With each new year, technology continues to push the current boundaries and change the way we interact with our phones, cars, tablets, TVs and computers. Here are the top three tech trends to keep a close eye on this coming year:
1. Virtual Reality
Virtual reality may be unheard of by some, but it is slowly becoming a major focus of many major tech companies. As of now, virtual reality is somewhat of a niche market. It is mainly geared toward PC gamers with a computer capable of running the virtual reality simulations, which is only about 1 percent of the PCs currently on the market. The focus of virtual reality is slowly shifting focus however. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, recently bought Oculus VR, a major virtual reality company, for about $2 billion. According to Zuckerberg, virtual reality will soon be “a part of daily life." Along with Zuckerberg, Palmer Lucky, the founder of Oculus also believes virtual reality is the next major thing. Although not many computers can currently run much of the virtual reality technology, Lucky believes that in the next five years or so, many computers will be capable to run nearly all virtual reality technologies.
2. Artificial Intelligence
We all know Siri. If you don’t know Siri, you probably know Cortana. Artificial intelligence has been gaining traction over the past five years or so, and, according to professionals in the technology industry, it will continue to grow and evolve until it is a main aspect of daily life. AS computers become more powerful and faster, so does artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is changing the way we interact with technology. We all know that it has been used with phones almost entirely, but it is also being coupled with cars and even just for standalone use in homes.
3. Self-Driving Cars
I think this is something we have all heard a least something about, the future of driving. Quite a few companies are starting to allocate more and more resources each year to self-driving cars. Potentially the most well-known company that is determined to bring self-driving cars to the market as soon as possible is Tesla, headed by Elon Musk. Musk truly believes that self-driving cars will soon be a standard in the driving industry. In an interview with Elon Musk, he compared self-driving cars to elevators. First there were stairs, then elevators with operators and now you just press a button. He believes the automobile industry will take the same approach. “You’ll be able to tell your car ‘take me home,’ go here, go there, anything, and it’ll just do it. Of course this will not be an overnight thing. The current industry estimates are around years or so for these new cars to replace the current cars on the roads and on the market.
