NEW TECHNOLOGY COMEBACKS IN 2016 – GOOGLE GLASS

It was back in 2012 when Google introduced the world to “the Glass.” A smart pair of glasses that can show you maps, places and how to get there. The glasses that lets you check your e-mails, take pics and also record videos. It was a wonderful gadget.
Geeks all over the world fell in love with it. It became the “must have” gadget if you were a geek. If you saw yourself as a forward thinker. A futurist. A dreamer.
However, by the end of the year, the expectations that the $1.500 wearable PC would be a consumer hit had been shattered. The reason? It just disturbed people. You would be quite right to say that it was not the “right time” again.
Developers stopped working on apps for Glass, and the consumer launch was postponed. Even Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the Glass visionary, was no longer wearing the device.
However, the glass geeks are still there. Even better, the time is right now. We are in 2016. It is the year of Google Glass. Expect a better, polished version this time. In fact, we expect two versions here at WT VOX.
The industrial version of Glass is going to be a success. There’s no doubt about it. Think niche applications. You’ll see the new Glass in the Army. You’ll see the new Glass in the hospitals. You’ll see it in constructions. Google Glass is back and here to stay this time.

6. NEW TECHNOLOGY COMEBACKS IN 2016 – BRAIN-MACHINE DEVICES

magine a paralysed person getting up from a wheelchair. Walking, shopping with his family. Imagine him going to see an Arsenal match in the Champions League and have a beer with his mates, once again.The mind-machine-interface expert Miguel Nicolelis, a professor at Duke University, was one of the first to explore this field. Control “the machine” with your mind.With $15 million grant from Brazil’s government, Nicolelis, and his team built an exoskeleton propelled by the wearer’s thoughts. The wearer was expected to stand up and hit the opening ball at World Cup 2014.On paper, the idea is quite straightforward. Collect the brain signals with an EEG cap, translate them and send them to the machine for processing. However, the signals produced – that way, at that time – were not able to control the exoskeleton.Some say that Nicolelis failed in his task. He, on the opposite, declared that “those 17 months of hard work” were a success. The truth is that rather than seeing a man rising from a wheelchair and walking, the exoskeleton achieved the task of moving one foot forward to hit the ball.Two years later and we are in 2016. We know much more about the Brain-Machine interfaces. We understand the human brain better to a point where we want to try telepathy. 2016 is the year when the first functional brain-controlled exoskeleton is “for real.”I’d say that success in “new technology” means that your device, your gadget or your product can solve a problem. However, “the right time” plays a big part in the success of your idea. It might not be now. It might not be tomorrow. But still, you’ll be successful one day, just don’t give up. Good luck.