Future of Multimedia - Article Example

?Future of multimedia: Since inception, mankind has been making attempts towards advancement in his life style and has always been in pursuit of tools and techniques that can make life easy in any way possible. Mankind has succeeded in this race to quite an extent and has achieved quite a lot .It has even made its mark beyond the planet earth and has reached other planets as well. The journey of advancements has been a slow one yet continuous and every period is represented by some progress. Starting with stone age where the only tool were stones that were used for safety and fulfilling other requirements of life, the journey continued till it reached the 19th century where industrialization took over the helm of affairs and brought about a total revolution in the manner in which elements operate. The pursuit has resulted in comfort and color in life. The technological era introduced advanced machines and other tools that laid a foundation for what we have today. The industrial age gave rise to the field of science and technology and efforts started on laboratory level for the benefit and well being of mankind. Amongst those efforts was the approach towards the media, communication and technology. While communication routes can be traced back to early years 20th century when Wright brothers (Heppenheimer, 2003) successfully launched an aero plane which was more of a glider. This was first of few steps towards the transition that was bound to become part of the human life. It was soon followed by communication in terms of wireless systems and later wired mode of transmissions in later years of the century. The middle decades of 20th century saw introduction of television and other modes of communication which were the sign of events to come. Multimedia according to Tay Vaughan is defined as set of mediums that are grouped together to make up one large entity that fulfils the requirements in number of ways. It mainly includes graphical, textual format of content (Green & Brown,page 2, 2002). Like every other system, the entity of multimedia has gone through various stages and has reached the point where we see it today, where depiction of nearly everything is possible through multi media. What we see today is a reformed shape of multimedia that has gone through many phases of improvements and transitions. Since multimedia is in various forms around us each of them has undergone transition in its own way. Multimedia in a way has replaced the old means of communication, while newspapers were heavily relied on for information and keeping in touch with the outside world, multimedia sources have made it possible to watch the news life as it happens without the need of waiting for next morning to receive the newspaper. Post mails would take days to reach the desired persons; electronic mails have replaced them that enable instantaneous contact. With digital graphics all around, multimedia finds its applications in the field of advertising. Every channel is dependent on the advertisements for managing the finances and expenses, attractive multimedia techniques are naturally bound to attract customers towards themselves, therefore they are thickly used for the advertising campaigns. The usage of multimedia is not just limited to marketing, rather in the educational institutes and corporate enterprises, projectors and presentations are in daily use for presentations. In the field of engineering, besides the signal processing techniques, large number of softwares are implemented that are used in building constructions, bridges and dams constructions, all courtesy the multimedia and invention of computers. A secret behind the massive invasion of multimedia over our society is the feature of creativity. Ability of making all those things which were only limited to imagination and fantasies. While flying was once only dreamed of, it has become possible. Similarly communication without wires was only an imagination; today it has become a fact. Creativity can be seen in form of the presentation and graphical colors all around us. The area of animated movies in the cinema speaks for the level of creativity attained in the multimedia world. With the electronic devices prices going down every coming day and new products being available in the market, the field of multimedia is rapidly flourishing and the common citizen is able to purchase the electronic equipment in form of the mobile phones, stereos, surround systems, home theaters etc. The advances in multimedia has made many things possible which were only confined to imaginations in past. It has enabled viewing a person who is in other part of the world. It has equally made it possible to provide the information and coverage from across the ocean and across the continent as it happens at other place. Many new channels run across the globe that covers the stories of all major events taking place in different parts of the world. The early history of multimedia can be traced back to mid 20th century. This is the period that can be termed as the inception of modern multimedia era. Its inception can be linked to the modern technological advances in various industries that emerged in the surroundings in mid 20th century. It had to have a natural impact on the field of multimedia. Von Neumann (Neumann & Redei,pg36, 2005) for example introduced the computer architecture in mid 20th century that laid the foundation for computer world operations which are even today in practice with regular updates and modifications to it, the architecture introduced has been in practice for nearly 50 years and the reason for its success is its reduced level of complexity, there have been slight upgrades and changes with the time but the core technology remains the same (Rojas & Hashagen,pg 195, 2002). Similarly, the roots of automated teller machines can be traced back to mid 20th century when it became commercially accessible to the public. Television being the prime source of multimedia has undergone many changes, both in physical aspect and its performance view point. The need for improvement and colors was felt and soon the black and white television screens were converted to colored television screens. British Broadcasting Corporation and can be termed as the pioneer in the field of television who introduced colored transmission on limited scale in the beginning (McPhail,pg261, 2011). Multimedia progress has been accelerated by few individuals as well who have contributed a large amount towards the field of electronics and computers. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are two prominent names in this regard who through their leadership qualities introduced new trends in the world of computers. Steve Jobs especially is the pioneer behind the entire Apple Inc and the latest gadgets we have in modern day in form of I-Pad, I-Pod, I-Phone, and I-Tunes (Imbimbo, 2009). The silver screen cinema industry equally benefited from it and it started growing with variety of movies starting to unroll and resulted in more number of viewers visiting cinemas. While only analogue cameras were used in earlier stages, in modern times state of the art cameras and digital equipment is used all over in cinema industry for the purpose of movie making. Animated movies are part of the package and have large fan following across the cinema. It is basically the fast movement of the images in the 2D and 3D frames with background sounds of human beings and actors mostly. Single lens cameras are replaced by latest digital camera. The achievements are so enormous that the modern cameras can capture as many as 24 frames per second (Sandler, pg 406, 2010). Editing is being performed by the latest softwares that not only perform the necessary operations on the video quality but also the sound and color quality. The shape of television has changed completely between last twenty years; they are no more in shape of boxes rather they would fit in, in any wall in a standing posture. Large sized cathode ray tubes (C.R.T) have been replaced by L.C.Ds (Liquid Crystal Displays) which are further succeeded by L.E.Ds (Light emitting diodes) each of these has given a totally new dimension to the world of image seeing (Heckenlively & Arden, pg275, 2006). They have brought about more crisp in the picture quality, refined finishing, more brightness, sleek, increased and improved aspect ratios and most importantly size factor, the old television sets would occupy large volume in a room. In terms of the performance and specification televisions capabilities were limited to only one channel on a set. This has been changed and multi channel dishes and cable television networks are in usage all around that enable hundreds of channels on single set. This all has been achieved through enhanced signal processing techniques that have ensured multiple frequency allocation through a single line. If the old technology were to be used, bundle of wires would be needed since each channel would require one cable of its own frequency. Various multimedia standards are used which are namely mp4, mp3, flv, 3gpp, .mov, mpeg etc. Technological advances without the mention of robotics would be incomplete. Robotics constitute a totally separate discipline in the field of science and technology ,and large amount of work has been done in this field and robots are ever efficient .Based on the concept of sensor networks, robots can perform large number of works which are beyond the limitations of mankind. It has made many things easy which would otherwise be achieved by risking the human life .For example; robots find large applications in the fire fighting departments. In many countries robots are being used for fighting the fire and acting to the plans. In the industrial atmospheres, robots are being used for reaching to those parts of the machines and field which are inaccessible for the workers. It has reduced the dependency on the human labor and has brought about more safety and efficiency in the working environments in the industries. Robots find large number of applications and usage in the fire fighting department and it can also be used for the benefit and service of handicapped people (Bishop, pg 341, 2011). The signaling techniques that are in use have made many things ever secure and ever easy. Various encryption techniques have been made possible by the signaling techniques which allow safe passage of data and valuable information across various mediums. A separate field of engineering deals in the signal specialization called Digital Signal Processing, which broadly looks into the processing techniques, the features and facilities provided by these techniques and the commercial market products manufacturing in alliance with the electronic equipment and circuitry (Dally & Poulton, 1998). These signaling techniques come under the umbrella of the discipline of digital signal processing. These techniques apply separately in video transmissions, audio transmissions. The most important part of these signals transmission and operation is the backhaul availability of the algorithms. The backbone of effective signaling techniques has been the efficient algorithms. Proponents from the field of signal processing have come up with the ever effective algorithms that have made the multimedia world secure and user friendly. Modulation techniques allow larger size video compression and other essential utility tools options. Before the wireless communication became common in the public domain for the use of multimedia features, it was argued that the signal attenuation and disturbances would prevent proper communication. However this fear and concern has been laid to rest by the advanced signaling techniques have enabled noise less and secure transmissions. Rather to the irony, it was the analogue system that was prone to interference, all the communication that takes place in modern times are wireless and on digital interface with no or little chance of interruption and sneaking into the system by the outsiders. Multimedia has become an essential part of communication. In modern times, all the communication that is being conducted in different modes heavily relies on multimedia features and facilities. Multimedia first influenced the landline phones by providing extra features and later it was followed by the wireless medium of communication which was focused around multimedia services. Features like short messaging services (S.M.S), Multimedia Services (M.M.S) and video calling are few of the gifts of multimedia in the field of communication. The mobile phones in modern times are fully equipped with all multimedia features that can be thought of (Harper, et al., 2005). A modern day gift of Multimedia advances is the IPTV. Which works in connectivity with internet broadband. IPTV will remove the dependency on the traditional satellites and cable television channels. It is commercially available and is a totally new form of television transmission. It provides many features that were not available in its predecessors. It enables storing, live streaming and various other options. Video calling is another trait of the multimedia. Video calling has been enabled through number of softwares and other sources. Nearly all laptops that are in the markets having built in cameras in them .While softwares like Skype are top choice of broadband customers since it allows free connectivity without any major charges. Video conferencing through other sources is also a gift of multimedia. Like other disciplines, multimedia has contributed towards the music industry as well. Music stations are largely in practice in form of F.M stations that are functional all over. Besides the radio transmission digital audio CDs and DVDs have enabled capturing large sized information onto the disks. They have replaced the audio cassettes and gramophones. The concept of social networking websites (S.N.S) is a gift of multimedia technological advances, it provides benefits to the users in many ways. It provides awareness, provides source of constant touch and provides means of finding new friends and tracing the old and lost friends. Notable networking sites include Face book, Twitter, and Orkut to name a few. Blogs, online available applications like that of I-tune and various patches are few of the traces of modern time advances. Flash technology is another related term to the modern web based technological advances that have been achieved. Various softwares are already available in the market which enable sending text message to the cell phone at other end through the internet without using the cell phone. Part of the multimedia journey has been the progress in the discipline of face recognition techniques; this is one tool that is considered as one of the achievements that has helped the mankind in many ways. Face recognition has been implemented across the globe on different platforms such as airports and other software intensive organizations where large amount of data are being used on daily basis. The advantage of face recognition is the ability to create a data base and later identify and trace a desired face, based on its facial features and other biometric stats. Large amount of scientific work has taken place in the face recognition field. Work is being conducted in the mechatronic discipline of engineering for improving the techniques of face recognition. Face recognition tools are widely in use across the airports and other security check points and are proving beneficial. Different forms of communication have been introduced with focus on multimedia requirements fulfillment. The coaxial cable and copper wires have been replaced by optical fibers that provide multiple times faster access and more reliable transmission. The fixed landline telephone systems are being fast replaced by the mobile phones which provide more freedom of access. Another factor for the landline diminishing is its analogue nature and support for voice calls only. Since multimedia requires heavy bandwidth and faster internet connections, they are possible only through the implementation of a structured internet setup. Optic fibers are built in a manner that supports transmission requirements of multimedia content. Bill gates at one time said that 640kb of ram would be sufficient for a single user of computer for a long period (Hughes, 2010). He was totally mistaken in his calculations and in modern times kilobytes are being considered amount equivalent to iota of value. In the field of processors, massive development has taken place. While Pentium family dominated the processing world for a long time, multi core processors are in business for last few years and most notable of these in modern times are i3, i5 and I7 processors that provide minimized latency rates and increased speeds of operation. There are other processors that are energy efficient and are used in the tablets. The sensor networks based application usage in the home environment is a new concept that is being made possible by the latest technology. It can be made possible through the use of GSM/CDMA or other means of connection such as broadband, in an interconnected manner with the home appliances. The sensors are based on the ability of sensing the environment temperatures and requirements. This technology will make life easy and less dependent on the current sources of energy and comfort. This will make life safer and easier in many ways. A characteristic feature of multimedia across the spectrum and transmission interface is its digital nature. The analogue mode of transmission relies on non digital medium for transmission. Since in modern communication modes, bits are transferred to and forth, therefore multimedia is practically involved in it .keeping in consideration the requirements of multimedia, the trend of mobile communication have been set on these lines. While the 1st generation mobile communications were analogue in nature, the 2nd generation mobile standards named G.S.M (Global Services for Mobile Communication) were not just only based on multimedia features but purely operated in terms of bits. The result of usage of bits was more features, more security, and more accuracy. M.M.S and S.M.S have been made possible through usage of the technology under lined by the specifications of multimedia spectrum. Video games are a rich industry that represents another side of multimedia. Like computer, it has become possible through the other means of television and processors on the computers. A totally different and separate entity is that of special purpose processors specialized in the MIPS architecture, Play station, Nintendo-box are few of the most prominent names in the field of gaming consoles. These all are dependent on the television for its functioning and display. Processors based on digital signaling processing techniques are implied in this field, few of them are concerned with the image sensing and sensor networks and reflex action detection as in case of Nintendo Wii games. Multimedia contributions have been invaluable in the field of computer operating systems. Before the advent of graphics user interface, the world of computers was operated by commands and instructions in form of command line interface (C.L.I). As the time progressed and multimedia features became common, the computer world also embraced to the technological features of multimedia and introduced graphic interfaced based windows and operating systems (Zaman, et al., 2011). It all started with windows 3.1 and the current standings are at windows 7 and windows 8 that are highly user friendly. The sizes of hard disks have also increased by many folds. While at one time a few mega bytes were considered as a large block of data, today the ordinary computers contain hundreds of giga bytes of secondary storage. Other smaller forms of secondary storage devices are also giga byte family members. Part of multimedia revolution has been the internet which is a separate world in itself. It has been made possible by the earlier achievements in the field of communication and multimedia. Since it has become possible by the invention of computer and wired and wireless phone, therefore it’s a resultant product of the previous items. Internet has become integral part of our society; it contains information about nearly everything we need. It has millions of websites on its platform ranging from small issues to larger subjects. It enables communication and interaction with people of different backgrounds and localities. It has given rise to virtualization. The advancements in internet are being shaped into Web 2.0 which will provide improved performance and increased options for the users. Since it is a known fact that technology advances with time and more improvements become necessary, the same need was felt in the mobile standards generations. While the 2nd generation of mobile standards supported only digital texts and few other limited features, the need was felt for introducing more multimedia enriched options in form of video calls and more secure encryption techniques. This was achieved through introduction of 3rd generation of mobile standards officially termed 3GPP. It allowed the customers to use multimedia options more freely. 3rd generation standards provided higher data rates, more reliable transmission in form of improved encryption techniques, more multimedia options, and a structured architecture. The merging of MPEG-4 format standard with UMTS standards open new dimensions for the multimedia functions. In our homes, we see the four walls covered by all those equipments and devices that employ multimedia and digital interface. Ranging from the micro wave oven to the remote control enabled air conditioners. The multimedia has become integral part of the vehicles as well. New cars in the market come fully equipped with the stereo and at times video screens. Compact discs and Digital Versatile Disc have made many things easy and can store large amount of data in themselves. These are being followed by Blu ray discs and HD based discs introduced by Sony and Toshiba. The high definition enabled digital devices are part of the package and are quite common in market. Blu ray discs are quite commonly found in the local markets all around the world. They are built on the latest encryption techniques and have large amount data storage capacity. Google map is another example of digital dominance and multimedia benefits. It has been helpful in many ways. While in past one would need to dig into sources for finding the routes and destination points, it has been made easy through this application and is accessible to almost every one. Google maps provide information about nearly every place on the earth since its range covers all the important areas of the planet earth. The usage of G.P.S (Global Positioning System) is another part of technology and multimedia. G.P.S has benefited mankind and has made life secure in some aspects. G.P.S can help detecting the lost cars and in some cases the passengers themselves who might be lost in the woods or desert. Collaboration with United States Air force has made G.P.S operations possible. It has number of satellites revolving in the orbit that are constantly monitored and provided resources by the United States Air force department. G.P.S are commercially available to the common citizens and this feature comes built in, in many latest vehicles. Apple Inc started a new race in the field of mobile phones by introducing the Apple phone in 2007. Since then the race is on and mobile phones are being manufactured on new design with focus on extra features, sleek design, user friendly support system .it has replaced the era of mobile phones of large sizes and buttons enabled. The modern mobile phones are mostly touch screen enabled. Mobile phones are operable only under a specific operating system and a standardized mechanism .Which comes in form of various operating systems that are available in the market around us. Few of them include Microsoft Windows, Android, Apple, Blackberry operating system; all have their own characteristic and are famous for their respective features. Some of them are open sourced which means that the customers and other associated members are eligible for making changes and recommending improvements .Android has a platform of over 70 world renown companies under its belt in the form of Open Handheld Alliance which works for the improvements in the current operating system domain and provides a platform for secure operations in the currently existent operating system environment. However, this is not the end of journey, and in coming years more mobile phone features are bound to hit the market. With 4th generation technologies in offing, while 2G and 3G operate in a Mega hertz frequency band, with the evolution of 4th generation standards, mobile phones will step into the era of 4G standards where the operating frequencies are in Giga Hertz, which means large access and improved performance. The progress achieved in the communication medium is not just limited to 3rd generation, 4th generation technologies are fully in action across major cities of the world. The incumbent technologies have been created and designed with focus on the fulfillment of the multimedia requirements list. Wimax and L.T.E are few of the notable technologies that are in the market and in customers use which allow maximized usage of multimedia content. The broadband connections enable connectivity both under the roof and on the go (Kyriazakos, et al., 2008). Digital cameras: The field of digital cameras has been equally revamped by the multimedia dominance, and state of the art cameras are present in the market that were only limited to imagination in the past. The latest digital cameras are equipped with highly refined lens quality, circuitry, zooming capabilities and other various features that make them so special. S.L.R’s are largely available in market and richly in use of the customers all around the markets for various purposes. In the field of automobiles, technological advances are in full swing, plans are already underway for launching more safer and environment friendly vehicles that would not run on the natural gas, rather on recharging and electrical storage mechanism. Mobile Phones: Multi media has evolved equally in the field of mobile phones as well both in the technology sphere and in the architecture sphere. In the technological domain, mobile phones have undergone massive changes. While the earlier cell phones only allowed textual data exchange in black and white, the ground situation has changed dramatically in last two decades. While 1990s saw the introduction of mobile phones on commercial scales with limited features and capabilities, the beginning of 21st century saw a total sweep over of communication industry through the latest mobile phones introduction. In modern day, touch enabled phones have replaced the hard stroke keyed cell phones on large scale and nearly all major mobile phone manufacturers are developing mobile sets that are touch enabled . The touch features are widely stretched and they allow various features like face recognition and other biometric recognition and response mechanism. All that has been achieved in recent years was only a dream until last few decades. Virtual reality is another feature that is in offing from the house of technology. This is based on the sensation generation of artificial stimulus that revolves around the basic senses of human being. This will enable virtualization and imagination of places. Large amount of research is being conducted in this field by various experts (Veen, et al., 1998) Multimedia invasion has brought about portability with itself. All the gadgets that are around in market and in customers use are highly portable. Gone are the days where large sized computer screens would occupy the corner in the rooms, they are replaced by stylish and sleek monitors and laptops. Since laptops provide ease of usage even in outdoors, for this reason it has become most famous in recent times. Tablets and touch screen gadgets are fast replacing the large sized laptops. Apple, Microsoft, and Android are the front runners in this race and have introduced number of gadgets. Apple Inc has also introduced music gadgets in form of IPOD. Nano technology is one of the future trends that are largely being talked about all around. A step in this direction is the already shrinking area of processors in terms of the nanometer area. Multimedia has benefited the mankind and its society in innumerable ways. It has made life easy and faster. It has enabled reaching to people in far and across. The television and cinema can be used for informative purposes. Many channels are available on the cable network that are designated for educational purposes. It has created large number of employments on international and local level. Various degree programs are being offered which specialize in mass communication and media studies. The multimedia features have facilitated not only the students but the business class individuals who rely on the multimedia tools for conducting their business and keeping in touch with their partners from across the city. The future might see every street and every road internet enabled. Further advancement might include download rates in giga bytes. Further possibilities include the creation of special effects on the ordinary laptop screens. Sensor networks are certain to play major role in the field of multimedia in coming days since the keypad concept is going out of trend. With the modern reforms and transitions that are taking place in the modern technological era, it can easily be said that the focus is on reduction of hardware size in every electronic device. Computers, Televisions, mobile phones, all are becoming sleek and smart. What we see today is bound to become obsolete in coming days. What we can expect in coming days is probably more revamped form of the technology that exists around us. We might probably get to see flying cars in the future and use of cloning on a considerably large scale. While in modern day the access to other planets is limited to the scientists and on trail version, the future might see life on the other planets and visits of the common citizens into the other planets. The technology in general is fast progressing and it is hoped that technology would be more useful towards the well being of mankind and its safety and protection. It is hope that technology would introduce more awareness towards the human sufferings and various diseases. Multimedia and technology go hand in hand and have totally changed the outlook of the world and its working. It has captured our surroundings in every possible way, ranging from roads to billboards, to televisions to home environment; all are being dominated by the features of multimedia and technology (Schoeffmann, et al., 2012). But the journey is a continuous one and what is latest today will be obsolete soon. Multimedia has benefited the environment in large number of ways, though it must be said that it has brought about dependency on the technology as well and has paralyzed the human society in a certain way. Bibliography: 1-Bishop, O., 2011. “Electronics: Circuits and Systems”,page 341. Oxford : Routledge. 2-Dally, W. J. & Poulton, J. W., 1998. “Digital Systems Engineering”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 3-Green, T. 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