Emerging Tech Trends That Will Inspire Innovation In 2018

What tech trends will 2018 unveil to us who want the latest innovations and electronic gadgets? We’ve seen the rise of augmented reality, virtual reality, and smart speakers, who have hit their young age in today’s ever-growing tech industry.

 

These tech trends will continue to progress as some have barely hit their infancy. There will also be new tech that has been under the radar which we’ll hear more about in 2018.

 

Artificial Intelligence

 

Artificial intelligence (AI), is being integrated into a more diverse range of applications. We’ve seen the likes of Sophia communicating with humans or AI in video games to create a more adaptive or intelligent behavior. AI is not new to the modern world. What is new is AI making an appearance on apps, devices, vehicles, transportation, and just about every new platform people use daily. It will only accelerate in 2018 and by the end of the year a mainstay in all forms of technology.

 

4G to 5G

 

The buzz about light speed wireless connectivity, 5G will finally come to fruition in 2018. The first test will occur at this year’s Winter Olympic Games in South Korea this February. Verizon has also made a recent announcement to offer 5G service to a few markets in the US while AT&T is still running their trials. When the technology arrives, the consensus is that 5G will go well beyond just the blazing fast phone in your pocket. It will influence everything from self-driving cars and the IoT (Internet of Things) to virtual reality and remote medicine.

 

Robot Friends

 

Hollywood is notorious for including robots in their production and people of all ages have always been fascinated with them. We have robots in our homes now in the form of a vacuum cleaner or toys for kids. But imagine the possibilities with AI and robotics, we’ll have a breed of social robots with various functionalities such as snapping a family picture or even checking grandma’s blood pressure. The movie Big Hero 6 is an excellent example of a robot companion that we will see in 2018.

 

 

Digital Assistants

 

Now, a robot companion may come with a hefty price tag, but 2017 introduced many affordable digital assistants or smart home accessories such as Alexa. How about our phones? Apple has Siri, Samsung has Bixby, while Microsoft has Cortana. Now, these aren’t new technologies, but in 2018 they will undoubtedly advance and integrate into our homes in forms of TV’s, fridges, kitchen stoves, microwaves, showers, curtains and so much more.

 

The Blockchain

 

Have you heard of Bitcoin? Well, the technology that keeps this cryptocurrency afloat is the blockchain and is a dispersed ledger of records which verifies without the need for a middleman. Currently, the technology is used to check cryptocurrency transactions; developers understand it has uses outside of finance.

 

The Blockchain appears for a breakout year in 2018. Many industries are going to dive deeper in researching how they can implement this technology – a great example is cybersecurity. Even if cryptocurrency collapses in the future, the blockchain is game-changing enough to survive such a hit.

 

 

Edge Computing Heightens The Cloud

 

We’ve invested so much in the cloud. The rise of IoT devices in the last couple of years is going to demand a better way to have them all communicate, while still have enough bandwidth.

 

Say hello to Edge computing – a method of advancing cloud computing systems by implementing data processing close to the source, which is typically at the “edge” of the network. This technology will drive data, apps and computing power away from centralized points to the logical extremes of a network; emulating fragments of data across shared systems of web servers, especially over a vast area.

 

 

Edge application services significantly decrease the volumes of data that must move, the distance it must travel, and the ensuing traffic will be significantly decreased, lessening transmission costs, latency, and increasing quality of service. The technology can eliminate, the core computing environment and limit a significant bottleneck and a possible point of failure.

 

2018 could be at the dawn of welcoming these tech trends into our homes, businesses, transportation, retail stores, and just about any public space. It will be a lot of work, that’s for sure. BZB Express will certainly be buzzing about these tech trends as we look forward on to 2018.