Elon Musk buys Twitter. A spectacular collapse of FTX. Smartphones communicating with satellites and AI that may be sentient but probably not.
2022 has been a very strange year for technology. But what about 2023?
I will start looking into it soon. One of the world’s largest tech trade fairs, CES (formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show) is best known for its flashy innovation displays and winding corridors of gadgets from around the world. I’m here. This year it will be held from Thursday to Sunday. As we begin to peel back the layers of spectacle, we get a glimpse of the trends that may shape our relationship with technology in our lives.
But CES is not the perfect crystal ball of the near future. (If so, you could have walked into a dealership and deposited a security deposit on a flying car already.)
To help you sift through the noise, here’s a short guide to what you need to celebrate—or be hungry for—in 2023.
Inching towards the metaverse
Between continued skepticism and trouble with Meta, it’s not hard to think that the future of the Metaverse is a little bleak, but rumors of its demise may be premature.
In a recent survey of 9,000 consumers, professional services firm Accenture found that 55% of respondents said they wanted to be “active users” of the Metaverse. Ninety percent of these meta-optimists want to make that leap within the next year, according to Kevan Yalowitz, who heads the company’s Global Software and Platforms.
Meanwhile, other companies are busy.
HTC, which made the Vive line of VR headsets, has openly teased a portable follow-up product designed to compete with Meta’s popular Quest 2. Other companies, including Sharp and Canon, are preparing to show off prototypes and experiences that can offer even more. How and why people jump into virtual space. And after years of anticipation, Apple may finally release a wearable screen this year.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to navigate vast, immersive, and interoperable worlds right away.
The walled garden is beginning to open
Thanks to a unified standard called Matter, 2022 was supposed to be the year all connected home gadgets—smart light bulbs, video doorbells, and fancy thermostats—started working together seamlessly. Buying one of them will bring the idea to life and allow you to control them with any voice assistant or platform you want.
After that, Matter’s release was delayed by several months.
Since the standard’s release in October, the first Matter-compatible products have been rolling in, but getting the most out of them can seem daunting. However, CES will bring the first big wave of smart home products that can be controlled from Google Home, the Home app on iPhones, his SmartThings on Samsung smartphones, or all of the above.
But our interoperability efforts don’t end there. Apple, which has long used its own Lightning charging system for iPhones and some iPads, says it complies with EU requirements for his USB-C charging of many small electronic devices. The company plans to make the switch in time for next year’s iPhone upgrade.
Upheaval in streaming services
CES is also well-known for its many gorgeous (and sometimes ludicrous) new TVs on display, but the movies you fall in love with have to come from somewhere.
In 2023, the streaming services that many of us rely on could start to look different.
After a year of streaming media drama that included CNN+ imploding and rumors of an impending HBO Max/Discovery+ mashup, Accenture’s Yalowitz said players were being forced to “rethink” their business models. rice field.
This could mean your streaming subscription of choice adds a lower monthly fee backed by advertising, or more of your favorite shows will migrate as media companies continue to seek content rights. It means that there is a possibility
And (acenture research, anyway) what most people want is a one-stop-shop for all their entertainment. This sounds like a lot of people have moved away from cable bundles in the first place.
In the meantime, “we will definitely see winners and losers emerge,” Yarowitz added, though he didn’t name the companies expected to perform poorly.
Growing Interest in Cybersecurity
In a conference known for its flashy new gadgets, it’s easy for not-so-sexy cybersecurity companies to fade into the background. may give
Anything connected to the internet, such as railroad systems, electric vehicles, and home security cameras, are potential vectors for cyberattacks.
Meanwhile, our friends at the Identify Theft Resource Center say that in the new year, there will be more cases of attackers gathering personally identifiable information to create fake accounts using their real names or to take control of existing accounts. I expect.
This year, companies around the world will show off their safety solutions and remind tech enthusiasts that the industry’s biggest cybersecurity challenge is still ahead.
Let’s hope they practice what they preach.
Some of the tools people have relied on to stay safe online, like LastPass, have also turned out to be more vulnerable than expected.
The world is working on generative AI
Let’s be honest, have you ever paid for an app called Lensa to create a magical avatar? Or talk to ChatGPT for a few minutes?
For weeks, the launch of these “generative” AI tools seemed to be the only talk. And while some of the initial novelty may have worn off, we can expect such tools to appear soon.
In early December, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, confirmed its investment in a handful of AI-focused companies, incubating more through an incubator program to “reimagine products and industries.” intend to do something. On the other hand, AI image generators like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion get more sophisticated with each update.
But to what extent should such tools be steered or constrained by regulation? (The European Union is currently slowly grappling with this issue.) Will it be used? If the rise of these tools in 2022 requires us to see how far ‘creative’ AI has come, 2023 will be a collective look at how far it should go. It will be my first year.
Companies claim they need robots
care about your home Keep your kids entertained. mow your lawn We deliver your food. There seem to be robots in everything, and it looks like most people will be spending a few days in Las Vegas this week.
Admittedly, not all of them are meant to serve face-to-face, and many of them are unlikely to be sold in your local big box store. It’s meant to be used. Others, on the other hand, have been trained to excel at very specific tasks. (They are said to be good at harvesting ripe peppers.)
Between the companies building home robots and those building robots that (directly or indirectly) interact with humans, by 2023, even if you don’t realize it’s happening Even more machines can affect your life.
But if that’s any consolation, robotics experts said last year that a more sophisticated kind of “social” robot—the kind that can form fruitful and fruitful connections—will probably still be in the mainstream for a while. Said it wouldn’t.
