Time Flies

Technology never stops

I’ve been a technology journo for over 17 years now, and have never been bored. That’s the cool thing about tech – there’s always something new and interesting just around the corner. Sure, half of these new wonder-products turn out to be duds, but there are also myriad technologies that have changed the way we live.

This edition was written just after I returned from Computex 2017, the world’s biggest PC hardware show. And to be frank it was one of the more interesting Computex shows I’ve been to, all thanks to AMD’s Ryzen processor. This has really supercharged the CPU market, with Intel being forced to react swiftly with competing products. You can read more about the new Intel Core-X series later in the mag, but the mere fact that Intel no longer has a monopoly on the CPU market is a wonder in itself. So thank you AMD, for spicing up a stagnant segment.

I was also teased details about AMD’s new Vega architecture, which looks set to give Nvidia competition as well. It appears that AMD’s change in strategy and staff a few years ago has really worked in our interest.

Sadly VR wasn’t quite as prominent as I’d like it to be, with very few innovations on show, outside of a new 210 degree FOV headset from Starbreeze, but this will only be sold to theme parks and IMAX cinemas. It’s inevitable this tech will flow down to the consumer level, I just wish it would hurry the heck up.

There were also plenty of duds as well – this year the big flop that I foresee are gaming chairs. I saw at least 30 different gaming chairs on the market, and there’s just not a need for these. They’re also going to be incredibly hard to ship and stock for retailers, so stick with your good old ergonomic chairs and don’t get suckered into a gaming chair.

So yeah, another year has passed, and once again I’m enamoured by all the new goodies that are on the way. Honestly, AMD is really behind the biggest of these, so I’m fighting for this underdog all the way. Monopolies lead to tech stagnation, so if AMD can stick it to Intel and Nvidia, we should see some rather crazy technology leaps over the next few years. And I can’t wait to talk about them.