What to Expect in 2015 - Tech Edition

2015 promises to be a great one

2014 was a memorable year in the tech industry. We saw the emergence of smartwatches, 4K televisions began sprouting up from everywhere, Apple finally made a big-screened smartphone with their iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and fitness trackers became common place for many. People continued to use their smartphones & tablets more frequently than ever before and the term "selfie" was officially added to the dictionary. While 2014 gave us a lot of great things to enjoy, 2015 promises to introduce some technologies that might begin to completely transform the way our society operates. We will be looking at three huge trends many expect to set the tone for tech in 2015: The Internet of Things, 3D Printing, and Smart Machines.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

Many of you have probably heard this term used before, but you may not know what it means. The Internet of Things is regarded as the inter connectivity of unique devices that operate under similar systems & processes. Right now, most of our devices are not necessarily connected with each other, but rather allow us as people to connect with other people. The Internet of Things hopes to provide an even richer experience for consumers where all devices in their daily lives not only connect together, but more importantly make our lives even easier and more efficient.

Imagine when you wake up in the morning your home not only communicates upon your request of your schedule for that day & the weather forecast, but also based on your sleep patterns that your fitness tracker gathered during the night realizes that you are stressed and need a cup of coffee as you wake up. With the Internet of Things, this would be possible. Instead of daily checking your stock of produce and milk in your refrigerator, one that was connected with the Internet of Things would send you notifications to your phone when your supply gets low. The grand vision of the Internet of Things is a web of connected devices that all interact with each other and provided a seamless experience across all aspects of your life.

3D Printing

As college students, we all know the frustrations of printers. The cartridges are expensive, they break all the time, and we use them primarily to print 50 page research papers we pulled two all-nighters to complete. YUCK.  Thanks to the ingenious minds of people much smarter than I, a new generation of printing has begun to arrive, one that doesn't require expensive cartridges and that prints more than just paper. Say hello to the 3D Printer!

Now thanks to this new emerging technology, we can print essentially anything. Pencils, phone speakers, even cars! This technology uses synthetic strands of material that it weaves at high speeds to form these three-dimensional objects. While at first these processes would take hours, even days, to complete, recent innovations have reduced this time frame down to merely minutes in some cases. The most exciting thing about 3D printing is the potential that exists for the breadth of objects that could be produced. Imagine never having to go buy another replacement part for your computer, car, or television again. Instead of driving out to a retail store and paying their marked-up price for the part, you instead use your 3D Printer to print the part in the comfort of your own home for a fraction of the cost. Obvious issues are present such as copyright concerns, integrity of the product, and the high up-front cost of the printers, but one thing is for sure: one day your next toothbrush might just be printed before your very eyes.

Smart Machines

The last trend you should expect to see take off in 2015 are smart machines, specifically artificial intelligence. I'm sure many of you have seen the movie iRobot starting Will Smith. If not, check it out sometime at your nearest Redbox or Hastings location. The movie envisions a world where robotics has advanced so much to the point that we become almost completely reliant on them to perform daily activities like driving our car, making coffee in the morning, & even national security. While some believe this will never in fact become reality, we are starting to see advancements in robotics that might disagree. Check out this video for a glimpse at the future.

Medicine is not the only way robots could be used in the future. Education, retail, food, telemarketing, customer service. The list goes on and on! Great research and testing will have to continue to take place in order for smart machines to truly replace the efficiency and diversity that most humans have to practice to perform these tasks, but rest assured smart machine technology will one day be among us. It might not be a robot named Sonny that is searching for its purpose in life, but it just might be the next thing that asks you the question "Would you like fries with that?"

Just wait....it's going to happen one day.