Top 10 tech triumphs we want to see in 2012
Facebook to float, a blunder-free Olympics and other tech wishes for the new year
So Christmas has come and gone, and with the new year fast approaching, our thoughts turn to the next 12 months and whether it can match the hurly-burly of 2011.
The most powerful computers on the planet fed with all the data created in 2011 could not predict with any accuracy what's going to happen next year, such is the speed of change in the technology world.
So, instead, we sat around the table with some tea and biscuits and chatted a bit about some of the things we'd like to see happen next year. Let us know what you hope to see come true in 2012 in the comments box below.
10. Someone to finally buy Yahoo
Someone please buy Yahoo and put it out of its misery. We've all watched the once powerful search firm struggle against Google for the past decade, and its on-off engagements with Microsoft led to sharp turns in share prices and very upset investors.
Microsoft made a $44.6bn bid for Yahoo in 2008 before the economic markets collapsed and, as Yahoo continues to post disappointing results year on year, Microsoft has said how pleased it is that Yahoo refused the offer.
Furthermore, Yahoo put ex-Autodesk chief Carol Bartz in charge of turning the business around two years ago, and then promptly sacked her in September as the firm's advertising business failed to keep pace with its rivals'.
Still, rumours abound that the firm may yet be bought by Microsoft or a series of venture capitalists, and it would be nice for the tired old firm if it could find a warm, cosy place to retire next year.
Top 10 tech triumphs we want to see in 2012
Facebook to float, a blunder-free Olympics and other tech wishes for the new year
9. Genuine all-day laptop battery life
How many times have you heard that a new laptop or mobile platform will offer all-day battery life that promises to end the need to go scrabbling around searching for a socket?
Sadly, despite numerous claims going back a decade or more, it still isn't true for laptops - unless you happen to have a battery the size of a shoebox attached to your system.
The problem is that PCs have become more powerful to cope with more demanding software, meaning that any gain in power efficiency is wiped out by the processor having to work harder.
Most modern laptops also seem to have numerous tasks running in the background, burning up precious battery charge even when you're just reading the screen.
Perhaps one day we can expect true all-day battery life. It will probably need a move to laptops based on ARM chips before we can expect anything like this, and it'd be nice if we saw this come to fruition in 2012, but don't hold your breath.
8. RIM and Nokia to recover and create a competitive smartphone market
2012 must be a better year for RIM and Nokia than the one they've just endured. Both firms have seen their market-leading positions fall to that of bit-part players, and suffered all sorts of upsets in 2011 despite claiming to be back on track.
What both companies need for 2012 is for this rhetoric to become reality, launching high-quality phones that offer a compelling alternative to other players on the market, increasing their market share and offering a wider choice of smartphones for consumers.
It will be good for the industry, businesses and end users if they succeed. Each offers something different in the market, from BlackBerry's classic keypad input to Nokia's use of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and they are the last players left to challenge the domination of Apple and Android.
Top 10 tech triumphs we want to see in 2012
Facebook to float, a blunder-free Olympics and other tech wishes for the new year
7. Facebook to float on the stock market
Facebook has been flirting with the stock market for years, and there must be some staff at the firm going spare trying to work out what their options will be worth if they stick around long enough for the flotation.
What's more, it will be interesting to see how the market reacts to Facebook's valuation at $100bn, which to some of us seems a touch ridiculous.
Past guidance suggests that Facebook could either follow the success of LinkedIn and more than meet expectations, or fall sharply from an initial buzz like Groupon and usher in the much-threatened second dot.com collapse.
6. Apple to launch a TV with Siri (and the iPhone 5 and iPad 3)
Rumours that Apple has been working on a TV have circulated for years, and the Steve Jobs biography gave some tantalising clues that the man himself thought the firm had "cracked it".
It would certainly be interesting to see an Apple TV. If the company could make the same impact as it has in the MP3, phone and tablet markets we could be in for another period of serious innovation in a technology that has been ticking along now for decades.
Oh, and it would also be nice to see the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 to see how Apple intends to revamp its two most popular products in the face of ever-increasing competition and, perhaps even more importantly, rampant expectation.
5. 4G auctions to go ahead without any more delays
As we noted in our end of 2011 review, the delays to the 4G auctions mean that the UK is unlikely to see any spectrum allocations until the end of 2012.
Any later and the UK will fall seriously behind some of the more developed 4G markets as operators use legal tactics to delay the auctions to the detriment of consumers and the UK economy.
This time next year V3 wants to see all the operators beaming in unison as they say how pleased they are with the smooth, fair auction process and how they can't wait to start delivering superfast mobile broadband services to data-hungry citizens.
Top 10 tech triumphs we want to see in 2012
Facebook to float, a blunder-free Olympics and other tech wishes for the new year
4. IPv6 adoption to ramp up
The IPv6 protocol specifications were published over a decade ago, yet adoption remains patchy despite the efforts of the Internet Society with its World IPv6 Day earlier this year and frequent government calls to action.
The remaining blocks of free addresses in the 32-bit IPv4 address space started to run out during 2011, prompting panicky headlines about the 'End of the Internet'. Surely this isn't the end of the world in 2012 predicted by the Mayans?
It's a classic chicken and egg. Customers are reluctant to switch to IPv6 unless their ISP supports it, while the ISPs are wary of investing in the infrastructure to support IPv6 unless customers start demanding it.
Throw in the fact that IPv6 and IPv4 nodes cannot communicate directly but require some intermediary gateway, and it's a recipe for procrastination.
Any migration needs key service providers such as Google to build a presence on both protocols before IPv6 can gather momentum, so maybe next year we'll hear of some sizeable network overhauls to get the ball rolling.
3. UK government to reform IT education
IT education has to be improved in UK schools if the industry's talent pool is to advance and the country is to remain a technology leader.
The past 12 months showed that interest in the subject is waning at the very moment it should be increasing; students taking the ICT GCSE have fallen from 109,601 to 61,022 since 2006.
There is no lack of lobbying out there from trade groups like Intellect, which wants to see the teaching of IT overhauled to make it more relevant for the digital age, rather than the teaching of basic applications like Word and PowerPoint, which is enough to send anyone to sleep, let alone a moody teenager.
It would be nice if students were taught about how the sites they know and love, like Facebook, Twitter and the rest, actually work, so the UK can start churning out some future Mark Zuckerbergs or Bill Gates.
Top 10 tech triumphs we want to see in 2012
Facebook to float, a blunder-free Olympics and other tech wishes for the new year
2. Tech City to start delivering world class companies
Efforts to help the UK create the next Facebook or Microsoft are well underway, and the East End of London is now affectionately dubbed Silicon Roundabout in an attempt to attract start-ups and help the UK compete with the US.
V3 was in Silicon Roundabout many times in 2011 speaking to companies setting up in the area, and the government made several announcements about its desire to strengthen and promote the area, as did tech-lovers and newly weds Wills 'n' Kate.
What 2012 needs to deliver is some clear business successes that can conquer the markets they enter.
Whether this is games for the iPhone like Angry Birds, hot social sites like Foursquare or business productivity tools like Salesforce, it'd be nice to see new UK firms burst onto the scene and help the nation see some return on its investments.
1. A smooth Olympics without any tech blunders
If there's one event that will dominate the calendar in 2012 it's the London Olympics. Seven years in the planning, it's now just seven months away and preparations are entering the home straight.
V3 has seen first hand how some of the major IT firms involved are completing their work to help the Olympics run as smoothly as possible, and it's essential for the UK's image that the technology doesn't let us down.
The transport infrastructure is likely to be a nightmare for visitors, but we must spare those watching overseas from having live footage of Usain Bolt breaking the 100 metre world record disappear because some dozy engineer flicked the wrong switch or a dog chewed through a vital fibre cable.