Thou Shalt not Forget the Aughts

At the end of every decade it is traditional to look back and examine the people and events of the time. However, feeling this has been sufficiently covered and not wanting to play to my weaknesses, I have decided give my take on the most influential technologies of the 2nd millennium aughts (2000 - 2009).


10. Voice Recognition





Who would have thought that phone menu purgatory would be made slightly more tolerable by speaking your entries rather than pressing them. Or that you could direct your car on which music to play. Or that you could speak into your iPhone to call one of your contacts: lets say Goggle 411, itself a free directory assistance voice recognition system, to say "Topper's Pizza. Franklin, Wisconsin.".



9. Flash Memory



Flash memory overtook optical and magnetic discs as the media of choice for people transporting data. Compact, inexpensive, lightweight and rugged (I once ran mine through a wash cycle in the pocket of my jeans and it came out working), these solid state storage chips are in everything, the two most prominent of which are USB thumb drives and digital cameras.


8. HDTV



In the year 2000, the first in a wave of high definition televisions was being released. Mostly bulky and unsupported at the time, by the end of the decade, crystal clear flat panel LCDs would annihilate cathode ray tubes, rear projection, plasma and DLP displays, and Congress would finally make good on its promise to auction off the analog TV spectrum forcing broadcasters to the more robust and HDTV friendly digital format.


7. Wi-Fi



Libraries and newspapers already reeling from the Internet revolution in the 90's were dealt another blow when coffee shops began offering free Internet in wireless form. By the end of '09, the signal would be ubiquitous in homes, schools, airports and businesses, enabling laptops to finally shine.

6. DVR



Although Tivo first came out in 1999, its full impact wouldn't be felt until our most recent decade. This was the final nail in the coffin for VHS, something DVD recorders were unable to do. Now Digital Video Recorders are commonplace allowing us to enjoy our shows anytime and skip those pesky commercials (when you remember).


5. Blogging / Social Networking


Dubbed Internet 2.0, it began with blogging in 2000, continued with Myspace in 2005, and invited Facebook and Twitter to be friends. Facebook is currently the 3rd highest website by traffic after Google and Yahoo, beating out the likes of eBay, Microsoft, and Wikipedia. For professionals there is LinkedIn and myriad career specific copycats. These sites have enabled us to have our say, giving traditional journalism a thumping and also reconnect with lost friends and family or build networks in ways many of us couldn't have imagined just 10 years ago.


4. Global Positioning System (GPS)


What started out as a novelty for the affluent was brought to the masses by 2009. For little more than $100, you can get turn by turn directions or find the nearest Mexican restaurant. This feature is also becoming more integrated into most smart phones, reducing the requirement of carrying a separate device. Turns out that GPS is doing to online maps what they did to printed maps in the 90's.


3. Digital Cameras


By 2003 more digital cameras had been sold than film cameras, and we've have never looked back. Enabling people to take a photo, preview it, and email around the world within minutes for no cost proved too valuable to go without. By the end of 2003, camera phones outsold still digital cameras and film cameras combined. By the end of the decade, camera phones would be one of the integrated features of powerful smart phones like the iPhone, Blackberry and Droid, but since smart phones have not yet outsold traditional cell phones, it cannot be dubbed the decade of the smart phone.


2. Laptops


2003 was a huge year indeed. For the first time, laptops outsold desktops, in large part due to the availability of wi-fi, better batteries, and cheaper LCD technology.




1. iPod


Even though mp3s were already being traded like shares of stock all over the Internet, even this did not turn any industry on its head quite like what the iPod did to the music industry. First released in 2001, the iPod has since sold over 200 million units and enabled people to have their entire music catalog in the palm of their hand.


All in all, these technologies have a common theme. They have enabled us to move, to connect, to be entertained on our schedule, and to get information anywhere we want - even outdoors. Paradoxically, these same tools can keep us sitting, isolate us from those with different viewpoints and hold us hostage indoors.. It's up to us whether we use the technology of the aughts for something more than naught.