2017 Forecasts – Technology

Please notice that the title of this column is not Technology Trends for 2017amp160 Trends do not happen within a yearamp160 Any such titled column is really about new gadgets products and iterative improvement to existing technologiesamp160 We have recently experienced the flood of amp8220hereamp8217s whatamp8217s cool at CESamp8221 stories Fodder for consumers and hipstersThe topics listed below are major technology trends that are already manifesting and that will be significant in our futureamp160 They will of course show up in 2017 as products or as announcement of developments or dealsI will write full columns in the months ahead about the technologies below that have an asterisk next to the titleSmart PhonesSmart Phones have basically run their course in terms of being a handheld deviceamp160 There is no one reading these words that has major complaints about experiencing extreme limitations of their deviceamp160 The two trends that will continue are the evergrowing popularity of the larger screen phones and the increase in storage capacityamp160 These two developments move us ever closer to the need of just two devices our laptop or laptoptablet computer and our phoneAs someone concerned about climate change the resurrection of planned obsolescence that Apple and Samsung have created by contriving a new model each year has been frustratingamp160 It was tail fins in the 1950s and it is megapixels nowamp160 I will use my current Apple 6 until it stops workingRoboticsWe will see lots of robots in 2017amp160 Robotics have now come into their own and when combined with machine learning will become a technology that will truly disrupt the workplace and how we live in the next 10 yearsArtificial IntelligenceMachine LearningThis of course is a big oneamp160 It will affect almost every smart technology and will bring about as much change as has the computeramp160 When combined with robotics and voicecomputer interface AIML will rapidly change our living environmentamp160 In 2017 there will be some amp8220man versus AIamp8221 events similar to Googleamp8217s AlphaGoamp8217s victory last year against the best Go player in the worldDeepMind and Watson will continue to dominate the headlines in this categoryWe are the first iteration of humanity that will have to make the psychological adjustment of sharing the planet with an equal or superior intelligenceThere will be much written about artificial intelligence this year including a column I will write suggesting that the name is in fact an incorrect one for this emerging machine intelligenceVoice Recognition SoftwareThis is now and will be the big consumer tech trend for 2017amp160 Apple brought this first to market with Siri and of course left a bad first impressionamp160 Amazon with Echo and Alexa is the current leader and seems to be improving the product on an ongoing basisamp160 This is one of the areas where Apple opened the door and others stormed through with superior products and servicesHumans first wrote then typed then keyboarded then used touchscreens and now voiceamp160 We are entering the new era of the voiceactivated environmentOf course this presents the next major question about privacy and amp8220big brotheramp8221 An Echo has already been the subject of a warrant in a murder investigationamp160 If your environment is always on and ready to respond to your next voice command what else might it hear and where is that information going to be storedamp160 This leads me to the next big tech issue for 2017HackingCybersecurityIt was hard to miss hacking stories in 2016 due to the presidential election As a futurist I kept wondering why there was so much surprise in the media about hackingamp160 In a column in February 2013 I stated that the current enemy of the US would be cyberattacks and that cyberspace is where future wars will be amp8220foughtamp8221In March 2015 I forecast that for at least the next few years we will live in a amp8220hacked worldamp8221amp160 In 2013 I wrote a short eBook titled Is Privacy Dead The Future of Privacy in the Digital Age The two basic ideas were and areamp160 as technology increases privacy decreases and convenience wins over privacy We no longer have privacy as defined prior to the digital ageIoTBig DataThe euphoria around this hit a big bump in the road last year when it was shown how easily sensors and monitors can be hackedamp160 Again as the communications energy and logistics Internets grow explosively we are confronted with reality of everless privacyamp160 The obvious offset is the transformation to ever smarter and efficient global systems and the move from hierarchies to collaborative commonsamp160 The move to an everlower marginal cost economy will bring incredible savings but at the above stated loss of privacyAutomobilesThis category is and will be forever listed under technology amp1602016 was the year when what has been going on for years became a reality the gear heads of Detroit collaborating with the tech heads of Silicon Valleyamp160 The first major deal is the GoogleFiat Chrysler one in which Google provides all the technology for the autonomous automobile the driverless car and Fiat Chrysler provides the vehicleamp160 Of course the vehicles are all internal combustion engine vehicles but the move to electric plugin vehicles is the next step hopefully in 2017The transformation in the automotive sector cannot be overestimated Safer roads decreasing greenhouse gas emissions fewer cars ownership to shared transportation and a fundamental change from the first era of automobiles that began 100 years ago with Henry Ford We have entered the second era of the automobileIn the near future I will write more extensively about these major technology trends as they will alter how humanity lives works thinks and redefines itselfClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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2017 Forecasts – Technology

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David Houle

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