A New Year's Wish List

There were a lot of significant advances in 2006 in the digital realm. Google prospered, YouTube exploded onto the scene, and the Internet overtook newspapers in the hierarchy of information consumption. What does this year hold in store for the technological landscape?

3) The Abolishment of DRM from iTunes I've written about this topic a number of times, and I will keep writing about it until Apple gets a clue about just how counterproductive its Digital Rights Management (DRM) practices are to the spirit of the digital music community. Apple has traditionally been the underground company looking to stick it to The Man (Microsoft) in its endeavors. Ironically, with the dominance of the iTunes music store and the restrictive nature of DRM, Apple is turning into its own twisted version of The Man. 4) Search Functionality Within Google Reader Have I missed something here? I mean, I love... L-O-V-E the RSS aggregation tastiness that is Google Reader. In fact, I dare say I could not live without it when researching material to write about. However, I can't seem to find any way to search through my feeds for a particular topic, keyword, author, or any other term. So you're telling me that a company that has made its name from search functionality hasn't figured out how to implement it within one of its fastest growing services? It boggles the mind. 5) Yahoo Storming Back Into the Online Forefront If choice is good, then genuine competition is grand. Yahoo took a lot of heat in 2006, so let's hope in 2007 that the company can rebound and become a bigger player than ever before in the landscapes of search, marketing, and online services. Why? Because when true competition exists, then the consumer always wins. If Google and Yahoo become locked in a heated battle to provide the most comprehensive online experience for the user, the pace of innovation and user-friendliness increases exponentially. That's something we all should want, it's the fundamental principal that drives the free market. Or as Austin Powers would say, "Groovy! Smashing! Yay Capitalism!" So there you have it, the five things I hope will happen this year. It isn't too much to ask for, is it? Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl Joe is a staff writer for latest ebusiness news.