Tech Trends 2014 | Hacker News Reader

Tech Trends 2014

frogdesign.com

44 pointscpeterso20 comments

These all seem a bit ridiculous for 2014, maybe 2024. There are so many hurdles to overcome to get self driving cars, or private drones.

Some of them don't seem entirely ridiculous. Anonymity going mainstream could likely happen due to everything that happened in 2013. Similarly, Drones got really big towards the end of 2013, seeing them get even bigger doesn't seem all that unlikely.

No mention of virtual reality (not augmented reality) or cryptocurrencies? Those would be my picks for 2014.

Interesting to see where the likely/not likely voting scales are. It would be great to see this data in a few weeks.

Your comment reminded me of this cool interactive NY Times article from 2011:

  Predicting the Future of Computing

  Since no supercomputer can yet predict the future, we need your help. Readers are
  invited to make predictions and collaboratively edit this timeline, which is divided
  into three sections: a sampling of past advances, future predictions that you can push
  forward or backward in time (but not, of course, into the past), and a form for making
  and voting on predictions. The most prescient prophet might receive an iPad 2 in 2050.
  But if the past is any guide, this prediction will almost surely be wrong.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/06/science/201112...

I wonder if the "innovators" listed on each point are Frog clients? :)

Seriously, none of the companies mentioned by name are particularly innovative or ahead of the curve (e.g. WeChat, which has tons of competitors with similar feature sets, user numbers, and prospects).

I can't really see any reason to mention them at all unless there's a bit of back-scratchin' going on...

[Moreover, given the generally random nature of the other "predictions" (some are just stupid, and are no way going to happen, and others are just repeating common wisdom) and I wonder if the purpose of the entire list is to push those companies....]

Faraday Zones are a neat idea! I've already got one by accident (sort of) in my home office, we extended the house and have our huge steel balcony inside our house[0] now, and it (along with huge steel struts through the house) means that wifi refuses to make it to the office.

Wonder how you'd be able to create a space like that on purpose?

[0] http://instagram.com/p/i-oDm7sv8o/

I think they are getting ahead of themselves, especially with drones, and autonomous cars. Also that company "personal" that they list, I looked at the site and they run an auto-fill app for online "personal info" forms. Chrome already does that... doesn't it? I liked their "Faraday Zones" I thought that was a cool concept. Will it happen, I don't know.

No mention of flying cars, interesting.

Or HoverBoards, or even giant 3D projections of JAWS 19 eating you.

WeChat / Chinese Tech giants are interesting. Does a Chinese / Non-US player stand a chance on potentially accessing the goldmine that is the American consumer data? And how will the NSA react? Or the American advertising industry?

They forgot Bitcoin, imho.

The number of application based on block chain is booming, its significance as a technology goes way beyond monetary.

Do you have some overview like which ones are the most promising, etc.?

What was that about the sky's the limit for great design, was there a prediction there? I expect predictions to at least some quantifiable component about them.

Love these design and tech trend articles. Such an invaluable way to know where the crowd is going, so we can break away and go somewhere else.

that's how we stay l33t,bro.

Yessir, my tounge-in-cheek username has been crafted for optimum douche-bagginess. The lulz are all yours friend.

Looking at movies from the 80's and even the 90's it's kind of painful to see the perception of technology. Not because the technology is obsolete today and that in some way is hilariously funny, but because you can feel the hubris at that time as people thought of them self as being at the forefront.

Now I used to think that we the humanity grown out of that hubris. That our kids will never be able to mock us because of the old technology we once perceived as cutting edge, simply because we gotten more distanced to our self no longer perceiving our self as being on the forefront in a world that's always changing.

But right now I feel like we're back in the hubris of the 80's. We will tell our kids about the time when every one was supposed to have a 3d printer at home. The material was super expensive, the material didn't hold up to anything, and who is going to have time to manufacture stuff at home when we don't even make our own food any more? And our kids will laugh at us for ever getting so out of touch with reality.

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