mainstream

Sometimes, truly groundbreaking ideas pop onto the scene long before the mainstream is ready to embrace it.

PC World: "Until recently, it was a commonly held belief in the mainstream computing world that Macs are more secure than Windows PCs are."

Linux User and Developer: "Pinguy OS 10.10.1 offers an optimised build of Ubuntu with an even greater focus on ease of use and functionality for the home user.

Russell Barnes takes it out for a quick spin to see how it performs"

So here we are in a new decade, and the technologies that are now available to us continue to engage (and enthrall) in fascinating ways.

The rise and collision of several trends—social, mobile, touch computing, geo, cloud—keep spitting out new products and technologies which keep propelling us forward.

Below I highlight seven technologies that are ready to tip into the mainstream 2011. Before I get into my predictions, let's see how I did last year, when I wrote

ServerWatch: "From Oracle's acquisition of Sun to Cisco releasing servers to SSDs going mainstream, 2010 was an eventful year for server hardware.

Here are the 10 most notable milestones."

Android is everywhere.

Really.

The six new CPUs, along with lowered prices on previous models, help fill out AMD's enthusiast and mainstream processor lines.

In separate announcements in the past week, AMD has released more details of its manufacturing plans, and announced a new processor aimed at the mainstream notebooks as well as desktops.

IT World: "If there was any take-away I got from LinuxCon a couple of weeks ago, it was this: open source has finally become mainstream."

The Register: "Open source went mainstream long ago. It's a pity, then, that it's still so poorly understood by many of its most ardent admirers."