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2009 is nearing it’s close as shortly we will head into the second to last month of this year. Technology has developed at a nice rate this year, despite our current economic state. Advancements have been made in many areas this year, but lets name a few to remind us just how far we’ve come this year alone.

Hardware

Hardware this year has made several nice advancements which will continue to serve us until they are replaced, as usual. Some lasting advancements have been made however.

• The Intel Core i7 was actually released late last year but it has since then become a common processor for system builders and is soon coming more frequently to commercially built machines. Quad-core processors are being used more frequently and are beginning to become more commonplace. With the Core i7, newer quad-core CPUs have higher speeds, some soaring as high as the highest dual cores.

• After the release of the Core i7 in late 2009 Intel began releasing their Core i5 processors, which are lower clocked quad cores, their appeal being i7 technology at an affordable price. Intel’s “i” series is expected to bring on the next generation of CPUs.

Software

There have been several interesting steps in the line of software this year. New companies are trying their luck in the business and old companies are continuing to produce the incredible.

• Google announced on July 7, 2009 that would begin to develop their own Operating System for PCs. The project is expected to be an Open Source project with help for community developers by the end of 2009. During it’s announcement it was stated that the OS was geared toward use on netbooks and would be based on the Linux kernel. For more information on the exciting ChromeOS you might visit Google’s official announcement.

• The world’s most popular version of Linux remains Ubuntu, Ubuntu 9.04 nicknamed “Jaunty Jackalope” was released April 23rd and the next version 9.10, called “Karmic Koala” to be released October 29th. Karmic Koala is a huge advancement for Ubuntu as it now includes a smoother GUI, added usability features, more wireless drivers, and and integrated WINE system for running Windows applications, just to name a few. Ubuntu’s usability and consumer reach continues to grow with every new release.

Web

The internet and design of web pages is continuing to morph to a more Web 2.0 design. Usability is a more common theme on popular websites. Web apps are becoming more and more important to users and the idea of working from “the cloud” is becoming a more realistic and exciting concept.

• Social networks and other web 2.0 sites are continuing to update using new theories, ideas and concepts using new technologies such as AJAX. Several common themes are becoming more popular across the social internet, such as tagging. The war between Facebook and Twitter continues while the former titan MySpace is continuing to drop in popularity.

• Web Applications are allowing users to create and save their work from anywhere with data completely stored online, app users can do anything from word process to screen record using the amazing variety of web apps available. The above mentioned ChromeOS is expected to further increase the popularity of web applications as most of the applications for the ChromeOS will be internet based.

Mobile

Mobile technology is fast becoming a more and more popular way to compute. With more mobile OS’s coming out such as Android, mobile technology is becoming the way of the future.

• The Google Android OS was released in late 2008 but during this year it’s use on phones has gotten much larger and according to Google:

By year’s end, there will be at least 18 phones on the market worldwide based on the Android operating system.

And according to Wikipedia:

Analysts suggest that by 2012, Android could be the second largest mobile phone OS with 14% of the market, behind Symbian (with 36%) and in front of iPhone OS (with 13%).

• The iPhone 3GS was released June 19 this year and remains the latest in the iPhone line. It was released with version 3.0 of the iPhone OS. This iPhone also supports moving picture recording capabilities as well as other advancements.

Overall the above is a list of some of the most notable technology advancements of 2009. Unfortunately not all of the advancements can be noted in a single post, so post you’re favorite developments of this year in the comments! You can also talk about what you thought of the advancements listed above or the advancements listed by others. In my opinion this year has gone swimmingly for the technology world as we continue to progress through this new frontier!