With innovation hubs like Kickstarter and Indigogo providing a window into what could be the next big thing in the technology world, often times these zany inventions are integrated into other technologies or are bought out by big name tech companies before they have a chance to catch on in public markets. What are some of the big tech changes we can realistically expect within the next couple of years? Prepare yourselves, techies. Here are ten of the surest bets in beta testing.
1. Self Esteem Selfies
Sony has come up with a new way to take selfies. This technology will have the ability to determine the emotional state of the user upon reviewing his/her selfies, and then adapt so that unwanted images are automatically filtered out when taking multiple selfies.
2. Funny Moment Capture
This technology, developed by Google, will help you remember what you found to be funny while watching TV by running a program that reads your facial expressions as you watch. All you’ll have to do to find the funniest scene of a movie or show is ask the program, and it will immediately pull up the scenes you found funniest on YouTube.
3. Animated eBooks
No question about it—These books are going to revolutionize the bedtime story. No longer will the person doing the reading have to also animate the sound effects that should accompany a book. Microsoft is planning to patent the technology behind these eBooks that will self-animate using voice activation throughout the story as it is read.
4. Holographic Phone Images
Samsung plans to implement this technology manipulates the mechanism of a phone screen to display holograms. Imagine what this will mean for photo-based social media like Facebook and Instagram…
5. Roll-Up Phone
Samsung is planning another big phone technology takeover with this patented design of a “roll-up” phone. Samsung says that using flexible display technology, these phones will have the ability to be rolled up newspaper-style and put in your pocket.
6. Better Driver App
Yahoo has an app currently in beta testing that measures how well you drive and follow traffic laws. This app will warn you when driving unsafely or when tricky traffic situations arise.
7. Surround Vison
Instead of using multiple monitors a la sports bar, Sony has invented a monitor that uses one monitor and a special pair of glasses to achieve the effect of “surround vision.” Whichever way you want to turn, the image on the screen will shift and recalibrate so that it can easily be seen from any angle.
8. Dream Shopping Experience
Amazon has plans to create the ultra personalized shopping experience. Using this feature, you would be able to instantly view items tailored to your interests and shopping history in a fully personalized shopping catalogue.
9. The Never-Forget-Your-Keys App
Using this app, you would never again walk out of the house without your wallet, keys, or other important items. Google is devising a way to alert you if your phone is too far out of range of your important items.
10. Contact Lens ID
Google is currently working on developing a method of scanning for identification without entering a password or even scanning your irises. Instead, these special contact lenses would contain encrypted information that makes identification easier and identify theft virtually impossible.
