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Now I am trying to figure out what the most important tech related trend will be during the next 5 years.
Virtual Reality? Drones? 3d printing? Bitcoin?
That saddens me as I do not care for it at all. It's not like I can't learn how to code in JS, but to do so I find quite unrewarding.
I don't see 3D printing being commercially interesting for at least another few years. For anything you really seriously want a custom-made part for, you'd want a metal part made by an experienced machinist with a CNC mill. I expect 3D printers will get there someday but not soon.
Drones, quite likely there are many uses for them other than snapping pictures of white house lawn.
Bitcoin, maybe. In the long run, definitely. There is a specific limit to how many bitcoins can ever be mined. At the same time, more merchants are accepting them. Without a doubt, the dollar price of a coin will increase. I do not know yet - I haven't really checked - whether i'd expect bitcoin to do better than what I could do by investing in stocks, bonds or commodities, but in the long run I expect they would do better.
Internationalisation. In the next few years there are going to be a billion or so new internet users who'll want content and eCommerce, but they'll mostly be on low-powered, low-bandwidth smartphones. That particular market is very poorly catered at the moment. There are some players out there, but there's going to be room for a lot more. Essentially the size of the internet user base is going to double.
Internationalisation. In the next few years there are going to be a billion or so new internet users who'll want content and eCommerce, but they'll mostly be on low-powered, low-bandwidth smartphones. That particular market is very poorly catered at the moment. There are some players out there, but there's going to be room for a lot more. Essentially the size of the internet user base is going to double.
Providing services to the next billion internet users sounds like a big opportunity. I wonder if the solutions will be similar to what worked in the developing world or entirely new.
You don't even have to go to the developing world to find opportunity. There are services that exist in the US that simply don't exist elsewhere. One example is an MLS for real estate, which powers Zillow, redfin, etc. There are many developed countries that don't have one yet.
Also, self-driving cars (if they reached a reasonable price-point in the next few years) could have pretty profound effects on ridesharing, delivery, parking, congestion, etc. Could be a major quality-of-life changer for people in big cities.
But overall I think the most-important technology will be batteries. Long-lasting, fast-charging, small, powerful, cheap, recyclable batteries will be crucial to so many hardware-based industries. They are truly the stepping stone to many futuristic tech-trends.
If the FAA gets it's act together then drones (aka flying personal butlers) could certainly be it. The disruption they could bring to delivery, courier, security, tourism, gaming, etc could be huge. Also, self-driving cars (if they reached a reasonable price-point in the next few years) could have pretty profound effects on ridesharing, delivery, parking, congestion, etc. Could be a major quality-of-life changer for…
All noble uses for the technology, but I suspect the most popular use will be to take better selfies.