Moves for Seniors Blog

It seems like only yesterday we were digging through dictionaries, encyclopedias and thesauruses to find the information we wanted to know. Now, if you have a recent smart phone, all you need to do to find that information is hold the device up to your mouth and ask it. The rate of change in the technology industry is rapidly accelerating – more so than any other kind of industry in the world. In 150 years, the world has gone from sending letters by courier to sending video messages by phone.

In an industry with such heavily accelerated rates of evolution, it can be fun to try and spot emerging trends in technology. What will people want to see in technology tomorrow? Let’s find out.

– Gamification. This is the process of turning boring, tedious or difficult-to-use products into forms of entertainment. Technologists are finding ways to solve challenging problems by making games out of the things people tend to not like in the first place. Take fitness, for example – some companies have developed apps that not only urge you to exercise, but reward you with points for doing so. Companies like Deloitte have gamified their training programs to better educate and engage their employees.

– 3D Printing. Thanks to advances in printing technology, 3D printers are now more affordable than ever before – and inventors across the globe are coming up with absurd ways of using the new technology. A massive 3D printer in China is capable of printing complete houses. A startup in Philadelphia can print living body parts for transplants. And yet, possibly the most appealing (and appetizing) 3D printer of all is the one that prints custom-designed chocolates candies. Yum.

– Internet of Things. It’s a strange phrase, but the Internet of Things (IoT for short) is the future. It’s the term assigned to the interconnectivity that can exist between smart devices and appliances. For example, if you own a “smart coffee pot,” you can press the “brew” button from an app on your phone and viola! A fresh pot of joe awaits you. Let’s say you’re laying in bed, on the brink of slumber on a hot summer night. Instead of getting up to crank up the AC, you can control your “smart thermostat” from your phone.