Let’s look back at the biggest technology trends that left an impact on our lives
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| Artificial intelligence (AI) became mainstream in 2017. |
We often think of hardware, such as smartphones, when we talk
about the personal technology. Without taking away the value of hardware,
personal technology extensively relies on software. This year belonged to
software, user experience to be precise, where Artificial Intelligence, Machine
Learning, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality became buzzwords.
All of these technologies,
once considered niche, finally came to the masses. And in Indian context, a
good chunk of these became available to the masses. Of course, we are yet to
reach a stage where everyone’s a user of Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual
Reality (VR), but still 2017 was the year when the foundation was laid for them
to become mainstream.
So, without further ado, let’s look back at the biggest
technology trends that left an impact on our lives.
Cyber security
Even as we take giant strides towards building a digital society
that leverages cutting-edge technology, security remained the prime concern for
the users. Not that it wasn’t a concern in corresponding years, but ransomware
such as WannaCry exposed
our readiness to tackle a major cyber threat.
More than 300,000 users across 150 nations, including India,
were affected by the cyber attack. India, in particular, has been one of the worst-hit
nations. Shortly after WannaCry, ransomware attacks such as Petya created
havoc worldwide. These ransomware attacks have been the much-needed wake-up
call for all of us. As we introspect and identify loopholes we must fix, these
incidents also call for ramping up our cyber warfare capabilities.
Looking at the brighter
side, users are more aware about the online security. And enterprises are being
asked questions about the security. Though we haven’t achieved a completely
secure environment, but there are far more serious efforts towards building one.
Artificial Intelligence
This week Google demonstrated how its future digital assistant
can talk to you in a near-human voice. Even though it may sound as a small
accomplishment, but it could change the way we interact with our personal
communication devices. AI is now being used in variety of sectors, travel,
hospitality and of course technology.
Google has shifted its focus from being a mobile-first to an
AI-first platform. Its Google
Pixel2 phones heavily rely on AI whereas its products like Google
Photos and Google Assistant have grown smarter day by day.
Amazon’s Alexa is also a great example
of how AI can be optimised for different geographies. Its recently launched Amazon Echo speakers
understand Indian accent and even give contextual input based on our
preferences. This year we saw Apple launching HomePod, Siri-based speakers
whereas Google opened its platform to build an army of Assistant-powered third
party speakers.
Satya Nadella recently talked about AI and the importance for their
customisation for different individuals. Referring to the company’s made in
India chatbot Ruuh, Nadella wrote in a post that the AI was able to help change
lives of handloom weavers in India.
“What’s incredible is that the team
discovered how ‘Ruuh’ can help handloom weavers in rural communities create new
economic opportunity by generating design patterns, inputting pictures and
colours with the help of neural networks,” he wrote.
Sundar Pichai expressed similar sentiments when his company
unveiled AI-boosted Google 2 Pixel series earlier this year.
From finding your best selfies to giving you contextual results,
AI is getting better at what it does. It’s becoming deeply integrated with all
kinds of services and that’s great news.
Digital payment
After demonetisation drive last year, India rushed to a digital
economy. Paytm and UPI became our go to platforms for smaller transactions.
From small hawkers in your locality to exchanging money with your friends, we
used a variety of digital payment applications.
Before Google launched its Tez payment application, popular apps such as Truecaller and Hike
Messenger added payment services. Google recently revealed that its Tez
platform saw more than 140 million transactions and more than 12 million
monthly active users since its launch in September.
“Once people pay a bill on Tez, they never have to add the
billing organization again. Tez will also remind users when certain bills are
due. And they can avoid paying the same bill twice, since the payment status
will be automatically updated,” Caesar Sengupta, VP, Next Billion Users team
wrote in a blog post.
Next big push to the
digital payment is expected to come from WhatsApp which has been rumoured to be
working on a payment feature within the app.
Honourable mentions
Google and Apple both announced dedicated platforms, ARCore and ARkit respectively, to
bring AR to the masses. We recently tried out an AR feature on Pixel 2 XL and
were impressed with the results, which fluidly merged a virtual item within a
real-life environment. Some of the AR apps on Apple have been similarly great.
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| Augmented Reality vs Reality |
While Virtual Reality became huge in the West, it didn’t really
leave a big impact in India. But the segmented is set to grow at much faster
pace. According to research agency Canalys, standalone smart VR headset
shipments will cross 1.5 million in 2018. One of the biggest push to the
technology came when Facebook launched Oculus Go, an affordable VR headset.
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