Visualizing the Future of Tech
January is always a great month. With the new year, new aspirations and resolutions are always on tap. Predictions for what's to come are aplenty (even Jonathan and Kate weighed in with their own this year!).
Sadly, as January comes to a close, we're probably near the tail end of predictions for the coming year... which is probably why I appreciated this visualized roundup of trends and research on emerging technologies from London-based technologist / designer Michell Zappa:
Zappa's visualization pulls together research and thoughts from several sources, including Wired Magzine, Clay Shirky, John Battelle, Linda Stone, Engadet Alt, and trendwatching.com.
So what's hot for 2012? (Definitions below from Zappa)
- Additive trading: The use of sophisticated technological tools to trade securities like stocks or options. In high-frequency trading, programs analyze market data to capture trading opportunities that may open up for only a fraction of a second to several hours.
- Cloud computing: The delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet).
- Multitouch: A touch sensing surface’s ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface. This plural-point awareness is often used to implement advanced functionality such as pinch to zoom or activating predefined programs.
- Depth imaging: Depth (or Range) imaging is the name for a collection of techniques which are used to produce a 2D image showing the distance to points in a scene from a specific point, normally associated with some type of sensor device. The resulting image can be used to reproduce a 3D scene on screen.
- Tablets: A complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen.
- Personal gene sequencing: A branch of genomics where individual genomes are genotyped and analyzed using bioinformatics tools. The most important aspect of personal genomics is that it may eventually lead to personalized medicine, where patients can take genotype specific drugs for medical treatments.
- Additive manufacturing: “The manufacture of end-use products using additive manufacturing techniques” or more broadly, the application of layer manufacturing techniques to fabricate end use products.
Zappa's visualization also includes some quantitative forecasts. For 2012, Zappa expects a global online population of approximately 2 billion, and approximately 10 billion connected devices.
And while Jonathan's 5 year look at tech was ambitious, Zappa's visualization looks all the way to 2040. Can you say space travel by 2020 and a space elevator by 2040?! Bring it!
-Stephanie