Imagine waking up to a new day. A smart alarm clock nudges you awake at the optimal time, as you check your smartwatch to see how the quality of your sleep was. As you ready yourself for work, the virtual assistant on your smart speaker reads you the news, and weather and traffic conditions as you brush your teeth.
Freshly brewed coffee from the automated coffee machine awaits you as you grab a cup before work. Just as you are about to head out of the door, a drone from the logistics company drops off a package just in time. You are scheduled to reach the office at 9am and you get some work done on the commute, thanks to your self-driving car.
All this sounds like science fiction, but the foundation for this scenario to happen is here today. Here are some tech trends from 2018 that are making the above a reality.
AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY
Major tech companies like Facebook, Google, Samsung and Microsoft all see value in VR. Each has developed its own interpretation of the next generation VR and AR headsets that they hope will be the next big computing platforms.
AR, in particular, has had a huge transformative impact on the healthcare industry, with solutions like Microsoft’s HoloLens that has been used to train medical professionals. VR has also been effectively used as a treatment for a variety of ailments, including post traumatic stress, anxiety, depression and many others.
From a more commercial perspective, brands like Ikea have already launched an AR app that allows potential customers to use their smart device to ‘place’ 3D models of furniture in their homes and see how it looks like before buying it. Similarly, Facebook also plans to work with businesses to use AR to show off products in Messenger. The advent of standalone VR headsets like the Oculus Go is set to make the technology more accessible as it doesn’t need a smartphone plugged in or a high-end computer to run on.
