Technology of the 2000s

=In general=

* broadband internet usage in the US increases drastically, from 6% of U.S. internet users in June 2000 to what [http://news.com.com/Study+Broadband+penetration+to+surge+by+2010/2100-1034_3-5815756.html one study] predicts will be 62% by 2010 (although signs now show that broadband internet usage, continuing in its current trend, will be well over 90% by 2010 in the US).
* Music downloading and the use of data compression to quickly transfer music over the Internet become very popular, with a corresponding rise of portable digital audio players typified by Apple Computer's iPod. Digital music sales rise, accounting for 6% of all music sales in 2005.
* Digital cameras become very popular due to rapid decreases in size and cost while photo resolution steadily increases. Sales of film reel cameras diminish greatly as a result.
* Google and Yahoo search engines increase trafficability of the internet and "to Google" becomes a verb.
* The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster occurs in February 2003.
* Due to an increase in ability to store data, USB flash drives rapidly replace zip disks and 3.5-inch diskettes.
* Graphic cards become powerful enough to render ultra-high-resolution (e.g. 1920x1200) scenes in real time with substantial detail and texture.
* Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 become the ubiquitous industry standard in personal computer software. Open source and free software continues to be a notable but minority interest, with versions of Linux gaining in popularity, as well as the Mozilla Firefox web browser and the OpenOffice document editor.
* Flat panel displays begin displacing cathode ray tubes.
* Major advances in Hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, Ford Escape, and the Honda Insight.
* Greater interest in future energy development due to global warming theory and the potential exhaustion of crude oil.
* Blogs, portals, and wikis become common electronic dissemination methods for professionals, amateurs, and businesses to conduct knowledge management.
* A ultra tough portable PC is introduced [www.switchbackpc.com]
* Pepperball shotguns begin replacing pepper spray as a weapon of self defense [www.pepperball.com]
* Smartcards replace builky cable boxes for recording pictures

* Wikipedia begins and grows rapidly, becoming the largest encyclopedia and most well known wiki in the world.
* DVDs, and subsequently HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs, replace VCR technology as the common standard in American homes and at video stores, although inexpensive VCRs and videocassettes can still be found at some thrift stores and discount stores.
* Due to the major success of broadband Internet connections, Voice over IP begins to gain popularity as a replacement for traditional telephone lines. Major telecommunications carriers begin converting their networks from TDM to VoIP.
* Wireless networks become more commonplace in homes, education institutes and urban public spaces.
* Corrective eye surgery becomes popular as costs and potential risk decrease and results improve.
* OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) technology revolutionizes display technology, making it possible to "print" screens on everyday objects.
* GPS (Global Positioning System) becomes very popular, especially in tracking items or people, and for use in cars. Games that utilize the system, such as geocaching, emerge and become popular.
* RFID (Radio Frequency ID) becomes widely used in retail giants such as Wal-Mart as a way to track items and automate stocking and keeping track of items.
* DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), typified by TiVo, allow consumers to modify content they watch on TV, and to record TV programs and watch them later, leading to problems as consumers can fast-forward through commercials, making them useless.
* Self-serve kiosks become very widely available, used for all kinds of shopping, airplane boarding passes, hotel check-ins, fast food, banking, and car rental. ATMs become nearly universal in much of the First World and very common even in poorer countries and in rural areas.
* Internet usage surpasses TV viewing in 2004. Satellite TV loses ratings as network television ratings gradually increase.
* Emerging use of robotics, especially telerobotics in medicine, particularly for surgery.
* Many more computers and other technologies are incorporated into vehicles. These include Xenon HID headlights, GPS, DVD players, self-diagnosing systems, advanced pre-collision safety systems, memory systems for car settings, back-up sensors and cameras, in-car media systems, MP3 player compatibility, USB drive compatibility, keyless start and entry, satellite radio, voice-activation, cell phone connectivity, adaptive headlights, HUD (Head-Up-Display), infrared cameras, and Onstar (on GM models).
* Peer-to-peer technology use: internet telephony (Skype), file-sharing.
* The entire videogame industry's profits surpass the movie industry's in 2004.
* The tech bubble bursts in late 2000 and after three years of negative growth, the market begins its rebound in 2003.
* Most cell phone carriers offer video viewing services, internet services, and some offer full music downloads, such as Sprint in 2005. The large majority of the public owns a cell phone,leading to a sharp decline in the use and locations of payphones.
* Home automation and home robotics advance in North America; iRobot's "Roomba" is the most successful domestic robot and has sold 1.5 million units. (Others of interest include: Robomower, and Scooba as of May 2006)
* Photovoltaics increase in popularity
* Smartboards in schools gain acceptance and are adopted rapidly during the middle years of the decade.
* An increase in online DVD rental services such as Netflix.

Television

Television in the 2000s saw the increase in popularity of reality shows, such as "Survivor" (2000-present) and "Big Brother" (2000-present). The decade has since seen a steady decline in the number of sitcoms and an increase in reality shows, such as "American Idol" (2002-present), crime and medical shows, such as "" (2000-present) and "Grey's Anatomy" (2005-present), and action/drama shows, including "24" (2001-present) and "Lost" (2004-present). The reality TV surge in the early part of the decade began to wane towards the middle of the decade, although reality TV continued to be popular. Traditional network news programs have slowly waned in popularity with the increase of 24-hour cable news stations and Internet news. Adult-oriented animated programming also began a sharp upturn in popularity with shows like "South Park" (1997-present) and "Family Guy" (1999-2002; 2005-present) along with the longtime running cartoon "The Simpsons" (1989-present). Many successful sitcoms from the 1990s ended in the 2000s, such as "Frasier" (1993-2004), "Friends" (1994-2004), "Everybody Loves Raymond" (1996-2005), and "That '70s Show" (1998-2006). Among the most popular sitcoms that began in this decade include "Malcolm in the Middle" (2000-2006), "Yes, Dear" (2000-2006), and "Grounded for Life" (2001-2005). There are few other sitcoms that have gained widespread popularity this decade.

Television saw heavy censorship concerning nudity, sex, and violence in the U.S. after the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake Super Bowl incident occurred early in 2004. The United States House of Representatives passed a bill to raise the maximum FCC fine penalty from USD $27,500 to $500,000 per violation. The United States Senate voted to increase it to $275,000 per incident. The two houses of Congress reconciled the differences in fine levels, deciding on a fine of $375,000 per violation in 2005.

Internet

*The Internet becomes a major source of all types of media, from music to movies, thanks to file-sharing P2P programs such as KaZaA and Limewire. The debate continues over the ethics of file-sharing.
*As people become more used to the Internet during this decade it begins to be spelled lower-cased, called simply "the internet" or "internet" as opposed to "Internet" or "The Internet" which were used almost exclusively during the 1990s. Similarly "E-mail" became "email" and "Web sites" became "websites".
*The diverse and spontaneous nature of the internet allows an internet culture to form. Online projects such as hamsterdance, YTMND and Homestar Runner become international trends within short periods of time due to word of mouth on and off the web, with little or no promotion required from their creators. Internet phenomena and jokes spread quickly through out mainstream internet and sometimes off-internet culture from sources such as the Something Awful Forums, 4chan, and Albino Blacksheep. (A good example of this would be Chuck Norris Facts.) Some music acts, such as Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen became well-known almost entirely from the use of the internet.
*Legal music download services such as iTunes and the re-designed Napster open up a new market of digital downloading. Napster, even its current version, becomes the number one music swapping enterprise of all time.
*Popular video shorts of the 2000s include Star Wars Gangsta Rap, D.R.A.F.T., and the SNL skit Lazy Sunday, which was controversially removed from YouTube in early 2006.
*The film Snakes on a Plane, starring Samuel L. Jackson, becomes an Internet phenomenon prior its August 18, 2006 release.
*Television and Internet begin to merge as networks start streaming shows online.
*Craigslist.org, a popular online classified site, saps over 50 million dollars a year from newspaper revenues, with a staff of only 16 people in San Francisco.
*Cell phones gain the ability to access the Internet.
*Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol(VoIP) telephones and the Internet slowly begin to merge: Examples are Vonage and Skype.
*Webcomics by amateur cartoonists begin to surpass the popularity of traditional print comic books and newspaper strips. Flash movies and Fan Fiction also become popular.
*Re-cut trailers become popular in the mid-2000s, largely due to the many parody trailers of Brokeback Mountain during the 2005-2006 winter. Popular examples include "Brokeback to the Future", , and the Sleepless in Seattle trailer cut into a horror movie.
*Social networking programs such as Myspace, Xanga, Facebook, Friendster, and MyYearbook become extremely popular among teens and twenty-somethings inspiring others to share and trade personal information via online. These sites are criticized by many for safety concerns such as their use by pedophiles to exploit the younger generations. MySpace seems to be improving in safety and security as the decade progresses.
*Informational and educational web sites abruptly decline as the internet becomes more of a place for advertising and other types of media, such as the use of such chat boards including MySpace and Facebook.
*The interactivity of the internet becomes more prominent with websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube and somewhat MySpace where users can become contributors without a specialized knowledge in HTML technology.

Video games

*Gamers who were kids in the 1980s and 1990s are now adults and continue to play video games. The average age for video game players rises into the mid to late 20s as videogames become mainstream global entertainment.
*The first batch of "next-generation" home consoles are released at the turn of the new millennium featuring larger production values, more realistic graphics, and consoles with built-in multimedia such as DVD and a hard drive. The Sony Playstation 2 (2000), Nintendo GameCube (2001), and the Microsoft Xbox (2001) are the three main contenders in the sixth-generation console wars. The PS2 becomes the best-selling video game console of all time, while Nintendo drops to last. Notable games and series for said systems are the Kingdom Hearts series and the Guitar Hero series for the Playstation 2, Super Smash Bros. Melee and the Mario Party series for the Gamecube, and the series for the Xbox.
*"The Sims" (2000), along with its numerous expansions and the help from many companies, such as Electronic Arts, Maxis, and Disney, becomes the best-selling PC game of all time. "The Sims 2" (2004) becomes almost as popular.
*Sega in 2001 drops out of the home console market after the Dreamcast (1999) fails to regain lost marketshare from the 1990s.
*Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in 2001, a 32-bit handheld system. A redesign of the GBA dubbed Game Boy Advance SP (GBASP) was released in 2003 introducing flip-top design and a frontlit screen. Another even smaller version of the GBA was released as the Game Boy Micro in 2005. The Game Boy line remains the best-selling handheld console line, despite increased competition from other companies.
*The Grand Theft Auto series sparks a fad of Mature-rated video games based on including gang warfare, drug use, and perceived "senseless violence" into the gameplay. The Hot Coffee controversy, when a sex mini-game was discovered in , caused widespread controversy and have fueled efforts to ban the sale of Mature-rated games to minors. The effort has been spearheaded by mothers, lawmakers, and activists (such as Jack Thompson), although all such efforts to pass any laws concerning this have been firmly struck down.
*MMORPGs, originating in the mid-to-late 1990s, become a popular PC trend and virtual online worlds become a reality as games such as "EVE Online" (2003), "Final Fantasy XI" (2003), "" (2003), "World of Warcraft" (2004), and "Everquest II" (2004) are released. These worlds come complete with their own economies and social organization as directed by the players as a whole. The persistent online worlds allow the games to remain popular for many years. "World of Warcraft" remains one of the most popular games in PC gaming.
*Console gaming officially hits the Internet with Xbox Live, introducing widespread use of voice-chat via headset and requiring broadband Internet connection for "no-lag" gameplay.
*Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS in late 2004 featuring dual screens, a touch screen, and built-in mic and Wi-fi. In 2006 the Nintendo DS lite, a redesign which is smaller with brighter screens, is released. Sony releases the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in early 2005, a handheld gaming console with many multimedia features and sharp graphics. The PSP, despite its variety of features, falls behind the DS in sales, allowing Nintendo to retain a firm hold on the handheld market.
*During 2005 and 2006 the seventh generation of home consoles arrive: Microsoft's Xbox 360 (2005), the Sony Playstation 3 (2006), and the Nintendo Wii (2006) have sharper HDTV-ready graphics (though Wii supports 480p max), multi-media, wireless controllers, and more integrated online features. The PlayStation 3 also features a Blu-Ray disk drive, while the Wii features a completely new controller design (see below).
*Nintendo's Wii (2006) features a remote control-style wireless controller with full motion sensitivity and a built-in speaker. This is the first major design in controllers since the launch of the video game market. In response, Sony released the PlayStation 3 with tilt-sensitive controllers.
*Video games like "Halo" (2001) and "Half-Life 2" (2004) with its Source engine revolutionize the physics aspect of gameplay. "Red Faction" in 2001 became among the first games to feature destructible environments on any level. "Age of Empires III" (2005) becomes the first real-time strategy (RTS) game to use the Havok Physics engine and thus feature realistic physics. "Company of Heroes", an RTS released in 2006, was the first game of any genre to feature fully-destructible environments. "Crysis", expected to be released in 2007, will push physics technology one step further, featuring an environment that can be affected in nearly every way by its surroundings.
*3d games become the staple of the video-game industry, with 2d games nearly fading from the market. Partially 3d and fully 2d games were still common in the industry early in the decade, but these have now become rare as developers look almost exclusively for fully 3d games to satisfy the increasing demand for them in the market.
*Sequels and spin-offs began to dominate the video game industry early in the decade and led to the decline in the number of successful original titles. The Grand Theft Auto series has become among the most popular franchises, beginning with "Grand Theft Auto III" in 2001. It has since spawned 2 sequels, with a third slated for 2007. All of the GTA games have been best-sellers. In 2004, both "Doom 3" and "Half-Life 2" were released as sequels to some of the most popular franchises in video game history, while "Halo", released in 2001, has spawned another best-selling franchise. A third and final installment is slated for 2007. It was followed up by "Halo 2", which was also released in 2004. The Final Fantasy and Zelda series remain among the most popular.
*Dance Dance Revolution is released in Japan and later the United States, where it becomes immensely popular among teenagers.

Popular video games of the 2000s

2000
*"The Sims"
*"Perfect Dark"
*"Final Fantasy IX"
*"Diablo II"
*"Chrono Cross"
*"Pokémon Gold" and "Silver"
*""
*""
*"Counter-Strike"

2001
*""
*"Black & White"
*"Max Payne"
*"Grand Theft Auto III"
*""
*""
*"Super Smash Bros. Melee"
*"Final Fantasy X"

2002
*"Neverwinter Nights"
*""
*"Battlefield 1942"
*""
*"Super Mario Sunshine"
*"Metroid Prime"

2003
*""
*"Rise of Nations"
*""
*""
*"Soul Calibur II"
*"Final Fantasy XI"
*"Call of Duty"

2004
*"Doom 3"
*"Fable"
*"The Sims 2"
*"EverQuest II"
*"Halo 2"
*"Half-Life 2"
*""
*"World of Warcraft"
*"Unreal Tournament 2004"
*""
*""
*"Dance Dance Revolution"

2005
*"Resident Evil 4"
*"God of War"
*"Battlefield 2"
*"Guitar Hero"

2006
*""
*"Final Fantasy XII"
*"Neverwinter Nights 2"
*"Gears of War"
*"Guitar Hero II"
*""