5 most
important breakthroughs of the past 10 years: what technologies have changed
our lives?
Smartphones,
ebook readers, tablets or Virtual reality. Some of them did not exist ten years
ago, about some knew only few. Thanks to these inventions and their
popularization, our lives have changed unrecognizably over the past decade.
5. Ebook readers
Kindle was
not the first ebook reader on the market, however thanks to it the popularity
of this type of equipment exploded. What makes that in the world of smartphones
and tablets so many people decide to buy a device intended primarily for
reading? It's all about the screen made
in e-paper technology. Not only it is as eye-catching as traditional paper,
it consumes very little energy and thanks to that we can read a few books on a
single device. Last year around 25 million ebook readers were sold worldwide.
4. Android
The
development of the smartphone market and its differentiation we owe primarily
to Android. The free open system
gives phone manufacturers a huge field to show off. Different smartphones have different menu look and many unique
features and functions and at the same time, almost all of them have access
to the same Play Store, which has
millions of sensational apps available. When in 2008, HTC Dream appeared in
stores which was the first device with Android on board, hardly anyone could
have predicted that a few years later the annual sales of devices with this
platform would come close to a billion.
3. Virtual and extened reality
This boom
is actually just getting started. Although only few people have VR helmets, devices
of this type are already aroused great interest. It is possible that over the
next ten years they will change our
lives to such extent that we cannot even imagine. Samsung Gear VR goggles
have already hit the market, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and HTC Vive are
coming soon. And that's not the end, because the bright future awaits also the
extended reality - it's hard not to be
impressed with the huge possibilities of Microsoft HoloLens glasses. Watching
movies, communicating with friends, games where we can really feel like we are
in another world… the experiences of new
technologies have never been so amazing.
2. Tablets
This
category of devices has literally shot up - when in 2010, the first iPad appeared on the market. For voices of
the surprise there was no end - many people claimed that the tablet is just a
bigger smartphone and that having such a device makes no sense. Sales figures,
however, spoke for themselves. Tablets
are great for entertainment and work and increasingly popular hybrids
combine the functionality of tablets and notebooks. For the purchase of the
tablet about 300 million people decide each year.
1. Smartphones
Victory in
this ranking could not have happened to anything else. The era of modern
smartphones based primarily on large touch screens started well in 2007 with the release of the first iPhone. Thanks
to these small devices we can not only call, but also have a permanent
connection to the network, listen to music, watch movies, play, use GPS
navigation or take beautiful photos. Today hardly anyone imagine life without a
multifunctional phone in their pockets - in 2014, over one billion smartphones were sold worldwide. And still ten
years ago, if someone red the description of the contemporary phone and its
capabilities, he would go and have his brains examined.
·
What
is the most important tech breakthrough of the past 10 years in your opinion?
·
Which
invention of the technology of 10 last years you cannot do without?
·
What
will be the most important tech breakthrough in the following years?
The sources used:
Comments
If talking about possible future tech breakthrough - I'm waiting for cheap public flying streetcars without drivers ;) The ones which could take any passenger anywhere, example straightly to their homes, not only on the way to car/bus stops.
I really like ebook readers, but I'm not sure if it was a breakthrough, while you can read books on tablets and phones. I think that hybrid car or some device that allows you to do something at home intead of going somewhere would be a better 5th place.
VR is new invention. I think it will be the biggest breakthough of next 10 years. I have played with Oculus. It is amazing. When I was young I wanted to be in game with my body.
Interesting paradox - world should change even faster in the future, but for the past 5 years nothing has changed(except virtual reality and number of Youtube users). Obviously there is a lot of new technologies coming like self-driving cars, drones, artificial intellegence and so on, but none of them didn't affect our lives since they are only on a prototype stage. So I think that the most of breakthroughts will only come in next 10 years. And that's amazing :)
It's nothing to be proud of, but I could have problems trying live without a smartphone. I even haven't noticed when it came to be an essential part of my everyday life. And I'm not thinking about using Facebook or taking selfies, but sometimes I really need it for example to quick check something in the Internet like train schedule or maps.
I've heard about an equipment which is used by surgeons to do surgery from another part of world. They have something like gloves by which they can control a robot in operating room and save someone's life.
It’s a pretty safe bet that next ten years will belong to VR/AR and AI. I’m looking forward to the innovations in these areas.
Of course, without a smartphone , not a day goes by when I don't use , and of course it is less useful without a wired Internet networks ,which has considerably changed over the past 10 years.
I think in the future will greatly develop VR technology , 3D printers , artificial intelligence, and of course, the neural network machine learning.
I fully agree with those who believe that smartphones deserve for the first place. I think it's the most important breakthrough. I mean IT breakthrough (if I can called so). I use my smartphone very often. It helps me at work. Sometimes I think how hard it would be to work without it. The same time it can be sad. Some years ago people didn't have smartphones and they lived and worked, but in my case work, smartphones, the Internet are connected.
What's more, my smartphone helps me in daily life. Using public transport, visitng new places, reading news or just playing. Smartphones changed world so much that I think it fully deserves for the gold.
It’s really hard for me to imagine my day without my smartphone, I might be even slightly addicted to it.
Smartphones give us possibility to do almost everything that we needed computer, but its small and portable.
However, I don’t think that VR will be such a gamechanger. I think that it’s really overhyped.
It's also something that I cannot live without. Look at it that way:
I'm stuck in some random place and I'm going to be late to work. I can use remote desktop applications from my smartphone to do the job, and inform my boss via mail that such situation occured.In my opinion the most important breakthrough that is yet to come will be fully transfering human mind into virtual space. We have already achieved virtual reality that allows us to feel like we are inside game or some place, but we have yet to achieve full transfer of human consciousness into computer.
Of course I couldn't do without my smartphone (as laptops are not from past ~10 years). It is my mini personal computer and Google Maps is a life savior.
The greatest breakthrough of next following years in my opinion will be mastering 3D printing human organs.
Of course, the most important invention for me is smartphone. I can't image my everyday life without it. I can tell a lot about them, but I guess everything already was told. It's just an essential part of my life.
For the following years the most important will be developing of the VR. Uncounted opportunities are hidden in the virtual world.
One more thing should be taken into consideration – the drones. It is kind of technology which develops in front of our eyes. Not only in our private lives but also in army or maybe in espionage.
I guess I would have problems with living without a smartphone at first, but it's all a matter of habit. Not using it for long enough would probably just cure me from the "need", and android is just an operating system. If it wasn't there something else would, not to mention not all mobile devices actually run on it. Same goes with ebook readers, it's just a more convenient way of reading a book, not much of a revolution there, people who never read books still never read them and there's still someone who has to write that book. Virtual reality is hardly developed enough, right now it feels a lot like a gimmick, I think it was around for over two decades but never was viable enough to make money, that might change soon but for now it's just a toy for slightly richer people.
I think real technological breakthroughs are happening in fields like medicine, agriculture or even spaceflight. Tablets, smartphones and virtual goggles are just entertainment.
I can't live without my smarthphone. I read a lot of technical stuff and 90% of time use a phone.
Next important breakthrough could be some technology that would allow us to travel through space for a really long distance.