Tomorrow we are going to step into another year on our planet. While this year brought about the rise of a new generation of gadgets, namely the tablets we are on the lookout for more such innovations to make our lives easier and more entertaining. Moreover we are also seeing a paradigm-shift in the field of software. As smartphones and tablets become more popular, the software for these devices are growing in number. The market for apps has grown tremendously in a very short period of time.While the sales of tablets grew exponentially the sales of netbooks dwindled. The miniature version of laptops had a really short run.

We also saw the sad demise of some great personalities in the world of technology. Steve Jobs, the idol of many enterpreneurs and the only person synonymous with Apple, died after a long-drawn illness. So did Dennis Ritchie, the creator of C and perhaps almost everything that we use today on our computers. He was not an illustrious personality like Steve but he gave more to the world than him, albeit for a lot less money. John McCarthy, the inventor of ‘AI’ and ‘Lisp’ also died in October.

The year had mixed situations for different companies. Some made it great just like any other year and some just escaped into oblivion. Some products were sold out and some just didn’t sell at all. iPhone 5 had a lot of expectations but alas, they came up with iPhone 4S, not iPhone 5. Though many hopes were shattered, we got a snappy new assistant, Siri. Anyway the sales didn’t dip like some would have thought. iPhones still rules! The PSN fiasco, Carrier IQ scandal and the blackout of the Blackberry network were some of the worst cases of mismanagement. HP bought palm thinking that the webOS platform would be the next big mobile OS. But the plan backfired and they had to think about shutting down the unit altogether. Nokia killed of Symbian abruptly unannounced, naming the latest OS version Nokia Belle. Google+ is a great new service but it just couldn’t topple the mighty Facebook. Meanwhile Facebook kept adding similar features to maintain its hold in the social network. Its latest feature, the Timeline shows your life events like it was your personal encyclopedia. Google bought Motorola Mobility and Microsoft joined hands with Skype. They just can’t stop buying, can they? The internet became atwitter with memes and hash-tags and people became cautious over the waves of hacking sprees by some groups.

The clouds started getting heavier with the iCloud service of Apple and Amazon’s and Google’s cloud service joining them. The year saw the rise of the cloud-concept which is getting popular with the increasing data-speeds across the world. Devices around us are getting cheaper, lighter and thinner. The new OS battle is being fought in mobile phones and tablets. iOS, Android and WP7 are fighting a pitched battle which is only getting bloodier and better. Phones are getting smarter and more number of heads are getting glued to the tiny screens. Thanks to the clouds one can get his music, games and videos anywhere in the world, provided he has internet access and is using a smartphone/tablet. The coming year may bring about even cheaper tablets with more powerful processors and better batteries. The Intel ultrabooks may become the prime notebook standard like the 2nd generation core processors.

Whether or not we are advancing as a race is open to a lot of discussion but we are definitely making our lives more comfortable and are learning more and more everyday. With the help of the internet we are now more connected than ever, but that has also often led to cases where we feel more comfortable in the virtual world of facebook and twitter, and not in our neighbourhood. Still, it was a good year for a lot of people.

We wish the next year to be even better and as 2011 ends we say (like Steve Jobs)-

“Oh Wow! Oh Wow! Oh Wow!”