The far future: tech trends of 2025

The far future: tech trends of 2025

Buckle down for the ride.
Just when you thought speech-
enabled tablets were cool. In the
future, your car won't just find a
parking spot, it will know where you
like to park. The dollar will be
replaced by not just an encrypted
currency like bitcoin, but by a
currency of knowledge and social
connection. And your home will
become a digital, customizable
expression of your tastes.
1. The currency of you
Tech pundits have predicted the age
of encrypted currency for years. And
it makes sense: you'll purchase a
piece of encrypted data like a bitcoin,
storing them in a protected digital
vault. Bitcoins could eventually
replace the digital (or paper) currency
we all use.
'Robots will protect us, cultivate
our raw food, and take care of
our health -- and look after our
parents.'
- Dmitry Grishin from Grishin
Robotics
Yet, according to security expert Tal
Klein at Bromium, the far-future
trend will shift even further.
Someday, your currency might be
tied to your own identity.
"You will be worth what you know
and can contribute," he told
FoxNews.com. "That will be
measured on an open exchange that
will remind you of your real-time
worth. It will be like a mash-up of
NASDAQ, bitcoin and LinkedIn."
2. Robots everywhere!
Robots are already popping up
everywhere -- the iRobot vacuum
cleaner, a swimming pool bot that
doesn't need any oxygen to go
underwater, or that Audi A8 that
brakes for you.
Dmitry Grishin from Grishin Robotics
says robots in the future will be even
more common than phones and
tablets today: there will be small
home bots for cooking, laundry, and
decorating. But, they'll be like the
vacuum bots, not androids you see
in movies. (Think: small and mobile
enough to move around the whole
house.)
"There will be robots in agriculture,
defense and medicine," Grishin said.
"These robots will protect us,
cultivate our raw food, and take care
of our health -- and look after our
parents."
3. Cars with an "intent engine"
The term "intent engine" is a little
hard to understand. After all, we
have nothing quite like it today. Yet,
the car of the future will know your
intentions and predict what you like.
Nick Pudar, a vice president at
OnStar, says the future car will keep
track of your day, recording where
you go and bookmarking interesting
sights. For example, you might pass
a restaurant and log (probably by
voice) that you'd like to dine there
someday. A few months later, the car
might remind you of your intent. It
might even direct you to the parking
spot you usually like, say, by a shady
oak tree.
"[The future car could offer]
geolocation bookmarking for later
serendipitous retrieval," he told
FoxNews.com. "It could track not just
where I've been but also where I
want to go."
4. Direct brain interfaces
We might not all have bald heads
and power cords stuck to our ears,
but we could be wirelessly connected
to computers at some point in the
future -- much like the Borg on "Star
Trek." (Hopefully, we won't be as
scary or bent on world conquest.)
Tom Furness, a University of
Washington engineering professor
and co-inventor of the Visualant
ChromaID, a chemical scanner, told
FoxNews.com that a direct brain
interface will mean "typing" a
document with our minds, thinking of
a command and making it happen
("turn on sprinkler system"), and
even imagining something and then
printing it on a 3D printer.
Robots will be everywhere, of course
-- and we'll have them do our
bidding without saying a word.
"Computers will communicate with
humans in the form of interactive
robots that can serve as counselors,
playmates and teachers," he said.
5. The customizable home
The connected home of today already
senses when you get home from
work and can turn on the lights or
raise the temperature to a desired
level. In the future, much like how
your car can predict what you want,
your home will be more automated
to meet your needs.
Jeremy Warren, the vice president of
innovation at Vivint , a home
automation and security company,
says home customization will change
in subtle but important ways. One
example of this: a new form of paint
might emit a soft glow and change
during the day to match your mood
or the weather conditions outside.
He says new research will show how
lighting affects us, and the home will
respond in kind.
Display technology and security
features will also evolve. We might
not have a fixed camera on a wall or
on a desk; the entire home might be
able to show information. "There will
be a paradigm shift to a display in
the home that's more flexible and
does what you want -- say, a kitchen
countertop that makes a recipe
appear as soon as you look at it.