Tech Trends for 2017

A new year is here. We may not yet have the technology depicted in Back to the Future, but we do have:

Virtual Reality: Samsung Gear VR


Animal Inspired Robots:

http://futurism.com/images/bio-robots-animal-inspired-machines/

Artificial Intelligence--we are almost there.

But the big tech trend is really scary:
CyberSecurity--hackers are getting better and security programs and companies cannot keep up.
This is a recurring trend. In the beginning of music sharing/downloading in the 90s at the beginning of the Internet in our homes, our laws were behind the technology--Remember Napster? https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/feb/24/napster-music-free-file-sharing. When society caught up, Napster was shut down. Now it is back and legally sharing music.
Hacks of financial institutions and big companies' consumer personal records has been growing in frequency the last few years. It finally forced the U.S. to move to chips in credit cards instead of the magnetic strip. Europe had made that change long before.
So, while this vulnerability of our files and online finances is scary and a real vulnerability, it will in turn help us develop stronger security and systems. I'm not condoning hacking. It just forces companies, systems and software to improve their product. That is the silver lining in this storm cloud.

For more on Tech Trends: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38517517