This generation has seen more advancements in the world of tech than ever before. It seems like every month a developer is on the cusp of a major breakthrough that will improve our everyday lives, and we’re making bold leaps into the future with each passing day.
Among these advancements are a batch of available products that that are set to change the course of their respective fields, pushing us into exciting new directions and changing the way we interact with our technology and the world at large.
Here are the inspiring advancements that will improve the world we live in:
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Tech of the Future: Inspiring Advancements That Will Improve the World We Live In
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The Omniprocessor
Bill Gates has put his full backing behind the Omniprocessor, and it's not difficult to see why. Despite having a concept that would (quite literally) leave a bad taste in your mouth, the Omniprocessor could prove to be life-changing for those living in impoverished third-world countries with limited access to clean drinking water.
Janicki's Omniprocessor essentially filters human faeces into water. Yes, it sounds awful, but Gates has been filmed drinking the water himself, and if a mulit-billionaire is willing to put himself through it then you know that it's safe.
By essentially creating another source of clean water, the Omniprocessor could prove to make a huge impact upon regions with inhabitants that frequently die of dehydration and illnesses related to diseased water by providing a brand new water source.
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HoloLens
Microsoft's augmented reality headset the HoloLens looks too good to be true (and if early reports are to be believed, it could well be) but its concept is astounding. Essentially allowing the user to live in a world within a world, the HoloLens' uses range from plastering the walls of your apartment with browser tabs, to turning your living room into a Minecraft world, to even allowing for the exploration of Mars by laying down the surface of the red planet on your floor.
Microsoft has invested a lot in the future of the HoloLens, and with potential future uses of the hardware too numerous to even mention, if the AR device manages to achieve even a percentage of what Microsoft has promised it will it could prove to be a real game-changer.
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Cryptocurrency
Though Bitcoin has had its name put through the ringer, cryptocurrency may well prove to be the future of money.
Bitcoin's unstable value will mean that it will likely never usurp traditional government money as our prime means of making transactions, but in the future when most transactions are made either online or through payment cards and not by cash, it's probable that cryptocurrency will see a large amount of growth and could even overtake traditional money. This is still a long way into the future given that online-based money would produce a knock-on effect to global industries, but a world in which a currency exists that doesn't concern itself with exchange rate fluctuations is certainly not impossible.
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3D Printing
Over the past few years we've seen 3D printed cars and 3D printed food, and now the 3D printer has made it into the consumer market thanks to the (relatively) affordable Form 1 3D printer.
3D printing has a wide array of uses, from its aforementioned implementation in the culinary and automotive industries to producing small-scale models that can be used as accurate blueprints by architects, to allowing for the greater customization of goods tailored to individuals.
At the moment the tech is pricey and is still in its teething stages, but when it eventually becomes more economically viable, it should spell great news for many industries, allowing everyone from artists to engineers to create whatever they see fit, with their only limitation being their imagination.
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Tesla Energy
Elon Musk recently took to the stage in a Tesla conference in order to announce Tesla Energy, a new energy system that will allow the distribution of energy through batteries.
With there being two available options, one for home use (the Tesla Powerwall and one for the use of businesses (the Tesla Powerpack), the new energy supplying system has already pulled in huge numbers since being made available for pre-order, and it's looking like this is where the future of utilities lies.
Musk has said that he wants to get rid of fossil fuels forever, and with Tesla Energy, he may do just that. Though it's not economically sound right now for home owners, for big corporations the Tesla Powerpack can save them money in the long run, as its smart design sees it splitting the distribution of its energy so it uses less in peak times and more in off-peak times.
Corporations such as Walmart are falling over each other to get their hands on it, and it's not difficult to see why.
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Google Fiber
Google is currently taking ISPs to town with its Google Fiber high-speed Internet service, providing a download speed of 1,000 Mbit/s for less money than their competitors, who offer only a fraction of the download speed that Google does.
Google has employed an incremental rollout with Fiber, and in each territory the service has made an appearance, ISPs have been forced to slash prices in order to not lose their business. With Fiber loosening the ISPs' grasp on the market, in the future it is hoped that it and services like it will lead to a faster Internet for everyone in the US.
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Self-Driving Cars
Autonomous cars such as the Google Car are looking to provide a new mode of transport that is both safer and more environmentally responsible, with these self-driving cars reportedly able to cut greenhouse gas emissions down by 50%.
Autonomous vehicles still have a long way to go when it comes to being accepted in the general public, but recent stats released by the California DMV reveal that the Google Car has only been involved in 11 accidents since testing first began back in 2009, with it being reported that none of these accidents were the fault of the self-driving car.
The self-driving Inspiration Truck was also recently unveiled by Daimler that allows drivers to take a rest between long-haul journeys, while also reducing carbon emissions. It looks like we're working towards a very green future where no one has to sit behind the wheel.
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Ozobot
Programming is a lucrative career path, but it's not exactly something you can easily teach your kids. In steps the Ozobot, a robot which can teach children programming, coding and robotics through a series of a fun lessons of varying degrees of difficulty.
The Ozobot utilizes app-based lessons in order to walk kids through the basics, guiding the Ozobot along a series of colored lines to its destination. The Ozobot can either follow colored lines or paper or on a tablet, and there are a number of different tasks it can perform from racing to dancing.
If you want to get your kids one step ahead in one of the most sought after occupations around, then the Ozobot is an ideal place to start.
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Smart Home Tech
While we can fill our homes with tech designed to improve our day-to-day lives, that tech currently doesn't collude with other tech in order to team up and make our lives even better.
Our PS4, for instance, doesn't actively communicate with our television in order to automatically change its settings to enhance our gaming experience, and our garage door isn't interconnected with our back door so as soon as we park our car we can walk into our home.
All of our gadgets exist in their own bubble, but as smart home technology improves, soon we'll be living in a world in which our light fittings, appliances and other such electrical wares work in tandem. Apple's HomeKit platform is a great example of this, with various products able to use it in order to communicate with the iPhone's A.I. personal assistant Siri, which then allows the user to operate them in unison and effectively bring these individual products into part of a wider home ecosystem. In the future it is likely that the smart home will become the modern standard, and we'll all fondly remember the time when our lightbulbs didn't hold a conversation with our washing machine.
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Oculus Rift
Virtual reality has come a long way since Nintendo's Virtual Boy, and the Oculus Rift proves this. The VR headset has been making waves ever since its developer build made its way into the hands of the public, but with it now pegged for a full consumer release in 2016, many are prepared to play games as they've never been played before.
The Oculus Rift is so promising that Facebook laid out billions in order to put its name to the device, with Sony also looking to follow suit by creating a VR headset of its own, tentatively titled Project Morpheus. The Rift offers a virtual reality experience that has never been seen before in video games, and people are falling over one another in order to try it out.
If the Oculus Rift's consumer release is as popular as that of its initial alpha launch, then we could be looking at the start a whole new era of gaming.
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ReWalk
For many, ReWalk is the most exciting piece of tech available right now. A bionic walking assistance system that attaches to the wearer's legs, the ReWalk can actually allow the paraplegic to walk again.
Making use of a backpack battery, the ReWalk utilizes its exoskeleton-esque design to propel the user's legs, with it having even by used by paralyzed British woman Claire Lomas in the London Marathon, with it allowing her to compete (and finish) in the race.
The ReWalk is too pricey (it falls between the $69,500 - $85,000 mark) to be considered economically viable, but it's certainly tech that will go a long way to shape a future in which the disabled can get back on their feet once again.
