Most exciting new technologies moving from deceptive to disruptive in year 2015.
1.Virtual reality :-Expect a lot more action on the virtual and augmented reality front. 2014 saw the $2B acquisition of Oculus Rift by Facebook. In 2015, we’ll see action from companies like Philip Rosedale’s High Fidelity (the successor to Second Life), immersive 3D 360-degree cameras from companies like Immersive Media (the company behind Google’s Streetview), Jaunt, and Giroptic. Then there are game changers like Magic Leap (in which Google just led a $542 million investment round) that are developing technology to “generate images indistinguishable from real objects and then being able to place those images seamlessly into the real world." Oculus, the darling of CES for the past few years, will be showing its latest Crescent Bay prototype and hopefully providing a taste of how its headset will interact with Nimble VR’s hand- and finger-tracking inputs. Nine new VR experiences will be premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this year, spanning from artistic, powerful journalistic experiences like Project Syria to full “flying” simulations where you get to “feel” what it would be like for a human to fly.
2.Mass-market robots:-Late 2013 saw the acquisition by Google of eight robotics companies. 2015 is going to see the introduction of consumer-friendly robots in a store near you. Companies like SU’s Fellow Robots are creating autonomous “employees” called OSHbots that are roaming the floors of Lowe’s and helping you find and order items in their store. We’ll also see Softbank’s Pepper robot make the leap from Japan to enter U.S. retail stores. Pepper uses an emotion engine and computer vision, to detect smiles, frowns, and surprise, and it uses speech recognition to sense the tone of voice and to detect certain words indicative of strong feelings, like “love” and “hate.” The engine then computes a numeric score that quantifies the person’s overall emotion as positive or negative to help the store make a sale. At CES, Paris-based start-up Keecker will show off a robot that doubles as a movie projector after raising more than $250,000 for the idea on Kickstarter.
3. Drones everywhere:- 2015 will be a big year for drones. They are getting cheaper, easier to use, more automated, and are now finding more useful and lucrative applications. These “drones” include everything from the $20 toys you can buy at RadioShack to the high-powered $1000+ drones from companies like DJI and the super-simple and powerful Q500 Typhoon. These consumer drones equipped with high quality cameras and autopilot software are military-grade surveillance units now finding use in agriculture, construction and energy applications. Drones get their own section of CES in 2015 with a new "unmanned systems" zone. Wales' Torquing Group could provide one of its highlights with Zano, a Kickstarter-backed quadcopter small enough to fit in your hand but still capable of high-definition video capture.
4.Wireless power:-Companies like uBeam, Ossia and others are developing solutions to charge your phones, laptops, wearables, etc. wirelessly as you go about your business. And this isn’t a “charging mat” that requires you to set your phone down… imagine having your phone in your pocket, purse, or backpack, and it will be charging as you walk around the room. Companies are taking different approaches as they develop this technology (uBeam uses ultrasound to transfer energy to piezoelectric receivers, while Ossia has a product called Cota that uses an ISM radio band, similar to WiFi, to transfer energy and data). Look out for a key “interface moment” in 2015 that will take wireless power mainstream.
5.Voice-control and “language-independent” interaction: Using our fingers to operate smartphones/technology was “so 2014.” In 2015, we will see significant advances in voice-controlled systems and wider mass market adoption. Think the first steps towards a Jarvis-like interface. Siri, Google Now, Cortana, and other voice-control systems are continuing to get better and better—so much so that they are being almost seamlessly integrated into our technology, across platforms. Soon, almost all connected devices will have voice-control capabilities. Companies like Wit.ai are creating their own open-source natural language interfaces for the Internet of Things and for developers to incorporate into their apps, hardware, and platforms. Jarvis-like systems like the Ubi and Jibo, plus IBM’s Watson and XBOX One Kinect, already allow natural language interactions and question/answer like commands. Then, Google Translate, Skype Translate, and others are creating software that allows real-time translation between languages, further eliminating cultural and geographic barriers—the Star Trek universal translator is just around the corner.
6. 3D printing: 3-D printing will continue to grow rapidly in 2015 as the number of applications increase and as printers, scanners, and CAD modeling software become more accessible, cheaper, and easier to use. 2014 saw the first 3D printed object in space, by SU company, Made In Space. 3D Systems continues to innovate around the clock and is releasing a plethora of exciting things in 2015, including 3D printed food and customized chocolates. Three years ago there were just two 3D printing firms at CES. This year there promises to be more than 24 Bitcoin: While 2014 was a rough year for bitcoin (it was ranked the “worst performing currency”), I am optimistic that 2015 will be a better year for the cryptocurrency. Weak currencies and uncertainty in the global economy, emerging smartphone markets in developing countries (billions coming online for the first time), better “interfaces,” and more commercial adopters who accept bitcoin as a form of payment will all play a role in a brighter bitcoin future. Finally, it’s worth noting that Apple Pay will ultimately teach an entire generation how to navigate life without cash…making the transition to bitcoin natural and easy.
1.Virtual reality :-Expect a lot more action on the virtual and augmented reality front. 2014 saw the $2B acquisition of Oculus Rift by Facebook. In 2015, we’ll see action from companies like Philip Rosedale’s High Fidelity (the successor to Second Life), immersive 3D 360-degree cameras from companies like Immersive Media (the company behind Google’s Streetview), Jaunt, and Giroptic. Then there are game changers like Magic Leap (in which Google just led a $542 million investment round) that are developing technology to “generate images indistinguishable from real objects and then being able to place those images seamlessly into the real world." Oculus, the darling of CES for the past few years, will be showing its latest Crescent Bay prototype and hopefully providing a taste of how its headset will interact with Nimble VR’s hand- and finger-tracking inputs. Nine new VR experiences will be premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this year, spanning from artistic, powerful journalistic experiences like Project Syria to full “flying” simulations where you get to “feel” what it would be like for a human to fly.
2.Mass-market robots:-Late 2013 saw the acquisition by Google of eight robotics companies. 2015 is going to see the introduction of consumer-friendly robots in a store near you. Companies like SU’s Fellow Robots are creating autonomous “employees” called OSHbots that are roaming the floors of Lowe’s and helping you find and order items in their store. We’ll also see Softbank’s Pepper robot make the leap from Japan to enter U.S. retail stores. Pepper uses an emotion engine and computer vision, to detect smiles, frowns, and surprise, and it uses speech recognition to sense the tone of voice and to detect certain words indicative of strong feelings, like “love” and “hate.” The engine then computes a numeric score that quantifies the person’s overall emotion as positive or negative to help the store make a sale. At CES, Paris-based start-up Keecker will show off a robot that doubles as a movie projector after raising more than $250,000 for the idea on Kickstarter.
3. Drones everywhere:- 2015 will be a big year for drones. They are getting cheaper, easier to use, more automated, and are now finding more useful and lucrative applications. These “drones” include everything from the $20 toys you can buy at RadioShack to the high-powered $1000+ drones from companies like DJI and the super-simple and powerful Q500 Typhoon. These consumer drones equipped with high quality cameras and autopilot software are military-grade surveillance units now finding use in agriculture, construction and energy applications. Drones get their own section of CES in 2015 with a new "unmanned systems" zone. Wales' Torquing Group could provide one of its highlights with Zano, a Kickstarter-backed quadcopter small enough to fit in your hand but still capable of high-definition video capture.
4.Wireless power:-Companies like uBeam, Ossia and others are developing solutions to charge your phones, laptops, wearables, etc. wirelessly as you go about your business. And this isn’t a “charging mat” that requires you to set your phone down… imagine having your phone in your pocket, purse, or backpack, and it will be charging as you walk around the room. Companies are taking different approaches as they develop this technology (uBeam uses ultrasound to transfer energy to piezoelectric receivers, while Ossia has a product called Cota that uses an ISM radio band, similar to WiFi, to transfer energy and data). Look out for a key “interface moment” in 2015 that will take wireless power mainstream.
5.Voice-control and “language-independent” interaction: Using our fingers to operate smartphones/technology was “so 2014.” In 2015, we will see significant advances in voice-controlled systems and wider mass market adoption. Think the first steps towards a Jarvis-like interface. Siri, Google Now, Cortana, and other voice-control systems are continuing to get better and better—so much so that they are being almost seamlessly integrated into our technology, across platforms. Soon, almost all connected devices will have voice-control capabilities. Companies like Wit.ai are creating their own open-source natural language interfaces for the Internet of Things and for developers to incorporate into their apps, hardware, and platforms. Jarvis-like systems like the Ubi and Jibo, plus IBM’s Watson and XBOX One Kinect, already allow natural language interactions and question/answer like commands. Then, Google Translate, Skype Translate, and others are creating software that allows real-time translation between languages, further eliminating cultural and geographic barriers—the Star Trek universal translator is just around the corner.
6. 3D printing: 3-D printing will continue to grow rapidly in 2015 as the number of applications increase and as printers, scanners, and CAD modeling software become more accessible, cheaper, and easier to use. 2014 saw the first 3D printed object in space, by SU company, Made In Space. 3D Systems continues to innovate around the clock and is releasing a plethora of exciting things in 2015, including 3D printed food and customized chocolates. Three years ago there were just two 3D printing firms at CES. This year there promises to be more than 24 Bitcoin: While 2014 was a rough year for bitcoin (it was ranked the “worst performing currency”), I am optimistic that 2015 will be a better year for the cryptocurrency. Weak currencies and uncertainty in the global economy, emerging smartphone markets in developing countries (billions coming online for the first time), better “interfaces,” and more commercial adopters who accept bitcoin as a form of payment will all play a role in a brighter bitcoin future. Finally, it’s worth noting that Apple Pay will ultimately teach an entire generation how to navigate life without cash…making the transition to bitcoin natural and easy.
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