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Ric's Top 5 Predictions for the Next Few Years

What does the future of tech hold?

Here are Ric's top 5 predictions for big technology breakthroughs in the next few years:

  1. Healthcare tech - especially carer centric healthcare technology
  2. Wearable computing - especially head gear like Google Glass
  3. 3D Printers - they will change everything
  4. The localisation of the Internet
  5. Personal Information management and Privacy

These are the technologies I see coming fast down the pipe and going to influence our lives. There are others that I am looking at strategically or personally but I thought these were worth sticking my neck out over. So here are the details:

Carer-Centric Healthcare
Healthcare is the buzzword for technology focus in the next few years as the generations of the 50's and 60's start to hit later life and the world's population starts to age.
    Advances in healthcare are reaching a critical storm as sensors and Internet enabled devices match with advanced software to enable people facing old age to manage their own health better and to help overburdened carers do their job more effectively while allowing people to stay in their homes and out of aged care longer.

Wearable Computers
Think Google Glass... or the predicted Apple Watch. Yes Wearable computers are coming. There is resistance to this development but much of it is generational. Kids are going to gobble this stuff up. They are more connected than ever. The same way that gen X took up mobile phones at many times the rate of gen Y, gen Z will do with Wearable Computers.
    This will also be accelerated by really cool software applications that are only starting to evolve. Predictive or contextual software will drive adoption even faster.

3D Printers will change everything
At first it will be anything made of plastic less than 100mm x 100mm x 100mm. Then it will be Aluminium. Then wood, then chairs,   then buildings, then prescription drugs. Next year key patents blocking high adoption of 3D printing technology will expire and the race will be on.
    Everything will be produced by local or even in-home 3D printer setups. I'm looking forward to art pieces made out of cellulose fiber and reproductions of old 'out of manufacture' Dinky toys. The world's first 3D printed home is just about to be made in the UK.

The Localization of the Internet
The Net has given every little business the opportunity to reach out across the globe to find customers... which is a fantastic thing. The net has not been so good at telling you what is available in your own town or suburb.
     It has also been pretty dumb at showing you interesting stuff that surrounds you right now if you don't know how to look for it.
    The coming Internet of Things, a new type of Bluetooth device and push location services will all converge to make the Internet more local than ever before and return value to the businesses and shops that are within your immediate area. I am personally working on a few of these projects and the future looks bright.

Personal Information Management
People are starting to worry about what FaceBook is doing with their pictures and private comments. Murmurs of discontent about the NSA and the CIA accessing your emails and cloud storage areas are starting to get louder.
    Add to this, the opportunity that exists collect, present and store information for yourself instead of having others mange the data for you.
    Want to know your bank account balance but don't want an app publishers having access to your account. A new bread of self managed software will allow your own personal server to collect, collate, present and notify you WITHOUT having the data go to a software developers storage area. This is the advantage of Personal Information Management Software.

Do you agree? What are your predictions? Feel free to comment below and join the conversation...

Comments

  1. Ric, I think you need to add the decentralization of marketing to your list. Products that pretend to make a difference will give way to products that people want to talk about. The stamp of the Crowd and business systems that enable us to separate value from hype will change the face of marketing.

    ReplyDelete

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