"Top Ten Tech Trends" With Amy Webb

     Last night, I went to a lecture by Amy Webb, a member of Webbmedia Group, which focuses on researching and tracking current technological trends. I went there prepared for my mind to be blown with all kinds of technology that I didn't know existed, and I was not disappointed. I couldn't believe that half the sites she mentioned existed. Some were really interesting, others were utterly pointless. But apparently they're all catching on and are expected to be/ are already very popular.

     The part that really gets me is that a lot of the sites that are gaining popularity seemed like we could live our lives just fine without their existence. On one of the sites she mentioned - Blippy - the user can create an account and link their credit card to it, so that it displays all the users recent purchases. I don't understand why anybody would care or want to know that I got tacos at Qdoba last night for dinner or that I bought a scarf at Forever 21.

     If that's not stalkerish enough for you, there's also a location-based programming website called Foursquare where you basically broadcast places that you have "checked in" at. The way I see it, it's a direct outlet for people to stalk where you are at all times. Amy spoke of it as a tool to let people know where you are if you're going out drinking. If you "check in" every two hours or some pre-meditated amount of time, then your friends/family/significant other will know you're okay. Seems like a nice concept , but a pain in the ass at the same time.

    Amy also made a comment about a new site similar to Foursquare in the works right now that will only allow you to "check in" on your mobile phone if you're in the area that you say you're in. So, in other words, there's no way a teenager could lie to their parents about where they are. Come on. Who actually listens to everything their parents say when they're in high school? I can't name any one of my friends that did, and all of them turned out to be just fine. It's a normal part of growing up and learning things on your own.

     When I have kids in 60+ years or so, I would never make them do this. My generation and all the previous generations got by just fine without this excessive technology. If you're that unsure of your parenting skills that you need to stalk your kids every time they leave your house and ultimately give them absolutely zero freedom, then shame on you. Your kids will inevitably go nuts when they get to college, or maybe even sooner.

     Not everything Amy mentioned seemed excessive to me. She mentioned Gilt and I felt completely legitimate. She also said that Gilt is able to sell things to their customers by making them feel completely legitimate. Touché. Aside from this, she mentioned Qwiki, where you can type in any topic, person, idea, place, etc. and it will create a video that narrates facts to you about whatever you searched. It only pulls facts from Wikipedia, but if you're too lazy to read an entire Wikipedia page, this is perfect.

     Although I'm somewhat bashing the presentation, I actually really liked Amy Webb. She had a charismatic personality and kept the presentation interesting. It just freaks me out to think about how much technology has evolved and how much the internet can do, even though it only became available to the public a mere 20 years ago.

An overview of Amy Webb's presentation: http://webbmediagroup.com/phiji2010.html