My Big Tech Predictions for 2017

This is the time of year when the tech pundits discuss what happened last year and what will happen next year. Usually they miss the points from last year and mess up those for next. But let’s see if I can do any better.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

This has been “the next big thing” for the past few years and may become the hot ticket for 2017. I sure hope it is, so I can figure out what good it is. I cannot see it creeping too much into everyday life because we already have too many “things” that are not compatible. There is no way to develop a strategy to incorporate legacy toasters, for example. In the world of industry, high-end smart homes, and some other niche markets, it may have an impact eventually.

The Cloud

This is a technology that I have personally been grousing about for the last decade, but it is still something of the future. This is largely because it has not met the predictions for penetration. I’m not sure it ever will when I can buy a 5TB hard disk for $99. It is also constricted when it comes to running apps off the cloud. Get yourself a PayPal account, use it for a while, and notice how the performance is lacking when you do certain requests or try to sort data. This is the epitome of the cloud to me.

Autonomous Cars

This could be big for 2017, but I mostly see continued blather about it in the press. Google has gone out of its way to rack up miles without incidents. Now everyone with a screw-driver is building these things. The result will be more than a few fatalities. This will get all the attention and further push off implementation. What will be hot: autonomous features on regular cars such as lane control radar and automatic breaking.

Augmented/Virtual Reality

The AR and VR devices that utilize various high-resolution mobile phones will become more ubiquitous and popular over the next year, but this trend began some time back. It’s just waiting for the one killer app that everyone must have. This app better appear in 2017 or else the entire category will become something like the 3D TV: something that was supposed to catch on like crazy but is now hard to find. The problem of looking like an idiot wearing these devices is still a problem.

Blockchain, Blockchain, Blockchain

There are fiends (yes, fiends) out there pushing blockchain for everything. They cannot easily define it. To me it’s like provenance for art combined with neverending updating with a checksum added to make it even more arcane. What is it good for? Absolutely bitcoin. There may be some sort of very interesting digital copyright management to come out of it. It’s not a serious trend any more than BitTorrent (another fascinating technology that was never going to be a serious disruptor). That’s not to say that these technologies do not already serve millions of people because they do. Just not a 2017 trend.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

One cannot help but add this quasi-technology to this list. It appeared last year, and I think in 2015. Also in 1980, 1981 and a slew of years in between. The way I say it, artificial intelligence is the technology of the future and always will be.

Keep an eye out for other hopeless predictions. Happy New Year.