Chicago (IL) - I personally have always felt that free thinking should be encouraged and condoned. I love to hear the opinions of tech geniuses, and gadget gurus as to what the future in technology holds for me. Even if the concepts are off the wall, outrageous, or ridiculous it’s still fun to ponder, right?


Some free thinkers on the website Freedom to Tinker are in the works with some major predictions for 2009- some seem to be right on the money, others well, not so much.

Some of the predictions are that “DRM technology will still fail to prevent widespread infringement,” and that the RIAA will still sue individuals for copyright infringement even though they’ve said they want to move into Internet cancellation via ISPs. Some individuals on the site are even speculating that the Obama administration will go after copyright infringers based on data from server logs of different private BitTorrent communities, and prosecute them criminally.

Among the more outrageous predictions is that Apple will be releasing a netbook that will be a heavy duty iPhone packing an 8” screen and folding keyboard that will be priced in the $899 range. Now that would be interesting. I wonder how many would buy that type of iPhone netbook for $900?

Tinkers are also making predictions regarding The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act - since the Lori Drew case. There is sure to be a bunch of bandwagoners who feel that they’ve been wronged by individuals violating TOS on sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Could be interesting.

These predictions are fun, intriguing, and nice to ponder seeing as how some of them could quite possibly come true. We're curious if the TG Daily readers have any ones they'd like to offer?

why outrageous?

Jan 08, 2009 15:07     

There are lots of people who buy even more expensive UMPC's. If the iPhone with keyboard will have some similar functionality, it will surely enter in the UMPC market, grabbing a significant share. The applications on iPhone are already selling good, there are lots of games and other fun applications, lots of productivity applications, so why not? It seems they prepare a better graphics chip for iPhone, making it a strong competitor for DS and PSP. I never had any Apple product and I think I will never have - I don't need them and also they are too expensive for me. But to be honest, I think that having the features of UMPC and portable gaming console, the 900$ iPhone might sell very good.

Gonzo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

re: why outrageous?

Jan 08, 2009 19:29     

I agree but I don't know how many people would want a UMPC sized phone. That would suck, but I beat u would have a few buyers.
Action Jackson report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

spelling mistake.

Jan 08, 2009 22:14     

spelling mistake: "how many would by" should be "how many would buy". And whatever Apple puts out for sale, people will buy. They just like to be the coolest peeps around, cooler than their neighbours. Oh, wait, they also have apples. Dammed.
SupportAMD report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -2

re: re: why outrageous?

Jan 08, 2009 22:21     

How many? A good part of those who buy UMPC's might consider this $900 iPhone even a better UMPC than others, and also with a telephone included as bonus. I won't buy it, but I hope Apple will enter into UMPC market, make something that many will droll for, and determine UMPC prices to go down. It will make the day when I'll buy my first UMPC (cheap enough for my wallet) come more sooner than later.

Gonzo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0