Technology

Introduction to Technology
Technology can be broadly defined as the process or mechanisms by which humans or other living organisms modify or re-arrange naturally existing materials or forces to facilitate easier execution of specific tasks or to meet specified objectives (Stobbe  Just, 2006). It is not only human beings that apply technology even though it is the human species that has achieved the most momentous milestones in applied technology. Most people would be deceived into acknowledging that technology is only or largely comprised of tangible wonder-pieces like computers, jet fighters and medicines but its definition includes the infrastructure and knowledge required to construct, maintain and advance these devices (Stobbe,  Just, 2006).

Even though the usage of the term technology gained momentum and redefined itself as the society evolves, it came to specifically refer to the technical application of knowledge and skills after the twentieth century during the course of the second industrial revolution (Hacklin,  Nystrom, 2005). The application of technical knowledge at the time was experiencing an exponential growth as research and inventiveness increased. Today, the human society is at its peak in terms of technological advancement. Technology has expanded from its application in manufacturing, transport and communication to find application in areas such as e-commerce and multi-play like in social networking, remote work processing and distributed entertainment.

Technological Convergence
Technological convergence is a term used to refer to the tentative accumulation of functional capacities of a collection of many technological devices into one device meaning that a new technological device will serve the function of multiple devices that preceded it (Hacklin,  Nystrom, 2005). For example, advances in telecommunications technology especially through the internet revolution has seen voice, data, and video merge into one. A good example is the voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Previously, voice in telecommunication was the preserve of telephony, data was the preserve of facsimile or telegraphy and video was not much part of long distance instantaneous communication (Stobbe,  Just, 2006).

This synergistic interaction and sharing of resources creates new efficiencies and conveniences technological convergences has been such a fast phenomenon that the human society is now surrounded by multi-level convergent multimedia and any new technological products have to be styled so that they are compatible with earlier existing devices, which are in themselves evolving (Stobbe,  Just, 2006). The world has become a very small village since information can spread from one corner of the globe to another in a matter of seconds.

According to experts, we are only beginning to experience technological convergence. Integral information systems and new technologies are going to revolutionize the society and take over the running of professional, institutional and personal lives (Hacklin  Nystrom, 2005). Governments, media houses, health and educational institutions are increasingly being executed in these virtual digital spaces across an exponentially growing network of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devises and infrastructure.

Technological Convergence The Case of the PlayStation (Gaming and Entertainment)
PlayStation is a brand name belonging to Sony Computer Entertainment, a part of Sony Corporation, Japan. It has a series of popular video game consoles ranging from the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, which is the latest, plus other portable video game consoles like the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and PlayStation X (PSX) (Tang, 2010).  When the original PlayStation was released, it was just a video game console and that was that. At the time, digital entertainment technology had not penetrated so much there only existed mainly analogue television, magnetic tapes and video cassettes, features which could not be implemented within the console since it would have become very bulky anyway. Furthermore, integrated chip processing was not at a very advanced stage, and the chips manufactured in the days were mainly used in office and home computing (Cnet, 2010).

In the year 2000, the PlayStation 2 was released. At the time, optical storage media had advanced as a form of entertainment, and so had other competitors to the PlayStation 2, the Dreamcast, Microsoft Corporations X-Box and Nintendo Corporations GameCube (Cnet, 2010). These were the Sixth Generation video game consoles and they had inbuilt multimedia capabilities even though they were limited. Internal storage was not that extensive as memory systems were still costly in the market. With the PlayStation 2, one could play music files like .wav and .mp3 audio tracks. Internet capacity was also increasing but the PlayStation 2 did not have any utilities for connecting to the internet.

The release of PlayStation 3 marked a revolutionary milestone in video gaming and video game console entertainment. First, it comes equipped with a 3.2 gigahertz Sony or IBM based on the PowerPC architecture that is very capable of supercomputing (Cnet, 2010). In fact, PlayStation 3s have been arranged in tandem to realize supercomputing tasks and have even been used by hackers to accomplish unbelievable task. The US military even bought a cluster of PlayStation 3s for research purposes.

In terms of multimedia, the Sony PlayStation 3 comes with features supporting digital photography, digital audio and digital video playback. It has a hard disk of up to 120 gigabytes in the most recent model, the PlayStation Slim (Cnet, 2010). Add to this a Blu-ray Digital Video Disc (DVD) recorder, Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports plus an internet port and the system is ultimate. Through the internet port and additional Bluetooth connectivity, the PlayStation 3 console can be connected to any other device like a Personal computer or a laptop, Bluetooth enabled devices like mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and portable gaming consoles like the PSP and PSX (Cnet, 2010).

Technological convergence implemented in the PlayStation 3 console is perfected in the latest version of the Portable PlayStation (PSP) (Tang, 2010). It has all the computing and wireless networking capabilities of a high-end laptop, plus it supports the VAIO LocationFreeTM Base Station television technology where it synchronizes with online television through home entertainment systems and streams television broadcasts like sports, TV series and digital video recordings directly no matter where the user is (Cnet, 2010). With this technology, a user can also change TV channels, pause live television or record content on the home entertainment components from a very remote location.

Video Games and communications, jobs  business
When the original PlayStation was released in 1994, it was very well received and it went on to become the first video game console to ship over 100 million units, having sold over 103 million units by the end of March 2005 (Tang, 2010). PlayStation 2 was released in the year 2000 and it went on to become the most successful videogame console in the world, selling over 140 million units by July 2008, 5 years and 9 months after the day it was launched. It still remains the most popular console today Cnet, 2010). PlayStation 3 was launched on the 11th of November 2006 as the first Seventh Generation video game console in the PlayStation franchise and had sold over 33 million units worldwide as at the end of September 2009.

Those numbers are impressive, and bearing in mind that the PlayStation series has stiff competition from other brands like Nintendo Corporations Wii and Microsoft Corporations Xbox 360, the video game industry is providing millions of jobs directly and indirectly all over the world (Cnet, 20100. Many people are involved in physical development, assembly and marketing of video game consoles. Others get employment from the programming of video games, and a larger percentage of people are involved in the distribution and retail chain.

Seventh generation video game consoles have very powerful multimedia capabilities and are connectable to the World Wide Web. A phenomenon like online gaming is no different from social networking like twitter or facebook since it brings together people with similar interests from all over the world (Tang, 2010). Through consoles like PlayStation 3 and Xbox, online information about weather and other things the community is interested in are availed in real time, so it would be very correct to say that video games have had a positive influence on communication. With more emotional and physical dimension and virtual reality being added into the current video games, we remain to see what the industry holds for the human society with regard to video gaming and associated multimedia. The video gaming industry is a demonstration of how technologies can converge into one to provide users with multiple services from a single point, greatly increasing efficiency and convenience.