Horizon Report - Technology's Future

Mobile Devices.
In the past five years the processing power of the average mobile device has increased exponentially, expanding the productivity of a user. Now a user can surf, email, chat, and take videos and pictures all from their phone. With the introduction of tablet computers, you can now read and write documents, video/audio conference, and share information with others.

Tablets have the ability to access the web, and many companies (i.e. Google, Microsoft) have produced web based applications that provide desktop functionality within the confines of the tablet/handheld device.
But the same problem that all school systems face is procuring enough mobile devices to use in the classroom.  I think in the future this problem will be eliminated, because almost all students in our school system already carry a smart phone that is capable of accomplishing many of these tasks. Students already want to use their personal devices in the classroom.  I say let them.  They can use their phones for different tasks, many phones will read e-books, so put their textbook on the phone.  They can use the phone in class to communicate with the teacher (either through Twitter, or SMS).  Phones also have built-in video cameras, why not do video conferencing with the student when they need help with their assignment or if they have a question. All this can be done and the school system never even bought a single device. Now if for instance you have a student that doesn't have a device, then one should be afforded to them.


Gesture-Based Computing 
The article states that it is four to five years before it is adopted or perfected. I think it will be here sooner than is anticipated.  This is why I think so, like all new devices I try to see how they work (what makes them tick). When the Nintendo Wii came out I had to have one.  Well, the first night I threw my shoulder out. As I was on the mend, I wanted to figure out how thing worked, so I did some research online and found where people were reversing the roles of the controller and the light emitter bar. Since the Wii-mote is bluetooth, you could bind it to your laptop and use it as a device to move the mouse. Here is a link for the how-to: http://www.wikihow.com/Turn-Your-Wii-Controller-Into-a-Mouse
This has been refined throughout the years, and appears to be very operative now. From what I have noticed it appears that people are binding the Wii-mote to the ipad now. I would like to try motion control on a computer, I bet it would be pretty cool.