RECENT ADVANCEMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY

ANUM AHMED PIRKANI

Technology is always moving and it touches every part of our lives. Each year, we see more and more of the
reality that only existed in science fiction come to life. Here are the recent technological advancements—the
ones that truly had us excited for the future:

1) Invisibility Cloak now a reality

Step aside, Harry Potter. There is a new invisibility cloak in town.
Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have
developed a new type of super-thin, skin-like "meta-surface" that
is capable of making small objects disappear. Scientists have been
developing "meta-materials" with special mathematical and
electromagnetic properties that can trick your eyes into believing
something isn't there.

2) HP Sprout Touch Mat Reinvents the Workstation

The idea behind Sprout is to reinvent the digital workspace, using

an overhead projection camera that can detect finger/hand
gestures, track objects, and even interact with them. Sprout's
touch-sensitive mat doubles as a second display, thanks to its
overhead projector/14.6MP camera that beams down to scan 2D
and 3D images. Sensors on the mat input ideas sketched or
written by the user, and anything placed on the mat can be quickly
scanned or photographed. Just like a virtual sketchpad, users
simply drag an image from the monitor to the touch mat and start
creating. Digitally scanning and manipulating objects has never been this easy. No keyboard or mouse needed
here, just your hands. Most importantly, it has an interesting take on how the world of touch screens and
traditional desktop computers might interact and function in a universal, digital workstation.

3) Google’s Contact Lenses Monitors Blood Sugar Levels

Google are taking their wearable technology ambitions even further with
a smart contact lens. It’s not a Google glass plastered onto your eye. Its
transmitters are used for an entirely different end goal: monitoring
diabetics’ tears for glucose. Google lens are being developed by Google
x, the offshoot of the tech giant that handles their most ambitious and
risky projects.
 4) Computer Chips are Becoming More like Human Brains

The idea behind the development of neuromorphic chips is to make them

a bit more like us—and in turn, make computers better at navigating and
modeling human behavior. These neuromorphic chips, being developed
by companies such as qualcomm, are designed to perceive beyond just
their programming, such as being able to process sensory data and react
accordingly. It’ll have a huge effect on robotics in the next few years and
continue reshape the way we think of computers and our relationship
with them.

5) Google’s Cancer-Detecting Pill

Google pushed strongly in the world of healthcare with its glucose-detecting

contact lenses, the Google Genomics cloud storage project, and most notably,
its new cancer-detecting pill. The pill contains magnetic nanoparticles that
attach themselves to cancerous molecules that may or may not be flowing
through your bloodstream. The pill would then actually be able to notify you on
your wearable device whenever it has accomplished its cancer purging. Even
though it’s still years from hitting the market, it’s one of those game-changing
technologies that only Google has the intuition, and ambition to create.

6) Helium hard disks

With the amount of data being created doubling every two years, storing,
retaining, accessing and transforming this massive volume of data has put
storage at the heart of the data center. Storage must be faster, more
elastic, more accessible and more affordable. Besides simply sounding
cool, the new helium filled hard drives introduced by Western Digital are
a game changer in storage technology. Western Digital’s HGST has
announced the world’s first 10-terabyte hard drive: the helium-filled
Ultrastar He10.

7) Flying cars
Slovakian company AeroMobil unveiled its latest prototype of an
elongated, road-ready vehicle with stowable wings that can navigate
both city traffic and the airspace in between landings and take-offs
from the world’s airports.
 8) Self-Driving Cars Will Be Everywhere

When we talk about self-driving cars these days, we’re not just talking
about the one made by Google without a steering wheel. Everyone
from Tesla to Audi are testing and implementing self-driving technologies
to put in their high-end vehicles. While none of them are doing anything as
extreme as Google, clearly the influence is being seen across the industry
as the desire for self-driving features grows.

9) 'Power over Wi-Fi' named one of the year's game-changing technologies

University of Washington engineers have developed a novel

technology that uses a Wi-Fi router—a source of ubiquitous but
untapped energy in indoor environments—to power devices. The
technology attracted attention earlier this year when researchers
published an online paper showing how they harvested energy
from Wi-Fi signals to power a simple temperature sensor, a low-
resolution grayscale camera and a charger for a Jawbone activity
tracking bracelet.
In the future, PoWi-Fi could leverage technology power scaling to further improve the efficiency of the system
to enable operation at larger distances and power numerous more sensors and applications.