This week, thinking about what the world of tech will be like this year, how you can skip the lineup at Starbucks, Apple makes it easier for you to make music, and The Witness, a new game from designer Jonathan Blow, is now available.

Deloitte predicts tech trends for 2016

Every year, analysts at Deloitte interview clients and knowledgeable people in the technology sector to assemble a list of predictions for the year ahead.

This year’s list was released on Jan. 13, and on Monday, the company’s director of research in Canada, Duncan Stewart, was in Vancouver to present the report.

In a release, Stewart said that using your mobile phone to pay for things was going to get easier this year. Mobile gaming is also going to make up more of the video game industry. Deloitte anticipates that mobile games will account for 37 percent of sales, with Windows accounting for 34 percent and consoles 29 percent. The amount of revenue the different games generate is quite different, though. Deloitte predicts consoles games to average $4.8 million, Windows games to average $2.9 million, and mobile games to average only $40,000 per title.

The company reports that Canada’s gaming sector is the third biggest in the world, contributing $2.3 billion to GDP and employing over 20,000.

In line with my prediction, Deloitte also thinks that virtual reality headsets will be a niche market in 2016.

While many analysts have been predicting the end of the PC, a Deloitte survey found that 25 percent of Canadians aged 18 to 24 plan on purchasing a new laptop this year. This demographic, known as “Trailing Millennials” want both smartphones and computers.

As for movies and television, Deloitte predicts that theatre box office revenues will be down slightly, and the traditional TV services to decline further. Apparently, people in the U.S. watch about 320 minutes of TV every day, Canadians watch only 240 minutes.

Finally, Deloitte’s analyses indicate that there will continue to be a lack of women working in the field of information technology. “To get there, we need improvements to the education pipeline (only 25 percent of those studying computer science in Canada are women, down from 2009 levels of 27 percent); the recruiting and hiring process; retention rates; pay and the path to promotion are all required,” the company said in a statement.

No more Starbucks lineups

More than 130 Starbucks locations in the Lower Mainland began offering Mobile Order & Pay. It’s also available in select Toronto locations.

Using the Starbucks app on your mobile, you can place and pay for an order ahead of time, and simply go to the pickup area to get your drink.

You can also order food items.

Making music just got easier with Apple

GarageBand already makes it really easy to make music. The software, which is available on computers as part of the Mac OS X operating system, is also on iOS devices, and that version has just been updated.

GarageBand 2.1 introduces a new feature called Live Loops, which allows for easier sampling and looping. By simply tapping the screen of your mobile device, you can activate instrument and sample sounds.

Music Memos is a completely new app. Think of it as a blown up version of Voice Memos. Not only can you record vocals or sounds, but Music Memos can lay down drums and a bass line under the memo so you can better hear what it might sound like.

The app can also show the notation of the chords that were played in the app. It’s like a Moleskine notebook for musicians.

The Witness will bring out the explorer in you

From game designer Jonathan Blow, who also created Braid, The Witness has been released for PS4 and Windows.

The game takes place on an abandoned island, and players will attempt to piece together what’s happened, and what’s happening, as they explore.

Atmosphere and environment are key to this game, as is exploration. There are audio recordings to be found throughout the island, but they are not the straight-forward, plot driving logs that other games have featured as a device to “lay some pipe” (as the professional TV writers would phrase it).

Blow says there are some 650 maze-based puzzles created for The Witness, including some that are overt mazes and others that are more conceptual. The game is priced at $44 on Steam, $40 at the PlayStation Network.