could use a pic to suggest internet harrasment, if required
There will be plenty of gear and gadgets to spark watercooler chat over the next 12 months. You may have heard of Apple's Siri and more recently Microsoft's Cortana which take voice commands and issue responses like a verbal search engine. Apple, Google and a few other companies have decided to take this further and develop Smart Virtual Personal Assistants (SVPAs) that can sort through e-mail messages, address books and calendars to save you precious time.
Then there's the "Internet of Things" which refers to devices able to communicate and interact with each other like an extended family. For example, your car being able to tell the coffee machine that you are almost home so stick on a cuppa or instructing your work computer to start up before you enter the building. Most technology trends can be foreseen by what acquisitions larger tech companies make and Google is one of many to have purchased smart device making firms.
British companies are also innovating for 2015 including Dyson which is providing ways to increase overall wellbeing and health. Abandoning traditional air-conditioning which just circulates air in favour of a humidifier system which can actively eliminate bacteria from air and water before it's introduced into the environment.
It works by concentrating bacteria killing ultraviolet light into a water tank which then adds these water particles to the air which is circulated via the Dyson fan-less technology. Already a hit in Japan, it is credited with helping relieve symptoms for sufferers of skin conditions such as eczema.
This year looks likely to see the unleashing of intelligent drones that will not only train cameras on criminals or garner weather/atmospheric conditions, but will show up in all manner of ways in our everyday life. Amazon finally seems poised to start delivering goods via drone so checking out the hunky delivery guy might be swapped by geek stalking instead of flirtatious glances.
What if you are on the other side of those glances and are unwanted? Internet harassment and hacking is on the increase, just ask Sony. Protecting yourself and your business will take precedence in the coming months with all manner of new security measures being developed and implemented such as the Blackphone. As the name suggests is a mobile device which keeps you dark and hidden from unscrupulous individuals and organisations by minimising tracking processes which plague modern smartphones.
From Twitter's two-way text authentication to non-crackable quantum encryption, the race against the less desirable elements of the online world is fast gathering pace. Only time will tell if a burgeoning "bad internet" can be tamed.
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