Well it has to be said, I love technology. My first experience of personal technology was a Spectrum ZX computer. I loved the simplicity of it; the games were fantastic and certainly beat playing board games with my baby brother!
Although it seems like it was a few moments ago, the reality is it was 25 years ago. But how technology has changed! Now, typically every house will have at least 1 television, a computer, mobile phones, and they all talk to each other. You could be in Australia and be able to control your Sky or Virgin box back home, access your computer desktop and even access your burglar alarm and CCTV systems. Who would have dreamed that we would be in the technological position we are in now?
So the question is raised, what next? Where will technology be in 25 years time? Already the next wave of technologies are being developed, from the autonomous car and intelligent glasses to the bendy mobile phones and tactile tablet screens.
A Family Day Out
I was in my element a few weeks ago when I was fortunate enough to attend the Sight Village in London. Amongst the exhibitors were the charity Guide Dogs. They have recently produced a short film in partnership with Microsoft called "A Family Day Out".
The film followed a family of 3 generations on a day out to London. The day was organised online where the tablet computer suggested activity types such as Adventurous, Scientific and Sight Seeing based on the device knowing the families preferences. The family were then able to pay for everything in a single transaction.
The families day starts with a train journey, the device with its in built GPS was able to tell them exactly where to wait for the train door and once on board was able to display the layout of the train via the tactile screen. This only scratches the surface of the concepts explored. You can watch the video on the Guide Dogs website.
Cars that drive themselves
For several years now, Google have been running a fleet of autonomous, or driverless cars in California. The cars have been used to record the scenes that are on Google's popular Street View, real life scenes from around the world.
In September 2012 California became the first place in the world to sign an agreement to allow these autonomous vehicles to be used widely across the state bringing a new challenge to car makers to bring an affordable autonomous vehicle to the general public. Google has promised their vehicle will be available to all by 2017. A fleet of autonomous taxi's are also about to be launched in Berlin, Germany.
Some people think that this may be a step too far, but since the vehicles first hit the street there has only been one accident involving them, and that was when another vehicle crashed into the back of one of them. Steve Mahan is Google's first Blind autonomous car user, have a look at his experiences on this Google video
Intelligent Glasses
Another Google innovation is Project Glass, the Google Glasses. Currently at £1500 per set these 'Augmented Reality Head Mounted Displays' (HMD) will allow you to look at something and information about what you see will be displayed. For example if you are looking at the sky the glasses will show you what the weather forecast is, if you were to look at a landmark, information about what it is and its history will pop up. You will even be able to have a video conversation and take pictures or video with them to share with your friends and family. Check out the Project Glass website.
The Unbreakable Phone?
Recent news that a new style of smart phone will be on general sale in 2013 has caused a bit of a stir. A mobile phone that you can roll up and put in your pocket, a device that can be thrown into a bag, that doesn't matter if it is crushed by something. Why? Because it will bend! The screens will be made of a much thinner plastic and LED screens used over the current LCD, a monumentus step on from the Motorola DynaTAC or RetroBrick as it is affectionately known of 1983. Many of the big mobile companies are working on these devices however Samsung are rumoured to be the first company to release them.
What next?
With these new technologies it's anybody's guess what will come next. Interactive kitchen cupboards and worktops? Walls that allow you to add photographs as wallpaper and change them daily? Digital eye transplants? Teleportation? As a blind person I am really excited by what is coming next.
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