Digital disruption is here, we are in it, we are disrupted, and the world we know is being transformed each and every day. Technology has and is changing the way we live; it is changing the way we see things; it is changing the way travel, the way we work and changing the way we communicate. People now know more about disasters and information about what is happening all over the world, and you know about it instantly. Before the internet existed, if you did hear about something going on on the other side of the world, it was usually a period of time after it had happened. The internet connects us with people in every country, and we can instantly communicate with them, and we can find out whatever information we want about something by just typing in a couple of words. While in the 1800s, the primary form of communication was the telegraph we now have smartphones, social media, and video messaging, which are taking over the world quickly. As technology continues to progress, who knows how we’ll be communicating in the future?
It is difficult to know all the benefits and dangers of the increase in technology; it is difficult to predict what will happen – which innovations will take off and which won’t? There is also no way of knowing what someone could currently be creating in their bedroom. So much of the technology that has changed our lives has come out of nowhere, so who knows what ideas are being cooked up in someone’s head and will soon be on our laptops. There are a few significant technologies that if you haven’t heard of them yet, then you soon will, and you should be aware of.
Big Data
Our emails, social media posts, online articles, GPS signals, fitness tracking and simple website browsing, produces a lot of data, and this is what we call Big Data. Big Data is kept and analysed and then used to benefit companies and their sales but also to benefit us and the customer service we receive. For example, our preferences, the recommendations for the things we might like and even what we see advertised on the websites we are on. The amount of data collected and the contents of that data are of interest to many sectors such as tourism, commerce, advertising, genetics, astronomy or human resources. In the future, Big Data will likely be used in the medical industry to create new treatments and more personalised medicine; it will probably be used in the humanitarian field, and be used to manage natural disasters and manage the consequences of wars. Big Data will also, of course, be used for commercial purposes as it is now, such as targeting the best of customers for advertisers or offering better promotional offers, it could even be used for predictive shopping.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a pretty new concept, but it’s come a long way in a short space of time from sixty years ago when a computer could do some calculations to AlphaGo, the AI of Google DeepMind, which beat the world champion of the game of Go. Most of the techniques used in AI come from machine learning and is already used in several fields, such as the medical industry helping doctors to make diagnoses. Then there are the ones more of us use such as Alexa or Siri, which use AI based on learning of our habits.
Self Driving Cars
They seem like a thing of the future, but they already exist. The electrification of cars will not only solve the problem of pollution and noise of current vehicles, autonomous driving, will also reduce the number of accidents by far. The cars will also be connected, which means that drivers – or passengers as they will be in the future will be able to have all the information they need regarding the weather and the traffic.
Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality
Or VR and AR as they are known respectively are changing the way we do many things. Not to be confused, Virtual reality is the one which is used in gaming and where people can immerse into a 3D virtual world in which you can move and interact. Then augmented reality is where you sued the real world to display 2D or 3D information such as images, numbers and texts with which the user can also interact. Augmented reality applications include several concepts such as image recognition and camera calibration, together known as tracking, and it also uses 2D and 3D rendering. Augmented reality headsets include The Oculus Rift, which is Facebook’s virtual reality headset for PC, Sony’s Project Morpheus for PS4, The Vive of HTC & Valve for PC, Samsung’s Gear VR for mobile, and The Google Cardboard for mobile. An example of an Augmented reality headset is the Hololens from Microsoft.
3D Printing
3D printers are now being used in many industries including robotics, jewellery, medicine, food, fashion, DIY, architecture, design, health and marketing. They can be used to create artificial limbs, food and even houses. The possibilities with 3D Printers are endless; you can even print a 3D printer. They are a real technological revolution because they will allow companies to create products quickly and accurately and also to individuals to build their own objects and perhaps become architects of their own homes.
Online Learning
The online learning industry is growing at a rapid rate and online, and various technological tools have taken over the education system. Thousands of courses and degrees are now studied online and have proved to be just as effective if not more than the traditional face-to-face learning. Students can study at their own pace, and can easily repeat parts of the course they have questions about.
