The future is bright for the IT industry as it continues to grow and evolve. We, then witnessed how technology developed exponentially, through the years and how these developments helped us solve complex mathematical problems, utilize the emerging big data, and create different innovations. Technology continues to accelerate and revolutionize our way of living.
In this article, we will discuss some of the technology trends in this year 2022.
metaverse
The word metaverse is one of the trending buzzwords nowadays. It is a virtual world in combined of different technologies like virtual and augmented reality. Similarly, it refers to a shared virtual environment which users can access via internet. Some use this term to describe gaming worlds specifically when players create their own avatars or characters that can walk around and interact with each other. It was first embraced by the company Facebook and the fans see it as the next stage in the development of the internet. In fact, the accelerated interests of the masses in metaverse are caused by the Covid-19 pandemic when everything shifted their platforms and became virtual like education, healthcare and commercial market.
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies are collection of binary data designed to work as a medium of exchange where individual coin ownership records are stored in a digital ledger. A cryptography-based decentralized system maintain these records. In El Salvador in Central America, they became the first country to make bitcoin a legal tender in September 2021 hence, making them the first country to adopt the said currency (https://www.investopedia.com/el-salvador-accepts-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-5200470). On the other hand, some central banks in Sweden, Canada, EU, and UK are among those who consider making their own cryptocurrencies. Also, different NFT games that utilize blockchain gaming concept became popular nowadays. The Blockchain gaming is an approach where digital items inside games are considered as real world assets, similar to stocks or bonds in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). In short, players get to own real world assets in the virtual world environment.
AI for Science and Renewable Energy
In the scientific community, AI or Artificial Intelligence affects the shifting of the basic paradigms: experimental and theoretical science. So far, Artificial intelligence accelerates the speed of researches and the discovery of new scientific laws. The usage of Artificial Intelligence in different research processes of applied science and as a production tool in some basic science processes are very much anticipated.
Renewable energy is the answer to the movement towards sustainable energy. However, challenges arise such as difficulty in grid integration, low energy utilization rate, and storage of excess energy. The unpredictability of renewable energy power nature also contributed to these problems. Using AI in this matter, it can be crucial in improving the efficiency and automation of electric power systems. It could maximize the resource usage and stability and additionally, it will be a good stepping stone for achieving carbon neutrality.
Silicon Photonic Chips
Silicon photonics is the study and application of photonic systems. In fact, it was reported years ago that silicon photonics will be fundamental in addressing different issues with regards to bandwidth, energy, and latency of high-end systems. It uses silicon as the main fabrication element to craft photonic integrated circuits (PICs). These circuits enable, extend, and increase data transmission and compared with conventional electronic circuits, these silicon photonic based circuit designs consume less power and at the same time, generate less heat. Hence, making it energy-efficient. Soon, we can say that chip and circuit developments may utilize silicon photonics technology resulting to an exponential growth.
Extended Reality
The Extended Reality technology creates computer-generated environments or objects. It also lets users dive into a virtual world or interact with extended world. Other users perceive these contents as very much realistic. XR also covers all immersive technologies that expand our real world and combine it with virtual elements. Three major popular technologies namely Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality belong to XR .
Sources:
https://nypost.com/2021/10/21/what-is-the-metaverse-meaning-explained/
https://europeansting.com/2022/01/17/5-tech-trends-to-watch-in-2022/
https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/gadgets/2022/01/17/2154459/list-top-10-leading-tech-trends-2022
https://www.synopsys.com/glossary/what-is-silicon-photonics.html
https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/online-marketing/online-sales/extended-reality/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2022/01/06/why-video-game-makers-see-huge-potential-in-blockchain-and-why-problems-loom-for-their-new-nfts/?sh=761ffb0543d7