help the PVR a popular consumer application is an easy-to-use system for starting and stopping recording using just a programme's name rather than my setting start/stop times. This too will come -- eventually.

Being able to tell your PVR to tape every episode of Shortland Street, Star Trek or whatever simply by entering the programme name will be a whole lot simpler than struggling with the clunky timer setup on most VCRs -- to say nothing of the fact that most VCRs are limited to a maximum of 8 hours recording on a single tape.

So I'm wagering that if you don't have a PVR or PVR-capable PC already, you probably will have within 12 months.

This is the hot technology for 2003.

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