Wednesday, January 20, 2016

TECH SPECIAL...........5 BIGGEST TECH TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2016

5 BIGGEST TECH TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2016


There were plenty of surprising tech innovations in 2015 but more importantly, a strong foundation has been laid for incredible things to come

1 Cars are becoming smarter, cleaner, and more independent
In 2015, some of the world's biggest car makers decided to invest in a future where ground transportation will be electric and automated. In 2016, car companies will build on this. Tesla, which has largely driven this renewed interest in electric, driverless cars, will continue work on its battery factory in Nevada while also unveiling its first electric car (the Model 3) late next year. By that time, GM's long-awaited Bolt EV will begin production and secretive car start up Faraday Future will hopefully reveal its plans.

2 Wearables are maturing
This year, we got our hands on Apple's firstgeneration Watch, a device that many believed would prove ` we a r ables' deserved to exist as a product category. It showed promise but left much to be desired.
In 2016, we expect wearable devices to get more useful. Apple's second generation Watch might o f fer more utility in terms of first-party apps that take advantage of the Watch's health or communication features. We're a lso expecti ng more unique features across o t h e r pl at fo r m s l i k e Android Wear and Pebble.And don't forget about fitness trackers from companies like FitBit.

3 Virtual reality will enter the mainstream
Virtual reality isn't just for games; it can take you anywhere and let you experience any thing.The Oculus Rift headset, which has been in development since its landmark Kickstarter campaign in 2012, will finally be released for consumers in the first quarter of 2016. The HTC Vive headset has been delayed to sometime in 2016 because the Vive team appa rent ly discovered “a very, very big technological breakthrough“ late in the game that t he company wants to implement in the first version . And Sony will also release a V R headset that's compatible with the PlayStation 4 console.

4 Tablets, laptops and desktops will continue to converge
Ths year, we saw Microsoft put Windows 10 in all sorts of devices: tablets that convert into laptops, laptops that convert into tablets, smartphones that turn monitors into fu l l PCs -even Xbox One is now powered by Windows 10. Both Apple and Google have followed Microsoft's lead, building tablet-laptop hybrids that run their mobile operating systems. But while cr it ic s a re lu kewa r m on Apple's iPad Pro and Google's Pixel C tablet, the important trend to note is that Apple, Google and Microsoft want to make their mobile offerings more functional for both work and play.
5 Cord cutting will get easier
The movement to ditch ex pensive c able T V subscriptions gained a ton of traction in 2015.T he i nt r o duc t ion s of PlayStation Vue and Sling TV offered ways to let you watch live TV over the internet; cable networks began testing ways to let you stream live TV without renting a cable box; Netflix got a ton of amazing new content; and so on, and so on.
It's only going to get bet ter next year. The new Apple T V, which ju st launched last month, offers its own App Store, which is already filling up with apps and services for streaming media content. And then there's the rumoured live TV service that Apple's apparently been working on for years now

ETP31DEC15

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