IBM researchers are known for staying on the cutting edge of technology.
They’ve recently released their list of the TOP 5 INNOVATIONS THAT WILL SHAPE OUR LIVES OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. Granted, these are all IBM’s innovations, but that won’t stop us from sharing these with Web Watch readers, ’cause we think some of these are pretty nifty…
- You’ll beam up your friends in 3-D — think of this as a 3D or holographic video phone, like in Star Wars, combined with other aspects of online video chat that we already have for sharing photos, videos, or even physical objects
- Batteries will breathe air to power our devices — imagine a battery lasting up to 10 times longer than it currently does, just because it can convert air to energy. Who knows, maybe we won’t need a “battery” after all, and the technology could be built into the device directly.
- You won’t need to be a scientist to save the planet — this is already being done in various “crowdsourced” projects, where information is sent in from consumers for processing by the companies and organizations that need it most. What IBM is proposing is making this type of information gathering even more widespread… and perhaps automatic… by distributing any number of unique sensors around and having those automatically send data to whoever needs it.
- Your commute will be personalized — using sophisticated data models that analyze your individual commute, your nav system could integrate with a master system that would then advise you personally what the best route to take would be that would avoid any and all delays.
- Computers will help energize your city — massive data centers use up to 50% of their energy use towards HVAC, which is then just wasted air afterwards. Imagine that converted air, after it is used to cool the computers, being used to generate some additional energy to be used for other uses – such as heating water for household use.