In today’s world, tech is king. Whether it’s big developments like electric cars and converting to sustainable energy sources, or the latest apps and smart wearables to help us keep track of our diets and exercise, tech advances are always big news.
With so much going on – and developing so rapidly – it can be difficult to stay on top of the latest trends. Sometimes it feels like as soon as you’ve heard about something it’s obsolete. If you want to stay one step ahead of the game, here are our insights on the five biggest emerging tech trends of 2022.
iGaming
iGaming is in its heyday right now and it only looks set to get bigger and more popular in the coming years. The convenience, accessibility and variety that online casinos offer is a big part of their success. The other is the tech advances that they have made use of.
Live dealer casinos allow players to interact with the cards a dealer is playing, thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology. Online casinos are expected to combine OCR technology with augmented reality technology in the coming years to create a truly immersive gaming experience.
With so little overhead, since they don’t maintain physical buildings, online casinos can also offer players better promotions and rewards. The best online casino promotions include offers like deposit matching, free spins and no deposit playing. These sorts of welcome promotions are much more accessible than the promotions that traditional land-based casinos offer, which usually require players to spend over a certain amount before being considered for comps.
Smart devices
We’ve all become so familiar with smartphones that we sometimes forget that they’re considered smart devices – they seem like just a normal part of our daily routine. Smart devices have been with us for years and as we’ve seen already, they keep getting smarter. This trend is set to continue.
Combining increased computing and processing power with AI developments, we are likely to see smarter devices that are capable of doing more. Devices such as smart lightbulbs allow you to program your individual light fixtures in ways that are better for your eyes, and can also help protect the environment by reducing electricity consumption.
3D printing
Within the last decade, 3D printing has gone from a fun technology used to create small art projects to a technology capable of building houses. The real jump was moving from only being able to use specific plastic polymers to nearly any semiliquid substance. Considering how far it has come so quickly gives us some idea of how much farther it is likely to progress in the next few years.
The biggest advance that is on the horizon is the creation of 3D printed food. 3D printers are already being used to create elaborate shapes out of chocolate and sugar. Currently, this is largely limited to high-end restaurants and treated as a luxurious gimmick. In the coming years, though, we should see it enter wider production.
Blockchain
Cryptocurrency is struggling at the moment after a major crash that has shaken the market. The crypto market has seen a number of crashes in the last decade, so we’re likely to see it recover fairly quickly. Either way, the technology behind cryptocurrencies – the blockchain – is strong and will help shape the future of how we do business on the internet.
Blockchain is important because it is open and permanent. Data entered into the blockchain is essentially locked in place – it cannot be altered or hidden. Conversely, everything on the blockchain can be done anonymously. This has the potential to help us create highly secure systems.
Extended reality
From virtual reality, we have moved into augmented reality and mixed reality. All of these forms of enhancing how we interact with the world are now brought under the umbrella term “extended reality”. Many of the uses we immediately think of when we consider extended reality are for entertainment. We already see virtual and augmented reality being used in video and mobile games.
There are more practical uses as well that are being developed and implemented. Essentially, extended reality tools can be used to provide us with information as we go about our days. This could be as minor as being able to see how a paint color looks on a wall to walking oil rig workers through complicated procedures before they arrive on site.
Extended reality can also be used to enhance work from home setups. It can and will soon be used to allow employees working from home to “meet up” and interact in a virtual office to maintain a sense of community.