Technology Corner

Technology Trends for the Future

Maybe it's just me being paranoid again but I get the distinct feeling that shopping for electrical consumer goods has a definite trend to it. One year everyone wants a Video Camera, the next a Mobile phone, then a PC. I predict however that this trend will cease, and I think that the PC will be the force that makes this happen.

Let me explain my line of thought. Over the past ten years there have been a great deal of technological innovations. The Video Recorder, CD Player, Video Camera and the Home Computer are a few of the main examples. When one of these products hits the market it creates a great deal of interest and sales (hopefully). After the initial purchasing frenzy which may last a year or so, sales then drop back to a steady flow. It is then that the next major "techno trend" emerges. The PC however is different, it has made the owner hungry for more in a way that the Video Recorder and CD Player just couldn't do. The more that the average consumer buys within the PC market, the more hooked they become.

So what hope has the PC owner got for the future ? Will he be able to kick the habit ?

I think that the answer has to be no. For there is something that is now out onto the market that, although costly, is the starting point for a whole new dimension in reality. The added dimension we are talking about is the third, and the reality is strictly virtual, but it is enough to fool your brain into thinking it is immersed in another world.

Virtual Reality is a technology that has been threatening to become popular now for a few years.

Gradually the displays have gained resolution allowing them to display more detail in a small enough area to be contained in a headset, they have also lost the flicker that was annoying when the first headsets came out.

The processing power available has increased greatly, allowing the artificial worlds more depth and detail. It also means that the graphics which are being constantly recalculated, do not stutter, thus enhancing the illusion of reality.

The motion sensors that tell the computer how your head is currently orientated, have also improved. They have become more compact allowing the headsets to be smaller and less bulky.

Although the technology that drives Virtual Reality is by no means perfect, I think that given time it will improve beyond recognition. The one major barrier that needs to be crossed is the ability of the headset to project an accurate and detailed display. Currently this is done by a small VDU (Video Display Unit) being mounted close to the eyes. However this is by no means ideal as this method can cause eye strain and there is a limit to the resolution that can be supplied by this method. A solution to this problem is to transmit the image directly into the eye and work is currently going on to develop a system to do just this.

With technology advancing as quickly as it has been, it will not be long before Virtual Reality becomes a way of immersing yourself fully within an artificial world. All things considered, I think that sales of the Virtual Reality or Full Immersion headsets will be slow for the time being, because of the cost. A standard headset can easily set you back about 800 GBP. As this is easily half the cost of the actual PC itself I feel that users are going to hang on until the price starts to drop and the technology begins to give us better results.

There is one other issue that will greatly affect the sales of Virtual Reality equipment, and that is software. What support can we expect from the software houses ? Quite a bit as it happens. Descent and Hexen both support VR headsets and it seems that more and more titles will appear on the market as time goes by. Another exiting development is that of the Internet. A new language called VRML is now being supported by some sites. This new support will allow headset users to explore unknown worlds from the comfort of their own home.

Virtual Reality will become vastly popular in the near future...

Front Page