As the world continues to move towards a more digital lifestyle, several technologies will significantly impact our lives. In the 22nd century, technology will play an even more important role in our lives. We’re about to enter into a new age where machines are smarter than humans and where the internet is our new personal assistant. These technology trends will affect everything from home appliances to automobiles and every aspect of life. Here are some of the biggest technology trends for 2022 that we predict will change your life!
1. Artificial Intelligence
In 2022, AI will become much faster, smarter, stronger and ubiquitous—as it’s already happening with Google Assistant and Alexa today. The question isn’t “if” but rather “when?” AI will be as common in houses and offices across North America as electricity was 100 years ago. This means that your home and office can function autonomously without you or anyone else having to do anything; this is called domestic/office automation (D/O). D/O has been around since the 1980s with the likes of GE appliances, but we believe D/O technology will take off as artificial intelligence becomes much more pervasive by 2022. For example, if you have a smart TV set-top box like Koogeek or Sonoff IQ, then you could use Amazon Echo to order another Netflix movie or Siri if your phone runs iOS 12 to turn off all the lights in your house before going to bed. Or maybe you could ask Google Assistant to control your AC unit (in conjunction with Nest). You don’t need to buy anything new; connect these devices via Wi-Fi. With 20% growth over last year, this market represents $12 billion revenue potential alone. D/O technology is not limited to just homes either. There are also many different types of business applications, such as retail, manufacturing, hospitality, transportation, healthcare, etc.
2. Internet of Things
By 2020, 90%+ of households will own at least one connected device. By 2030, 40% of households will hold two or more connected household devices. What does this mean? Suppose you consider your fridge, stove, smoke alarms, garage door opener, lawnmower, pool pump, air conditioner, thermostat, washing machine, and heater to be connected to household devices. In that case, you understand how pervasive IoT technology will be when it comes time to share data between them and other connected devices. It won’t be long until those little electric cars you see running up and down the streets are also interconnected so they can communicate with each other. As consumers start to get used to the idea that their entire home, office, and the vehicle will constantly interact, our lifestyles will never be the same again. Smartphones will continue to replace laptops as we move towards a “post-PC” era. Many people don’t realize this, but Apple’s iPhone came out nearly 3 decades ago. However, most cellphones only became smartphones in 2017.
3. Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality has been around long enough now that we’re starting to recognize its benefits. Now, imagine sitting at home watching Star Wars or playing Call Of Duty while surrounded by real objects instead of video game graphics. VR headsets like Oculus Rift and Microsoft HoloLens take virtual experiences away from the 2D screen and transfer them directly to your eyes. Companies like Facebook have jumped into this space with social media platforms designed specifically for VR, and early adopters have an incredible experience. But there are still some problems associated with these headsets. While they feel amazing on someone 6’4″, they aren’t practical as a daily driver because they make everything blurry. Also, while the price point for VR has come down by 50%, the quality hasn’t dropped significantly yet. We expect to see big improvements in both the hardware and software side very soon.
4. 5G
5G Networking Technology Will Change Everything About Your Life. This will also affect our lives greatly, even if we don’t know it right away. The technology behind 5G should improve bandwidth speeds by 10x compared to the existing 4G LTE Networking Technology. Think about streaming HD 1080p content in real-time, gaming online, driving autonomous vehicles, using augmented reality apps, using remote robots and drones to solve real-world problems, or connecting your Home Automation System to millions of sensors making your life easier at home and work. These are just a few examples of what will become possible once 5G rolls out in every country around the globe. One of the companies leading the way with 5G development is Huawei. They recently introduced the NovaLTE modem, which will allow smartphones to connect to 5G networks in mid-2019.
5. Augmented & Mixed Reality
AR & MR are technologies that blend digital information with Reality. AR allows users to interact with physical environments through computer vision and object recognition. A user would put on an AR headset and see his surroundings replaced by digitally rendered imagery. For example, he could see a blue chair appear next to him without walking over to it. Users wear headsets that overlay computer-generated information within the real environment in the mixed reality space. Imagine walking into a room and seeing all the furniture inside clearly. You wouldn’t need any fancy equipment or app. That stuff gets complex fast. So why is this important? Because we live in a 3-dimensional world, most resources online, apps, and videos are created in flat 2D images. So as we learn more ways to merge physical and digital worlds, new industries will be born, allowing us to capture information more richly.
6. AI & Machine Learning
AI can go far beyond Siri. It will become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. Not only will chatbots become smarter and better than human communications tools, but we’ll use them to automate tasks, diagnose medical issues, answer questions, drive cars, personalize apps, and so much more. Artificial Intelligence isn’t going anywhere, and neither is machine learning. Some people think it’s already here; others say it’s less intelligent than we give it credit for. No matter how you view it, one thing is certain AI is growing stronger every day, and it won’t stop until it becomes omnipresent. With that comes great opportunities for businesses of all sizes. Small businesses have an advantage over large ones in leveraging AI and ML because they typically lack the budget needed to hire data scientists. However, startups can develop their own AI/ML applications and build customer relationships faster than larger brands that rely heavily on automation. At the same time, smaller organizations tend to leverage artificial intelligence in specific areas such as marketing, sales, manufacturing, logistics, HR and Customer Support, among other functions.
These six trends will dramatically change our lives. It’s not hyperbole to say that these things will influence almost everything we do. Yet most of us have no idea how disruptive they will ultimately prove to be. Even worse, we’ve been blindly adding more complexity to ourselves as a society because we haven’t known any better. When we add more layers to our systems, whether it’s software programs that make decisions for us, machines doing menial labor, or simply more rules and regulations, it makes fixing the inevitable errors exponentially harder.