The Habr team has compiled a rating of 10 technologies and devices that have changed the world and influenced our lives. There are still about 30 cool things left outside the top ten - about them briefly at the end of the post. But most importantly, we want the entire community to participate in the ranking. We suggest evaluating these 10 technologies the way you want. Do you suddenly think that machine learning has had a much greater impact on the world than the sharing economy? Vote - your choice will be taken into account in the overall ranking.
For starters, our top. About 20 people voted: developers, editors, managers and one designer.
1. Sharing
They say, . And its main driver will be generation Z, who like not to own, but to use. But now this model has become so popular that life in large cities has changed a lot. We get up in the morning and see where there is a free car sharing car. We drive it to work, listen to music on the way - of course, via subscription, and not from a carrier. In the office we sit at a free table because they are not tied to employees. Or we go not to the office, but to a coworking space. Or even go into carpentry - make furniture, which can then be delivered to the client via cargo car sharing. They will buy it, use it, but will not throw it away when they get tired of it, but will sell it on some Avito. And on weekends you can go to the park - rent a scooter or bike at the nearest rental station, and return it where it’s more convenient. When we go on vacation, we rent not a hotel room, but an apartment on Airbnb, and rent out our own at the same time - profit! It seems that further - only more.
See also: "»
2 iPhone
It is believed that Steve Jobs changed the smartphone industry. If it weren't for the iPhone, maybe we would still be walking around with a PDA. And although the first iPhone appeared more than 10 years ago, these smartphones began to truly influence the market with the fourth model - precisely in 2010. And by the end of 2018, Apple had already sold a total of 2,2 billion iPhones - this could be enough for about one and a half of the population of China.
Most of the iPhone features were implemented by competitors even earlier. But Apple wins by making the features simple and convenient. Therefore, it is not a fact that without iPhones we would have had capacitive displays, kinetic scrolling and multi-touch. In 2011, Apple demonstrated a voice assistant, and although Siri is not the most advanced, it gave rise to the others: Alexa, Google Assistant and Alice. In 2013, Touch ID was built into the iPhone and after that everyone suddenly began paying with smartphones. Portrait mode with blur appeared first with HTC, but it only became popular after the iPhone 7 Plus, which appeared in 2016. At the same time, Apple decided to get rid of the audio jack and get everyone hooked on wireless headphones. In 2017, the iPhone X introduced fast and reliable face unlocking - Face ID. The next iPhone will be shown in September 2020.
See also: "»
3. Social networks
If LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram had not appeared, would we still communicate with our closest friends and acquaintances - because in the real world . And the count certainly doesn’t count for thousands of friends and followers.
Hundreds of birthday congratulations are unnatural, but how nice! How to conveniently post a vacancy in your feed and quickly solve work problems in built-in chats. The latest news is all there, even if unverified. Communication, acquaintances, relationships - there too. And, of course, without social networks we would not have defended Ivan Golunov and .
|
See also: "»
4. 4G communication
Source:
4G has equalized the capabilities of mobile Internet with fixed Internet access. Theoretically, the data download speed in such a mobile network can reach 1 Gbit/s, but in practice it is rarely higher than 100 Mbit/s. However, this is enough to watch movies in 4K resolution, stream videos and download photos from the cloud. We began to work remotely more often, relying on heavy email attachments to be downloaded over 4G shared from a smartphone. People are so used to the fact that they can do all this on the go or even from a car on the highway that they get very annoyed when the connection is lost. And 10 years ago all this did not exist.
In 2009, the first commercial fourth-generation mobile network was launched by TeliaSonera in Sweden, then in Finland. In the United States, 4G communications appeared in 2010, and in Russia in 2012. In 2018, the most connections in Russia were 3G (43%), and 4G came next with 31%, the remaining 26% were in second-generation networks. At the same time, in 2019 in Russia the share of sales of smartphones with 4G support in units increased by 93%.
See also: "»
5. Machine learning
Although real artificial intelligence is still far away, neural networks and machine learning have already changed our lives beyond recognition.
Modern voice assistants would not be possible without ML. All this “set the timer for 3 minutes” and “turn on the light in the living room” we would talk into emptiness. Or they would still shout at the Gorynych program on the computer, as in 2004. We would stand in the old fashioned way in traffic jams, not knowing where to go around faster. They would not break spears about the ethics of face recognition on the streets. Wouldn't get frighteningly personalized social media ads. Would drown under tons of spam in the mail. We would spend more time searching for information, especially using pictures and videos. And loans would be approved as before - for many days. But with a virtual Oleg would not have to communicate.
See also: "»
6. Cloud computing
The volume of the cloud market with a forecast for 2020. Source:
Cloud services were rightfully included in this ranking. Without convenient access to computing resources, which can be quickly obtained for ridiculous money, where would we store files, photos and backups? What about computing and servers? Or now there are also games. High-speed Internet access, cloud space, and computing power have only become cheaper over the past ten years. And this could not help but make cloud services popular.
See also post from 2010: “»
7. Tesla and other electric cars
One can treat Musk differently, but one cannot help but admit that he managed to change society’s attitude towards electric cars. This word is no longer associated with strange, low-power, slow and extremely economical Japanese cars. On the contrary, an electric car sounds proud. Teslas show amazing track times and drag race classic supercars that look amazing but feel more like gadgets.
Eight years ago, Model S became the first fast, stylish, long-range production electric car. It was followed by models X, Y and 3. And after Tesla, large manufacturers announced their intentions to produce electric cars: Ford, BMW, Audi and even Porsche.
See also: "»
8. Uberization
To put it very simply, Uberization is when there is no extra layer between the service and the client, only an application or website. Intermediaries - people and organizations - have been gradually replaced by digital platforms over the past 10 years. It's fast, convenient, cheap and predictable for both the business and the client. There is no need to talk to the taxi dispatcher; instead, you can make a couple of clicks on the map. There is no need to ask the manager which smartphone to buy - there are smart filters in the online store. And you don’t need to feel pangs of conscience to say that you didn’t like the service - you can give it a rating. And the rating system for evaluating services, by the way, is one of the main signs of Uberization.
See also: "»
9. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies
Based on blockchain, in theory, it is possible to conduct ideal elections, make reliable ID cards, and many other serious things. Banks and governments are interested in smart contracts. Millions of people hold billions of dollars in cryptocurrency, some states ban cryptocurrencies, others, like China, on the contrary, are not afraid to experiment. Anyone who did not buy pizza with bitcoins, but saved them on their hard drive, is now on a horse. The main question is whether all this will collapse in the next 10 years.
See also: "»
10. UAVs
Until 2010, unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, or UAVs, were mainly used by the military. But 10 years ago, civilian models began to gain popularity at fantastic speed. At the top of Olympus was the company DJI, which managed to reduce the price of its devices and make them popular - there are more than enough people who want to shoot a cool video with a drone costing less than $1000. Especially if this drone is reliable and even autonomous to some extent.
Drones, of course, are good for more than just shooting videos for social media. They are used in big cinema, agriculture and geodesy. They are even trying to introduce it into the delivery of goods. Since 2015, a sports direction has been developing - racing in remotely piloted vehicles. And in recent years, major players have been seriously considering the idea of taxis based on large drones.
See also: "»
Below is the popular rating, which you can influence by completing a short survey of 10 cards.
Outside the top there was a mountain of cool and important things. We did not include them in the rating, otherwise it would have grown to obscene proportions. So just keep a list. Let's discuss and expand on it in the comments.
- NFC and contactless payments
- 3D printers
- Private Astronautics
- GPU computing
- Teamwork tools (Slack, Skype, Mattermost, Asana)
- Raspberry Pi
- MacBooks
- Solid State Drives
- Subscription model for purchasing services
- Web applications
- Game consoles
- Smart watches and fitness bracelets
- JavaScript frameworks
- Discovery of gravitational waves
- Neurointerfaces
- GitHub
- GPS, GLONASS and other global positioning systems
- Patreon Model
- Digital maps
- TWS earbuds
- High definition cinema and video
- ARM architecture
- Multi-core CPUs
- Growing organs (teeth, liver, etc.)
- Android (and cheap Chinese smartphones on it)
- Online stores (Amazon, Yandex.Market and AliExpress)
- Digital cameras
- State services
- Laser vision correction
Source: habr.com