Tech Trends changing the way we work and live

The adoption of the WorldWideWeb was the last major technology adoption cycle that revolutionised the way we lived and worked but are we on the cusp of another? Sandra looks at how tech is once again changing our lives for the better in large and small ways.

Written by
Sandra Bähr
Marketing Content Professional at Panasonic TOUGHBOOK

When Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web as a new information management system for CERN at the very beginning of the 1990’s, he could never have imagined the impact it would have on world. How www would become central to the development of the Information Age and the primary tool used by billions of people to interact on the internet.

But that creation, originally established as a way for scientific and academic institutions to share information, soon changed the very fabric of the way we lived and worked. There have been some great technology innovations since. The smartphone, for example, and how it has changed the way we can access information from anywhere. But with the latest headlines around AI, it feels like there may be other similar tumultuous tech breakthroughs now on the horizon.

Will AI and AR deliver?

The most hyped and also probably the most likely technology to next rock our world has to be AI. From students using ChatGPT to pass exam questions to creating artwork just by describing the image in your mind, it’s amazing to already see what AI is able to achieve. One of its biggest immediate impacts in the business world is likely to be in supply chain logistics. The ability to be able to continuously analyse and adapt is already starting to transform some of the world’s most complicated logistics operations – ensuring the goods arrive right at the very moment they are needed.

We are all used to seeing augmented reality being used as a filter on our social media images or as fake studios on our tv programmes but AR is also ideal to be powerfully used in the Logistics sector. Often predicted to be the next game-changing technology, Smart Glasses can offer a visual overlay for workers. For practical applications, this could mean 3D illustrations are provided for employees loading cargo into a shipment, ensuring the best use of space, and minimising the risk of incorrect sorting. There are also high hopes for the technology’s ability to enable remote expertise sharing. Read more about the benefits of AI and AR in Logistics 4.0 here.

Cities getting smarter

Although the smart cities of the future that we were told about when we were young may not quite have been realised, there has been incredible progress made in this area recently. Whether it’s in the form of smart energy building control or smart tvs controlling our entire home. But progress is also being made on a city-wide scale in the form of connected asset management. What’s that? Well, imaging if you knew where every faulty street light was or even if you could predict which street lights were about to fail. If you knew the location of every bin and just when they were full for collecting or you could identify every potential tree that required care and maintenance. Now that’s futuristic but happening now. Read more here.

Drones don’t mind sewers

We’ve all seen the use of drones increase exponentially over recent years but as the tech gets smaller the uses become even more incredible. Utility company Scottish Water recently reported that it was using drones to transform the way it surveys the country’s sewers.

With the sewer systems being much larger than water pipes, drones can do a lot of the hard work surveying the thousands of kilometres of underground pipes for damage and blockages that have previously remained unchecked due to their inaccessibility. Hold your nose and dive in here for more info.

Sustainable technology

Of course, it’s not all about the new. Finding ways to live more sustainably is one of the top priorities for society right now and technology is also starting to play its part. The design of reusable and modular technology is starting to have a big impact in business. Why discard your mobile computing devices every 3-4 years – when they could be easily modified, even by the users themselves to equip them for another task? Suddenly your handhelds, tablets and notebooks could be lasting for seven years or more. Panasonic is leading the way with this type of modular rugged design of its mobile computing devices. Read the about the latest attitudes to tech sustainability and Panasonic’ s modular approach to sustainable computing here.

So, we have touched on just a few of the trends. Many will change the world and some also that we haven’t even spotted yet. If you’re a tech fan like me, no doubt you will enjoy the ride.

Find out how Panasonic TOUGHBOOK is changing the world.

Tech Trends changing the way we work and live

Will AI and AR deliver?

Cities getting smarter

Drones don’t mind sewers

Sustainable technology

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