2011 Technology Predictions [+Rep!]

[L0st-Angel]

Currys and PC World have been together for years, Dixons bought out Currys in 1984 and PC World in 1993. I think Jameseh was suggesting Dixons Retail Plc will buy out Comet Group and shortly afterwards re-brand all of their stores; PC World, Currys, Currys.digital etc to one name. I'm doubtful that would happen, PC World and Currys are both famous names and other than the computing side of their operations, they're quite different. Also PC World operates a Business sector in-store which deals with (obviously), businesses and their computing/office needs as well as Tech Experts, or in a more literal sense, a repair services section. Currys has general household appliances too, rather than computers. If they did merge the names into one single entity, there would probably be individual names like Tesco have: Metro, Express, so they can divide their products and have individual specialities, like PC sector (PC World), household appliances (Currys) and city centre stores (Currys.digital).

That said, I have no idea what Comet are up to, you do not really hear about them, but apparentl they're opening up city centre stores to compete against Currys.digital stores. Plus a merger would be interesting, Kesa Electricals which own Comet have hundreds of stores across Europe (with other names, of course), so they might not sell out too soon.

Well, that's the history of Curry's and PC World.

[Smits]

As far as i know:

HMV havn't gone bust, there's still many shops open despite their struggle.
Hotspots are available a think, at least they display on the wi-fi around here.
Touch TVs are in development, and smart TVs are already being released.

[HotelUser]

No windows 7 tablet.

I'm sorry to report, but there have been several Windows 7 tablets so far:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...=in_r602_slate
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/11/a...er-for-549-sh/
http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/asus...-34469352.html

And I expect after Windows 8 is released next year that we'll see the tablet industry take off even more, and we'll see a lot more cheaper / competitive prices for tablets.

[AgnesIO]

I'm sorry to report, but there have been several Windows 7 tablets so far:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...=in_r602_slate
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/11/a...er-for-549-sh/
http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/asus...-34469352.html

And I expect after Windows 8 is released next year that we'll see the tablet industry take off even more, and we'll see a lot more cheaper / competitive prices for tablets.

Apologies, I completely forgt about the eee slate! I know generally windows 7 isn't really good for tablets - or tablets isn't good for windows 7 :L I expect Windows 8 to be where tablets go mad.

As far as i know:

HMV havn't gone bust, there's still many shops open despite their struggle.
Hotspots are available a think, at least they display on the wi-fi around here.
Touch TVs are in development, and smart TVs are already being released.

Oh I know they still have an online store, as far as I know all the HMV stores near me went.
Hotspots are indeed available. But you said everywhere (or something along those lines) - as far as I am aware that is not currently the case.
Smart TV's are. For Touch TV's I generally look at buyable ones.

[HotelUser]

Apologies, I completely forgt about the eee slate! I know generally windows 7 isn't really good for tablets - or tablets isn't good for windows 7 :L I expect Windows 8 to be where tablets go mad.



Oh I know they still have an online store, as far as I know all the HMV stores near me went.
Hotspots are indeed available. But you said everywhere (or something along those lines) - as far as I am aware that is not currently the case.
Smart TV's are. For Touch TV's I generally look at buyable ones.

It's going to be something a lot of us have been looking forward to for a lot of years

[Casanova]

Hey man, check THIS link to see samsung were discovering/using and bringing out curved glass displays .

[AgnesIO]

Hey man, check THIS link to see samsung were discovering/using and bringing out curved glass displays .

The Nexus S has a curved screen?

[Casanova]

curved display.

"Contour Display with curved glass screen"

[AgnesIO]

curved display.

"Contour Display with curved glass screen"

Embarrassed I missed that. Genuinely searched that for ages to find that
Didn't realise it had a curved screen though!

[Casanova]

quite subtle.
and don't be, happens to the best of us!