Unit 3, 2.1 "Explain what is meant by 'converging technology."

Unit 3, 2.1 - "Explain what is meant by 'converging technology."

Converging technology is when you take two or more technological products that were previously used separately for different tasks, and merge them to make one, ultimate, product.

Examples of converged technological products can range from everything and anything that we use now, including smart phones (which can surf the internet, download music/films/games, instant message people, and more) and game consoles (which can, like smart phones, surf the internet, download music/films/games, play music and films).

The one key converging technological product that I can think of is what I am using now – a computer.

The computer is probably the ultimate converged technological product; one that most of us use on a day-to-day basis, whether that be at home or on the job. 

I have given two examples of what a computer can do that were things other media products did before.

Playing music, films and games were things that, previously, were all down to CD and vinyl players/walkmans (music), DVD players (film) and game consoles (games). Now, we can happily watch films, listen to music, and play games on the comfort of our own computers (though the latter, PC gaming, has been around for some time now, longer than the other two.)

Conversing with family, friends, work colleagues, and sometimes, complete strangers, would usually be done by phone, or, in some cases, snail mail. Now, on a computer, we have the option to instant message anyone we would like with messaging systems such as Skype and MSN (the former being able to ring people on their mobile phones, too). Emailing is another aspect to communicating via the computer, something that didn't exist not so many years ago. 

There are many other things that computers can do that were previously one technology. Even a calculator in the accessories section of a computer is considered as a converging technology because a calculator was formally its own product and not associated with anything else.