Reverse Predictions For 2013

Playing technology forecaster is a foolish exercise. Software and hardware advances at unpredictable paces, while the players in the market and consumer tastes can shift with confusing speed.

So instead of adding to the noise of 2013 predictions, why not pick seven that seem particularly unlikely?

Apple TV

Pining away for a Web-connected Apple HDTV is understandable: Pay-TV interfaces are a mess that needlessly shut out Internet media. But there's no easy way to ship a device that could plug into any cable-TV feed without a separate box -- even CableCard-ready TiVo recorders sometimes need extra "switched digital video" adapters -- and no way at all to do that for satellite. Just making an Apple TV box that could change channels would entail an iffy customer experience I can't see Apple tolerating.

Death to Paper Books and Magazines

This prediction -- for an example of the latest version, see TechCrunch's John Biggs -- will be wrong for years to come. It's not just because some readers prefer print to pixels; it's because some design-intensive genres, such as coffee-table books, don't fit into the simple templates of Kindle, Nook and iBooks releases. And because the stubborn persistence of "digital rights management" locks turns away potential buyers like me.

Rolling Back Windows 8's Changes

I'd like to see this myself, but I think my friend Steve Wildstrom and others underestimate Microsoft's stubbornness when predicting a return of the Start menu to Windows 8 or a demotion of its new interface. The Redmond, Wash.-company has spent a little too much time telling developers to write for Windows 8's new look to retreat now. And lest you draw too many conclusions from the surprising departure of Win 8 architect Steven Sinofsky, his successor Julie Larson-Green is just as big of an advocate of these changes.

read more: http://news.discovery.com/tech/reverse-predictions-for-2013-121228.html

Well will you look at that. Some predictions that might actually come true!