Someone once said, “The times, they are a-changin,” and nowhere does this ring truer than with technology!

Year 2017 was an eventful one as far as technology is concerned. We all saw the humanization of big data, dominance of artificial intelligence, and VR and AR ventured forth to become the biggest Technology Trends for 2017. 2018 will be no different. In fact, it would be even more exciting on the technology front as we are poised to witness the emergence of new technologies and the continuation of some previous ones.

Is your curiosity getting the better of you? Are you eager to find out what the technology landscape would look like in 2018?  While a technological forecast is a shaky sort of structure, liable to collapse at any instance and at best built on a quick-sand foundation, we have ventured a speculative peek around the corner with this caveat in mind, and caught a glimpse of a plethora of marvelous things to come. Here are the top 8 technology trends that we believe are looking promising enough to make a splash in the sea of technology and transform our lives later this year:

1. Crypto Currency is the Future of Money

The exponential rise in Bitcoin value recently got the ball rolling about crypto currencies and their future. With its distributed network and immutable ledger technology, Block-chain is all set to transform the financial industry. Governments and central banks will also jump on the block-chain bandwagon. This is projected to clear out any misperceptions surrounding crypto currencies and certify it as a future of money. Do not be surprised to see the emergence of new crypto currencies in 2018. To put it in a nutshell, crypto-currencies are here to stay and thrive!

2.  Say Hello to BIoT

IoT is hardly a pristine novelty anymore. 2018 is projected to bring a paradigm shift by tying its knot with Blockchain. This marriage will surely birth new services and business opportunities. Whether you are looking to track shipments of your orders or aspiring to monitor connected temperature control systems in the smart cities of the future, you can do it all with BIoT. This innovative development is thought to completely revolutionize the perception of data accessibility as you can easily get access to sensor data in real time with BIoT. This will provide businesses with actionable, real time insights that would go a long way in helping them take timely and accurate corporate decisions.

3.  Autonomous Transportation

“so what did you do before self-driving cars?”
“we just drove ’em ourselves!”
“wow, no one died that way?”
“oh no, millions of people died”

— Gregory Possum-Liker (@cat_beltane) April 15, 2015

Self-driving cars will make their way on to our roads in 2018. It doesn’t just stop there; this development is projected to reach out to other forms of transportation as well. Trucks, buses, trains and many others will join the long list of autonomous transportation. Tech giants such as Google, Apple and Tesla are betting big on self-driving cars. All these vehicles are connected and controlled so you do not have to worry about accidents. You never know you might be travelling into an autonomous public transport sooner than you think.

4. Edge Computing is the New Kid on the Block

Accessibility, cost effectiveness and security- this is what we associate with cloud computing. This is why many companies have moved their data to the cloud. Due to this, we have been witnessing an increase in the number of cloud service providers in the past decade. Unfortunately, these good times are proving to be rather short-lived for cloud service providers because of the emergence of Edge. Although Edge Computing will not replace cloud anytime soon, it will one day turn the tables on the cloud computing industry.

It is a topology in which information processing, data collection and data delivery are all placed near the source. It superseded all the latency and bandwidth challenges of IoT and offers a much better user experience. Transferring data from IoT devices will be a breeze with edge computing and it can seamlessly integrate with AI and other technologies. All this gives edge computing a clear advantage over cloud computing but you can use them in combination for better functionality.

5. Year of Chatbots and AI

Not only is AI getting smarter but also companies are investing in it and it is being implemented in a wide array of industries. Facebook has already invested millions in its chatbot programs for automation. Do not be surprised to see AI taking over white-collar jobs in 2018. Robots are already writing news stories and taking care of customer support. You might be communicating with a chatbot not a human when you take your query to a customer support next time round. Robots will take over most jobs in 2018 but are predicted to create a lot of them too. 2018 is already dubbed the year of chatbots and AI.

6. Welcome to the World of Smart Speakers and Smart Homes

We live in a world where everything is smart. From watches to phones to TVs, the list keeps getting bigger. In 2018, we will see many new additions to this list. Two worthy mentions are Smart Speakers and Smart Homes. Google, Apple and Amazon have already launched their versions of smart speakers and other companies are following along in their wake. Smart Home technology has also started to crawl its way to our shelves and it will not be long before we will be living in a smart city filled with smart homes.

7. Intelligent Apps That React Before You Do

Gone are the days when you have to cross important dates on a calendar, schedule appointments, and manage a barrage of emails yourself. While virtual assistants and free task management software came along in the last decade, a new advancement is soon on its way. The emergence of proactive intelligent apps will alleviate you of the hassle of juggling tasks, as these apps will automatically take care of it, leaving your hands free to plunge in more important chores. A plethora of apps will harness the power of artificial intelligence, not only displaying a potency to learn about your preferences, but also reducing your workload by taking care of mundane tasks.

8.  Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality

You are no longer entailed to buy exorbitantly priced hardware to use AI technology anymore. In 2018, it will reach your pocket through AR-enabled smart-phones. Smartphones integrated with AR capabilities will allow you to create AR content on the go. It will seamlessly integrate with IoT devices to deliver a higher immersive user experience. AR developers will be in high demand in 2018. AR technology will change the way we communicate and how businesses serve their customers.

Conclusion

No matter how you see it, 2018 will break the glass ceiling for technology. Apart from a few surprises here and there, we might see the aforementioned technology trends dominate in 2018. Blockchains, chatbots, smart devices and augmented reality are all set to transform the way we live, communicate and conduct business. Which technology trend do you think will make the biggest impact in 2018? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post What Will The Future of Technology Look Like? 8 Technology Trends to Keep an Eye On in 2018 appeared first on Taskque.