2021 is quickly approaching so today we want to share with you hot tech trends to expect in 2021. Life moves pretty fast, doesn’t it? One minute you’re setting up your MySpace account, and then your friends have all upped and left to sign up with a brand new social media site called Facebook, of all things.
The development of affordable smartphones has led to the proliferation of apps, while the demand for internet shopping and gaming has led to innovative payment systems and online casino prepaid cards being developed.
chenspec / Pixabay
From a tech perspective, we’ve never had it so good. Of course, the whole technological landscape can move so quickly. It is not beyond impossible that we’ll be living in some kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland as slaves to our cyborg overlords soon enough – just as grandma was beginning to learn how to work the microwave.
How far will tech evolve in 2021? Making predictions on such matters can be a foolish business – remember in Back to the Future how they anticipated hoverboards to be a thing in 2015, but here are some trends that could impact your personal and business life next year.
Voice-controlled UI to the next level
Many of us by now have some kind of device that enables us to communicate with Siri, asking her for a pasta recipe and then to play a ‘workout mix.’ We then mutter obscenities under our breath when she plays Billy Ray Cyrus’ ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ for the umpteenth time.
Familiarity with voice-controlled UI will become even more commonplace, and we can also expect it to become a feature in other tech areas. Some new models of TV sets that are in production are said to be trialing voice UI, which will enable you to turn it on/off, change the channel and alter the volume with a simple voice command.
And how about this for the workplace: voice-controlled keyboards! The days of word processing and crippling RSI could soon be a thing of the past.
The big 5G rollout
lshman000 / Pixabay
Hey, spoiler alert: 5G technology isn’t being used by the Chinese government to spy on you and download your browsing history. Now we’ve got that cleared up; we can move on and look at all of the positive aspects that 5G will bring to our everyday lives.
The network is faster, more durable, and offers lower latency, which means that you will be able to download movies and music in quicker time and higher definition.
Businesses will be able to scale up too. As we all adapt to the new communication channels that have opened up in this coronavirus world such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, the ability to deliver more coherent meetings and presentations – without Karen from accounts barking that ‘I can hear you, but I can’t see you’ into her laptop – will have a positive impact on corporate efficiency.
Baby, you can drive my car
Driverless cars. As a concept, it sounds ridiculous and pretty dangerous but in 2021, there is an anticipated explosion in artificial intelligence-led tech, and the self-driving car may become a reality. The UK government has already confirmed it is considering allowing some aspects of self-driving cars to be allowed on its roads by the spring of 2021.
falco / Pixabay
But to clarify, you won’t just be sitting in the passenger seat checking your Twitter while your new pride and joy drives you to the shopping mall. The technology being discussed is an ‘automated lane-keeping system’ (ALKS), which keeps the vehicle safely within its lane on the motorway – even around bends in the road.
There are five definitive steps in the introduction of driverless cars, and we are currently on stage two as ALKS tech gets more widely rolled out. Step three – a sort of temporary autopilot where the vehicle drives itself as you take a phone call or open a tube of Pringles – is set to be tested and developed in 2021.
Like Operation the board game, but in real life
Ahead of major surgery, something is comforting and reassuring about the smiling, friendly faces of your doctors and nurses. So imagine how you’d feel as you make your way into the operating theater only to be greeted by the shiny aluminum of a robot surgeon?
Well, you don’t need to worry about that quite yet. Robot doctors aren’t going to be a thing for a good decade or two. Still, medical professionals will be using more AI-led technology to improve the precision and capabilities of surgery in the near future.
The tech is still in its infancy, and the cost of the robotic equipment remains prohibitive. But in 2021, it is quite possible that more automated surgery will be performed, including some coronary bypass procedures and orthopedic adjustments.
Read more tech articles at ClichéMag.com
Images provided by Flickr, Unsplash, Pexels & Pixabay
