Metaverse, smarthome, electric cars, health measuring devices... are not only trends that will penetrate deeply and change people's lives this year.
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| 2022 is predicted to be the year of the more common metaverse in life. Photo: Glenn Harvey |
2021 is considered the year that AI has many major improvements and is closer to life. Blockchain technology, especially blockchain games, NFT has started to become more popular. Besides, the metaverse virtual universe also has its first steps, promising to thrive this year.
The metaverse race
Last year, Facebook expressed its intention to enter the metaverse when it decided to change the company's name to Meta. A series of other large companies such as Google, Microsoft and Apple are also on their way to conquer this field. Analysts say that metaverse will be the keyword that covers the technology world this year and has a great impact on how users interact.
"2022 will be the year the metaverse race gets heated. Big tech companies will jostle for market share in this emerging field," Rolf Illenberger, CEO of virtual reality software maker VRdirect, told Washington Post.
The virtual space race has already started. Meta's Oculus division has hit the milestone of shipping 10 million VR headsets. Microsoft has also been involved in the VR market for a few years, and spent $ 68.7 billion to buy game company Activision Blizzard with the ambition to go deeper into the virtual universe. On January 27, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented that the metaverse is "an interesting area with great potential and the company is investing accordingly". Meanwhile, Google is said to be secretly developing an augmented reality headset with the participation of 300 employees.
A series of VR, AR and related software products were also demonstrated at the CES 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in early January in Las Vegas. According to the New York Times, this is a sign of the explosion of this type of device this year.
Smarthome devices use common standards
Users are no stranger to smart home products such as door locks, night lights, robot vacuums... Internet connection and remote control. They also work more reliably thanks to digital assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple Siri.
However, the smart home market is still quite chaotic. One company's product is not compatible or does not work well with another company's technology. For example, some door locks only work properly with iPhone, or there are thermostats that only listen to Google Assistant commands, while being useless when using Siri.
This raises the need for a common standard for smart homes. Big companies like Apple, Samsung, Google, Amazon are planning to release and update smarthome technology to be compatible with Matter - the new standard that allows smart home devices to communicate with each other, regardless of whether they are integrated Virtual assistant or from any brand.
"When everyone has a common language, technology will prove useful," Samantha Osborne, Samsung's vice president of SmartThings, told the New York Times. According to experts, Matter is expected to be popular this year when more than 100 smarthome products comply with this standard.
Technology for health
In the past few years, wearable health monitoring devices such as measuring movement, heart rate, calories consumed, blood SpO2 levels, electrocardiogram ... are increasingly popular. But in 2022, products will become compact, feature-rich, and analyze more accurate body data to truly become essential human products.
At CES 2022, Abbott introduced the Lingo patch, which integrates a 5mm long needle with a sensor, which measures body parameters such as blood glucose, ketones and lactate levels. Or start-up Movano launched a ring containing sensors that monitor heart rate, body temperature, and use AI to analyze parameters, then make recommendations to users.
A better understanding of daily habits can help make better health decisions, spotting problems early, and getting them checked out. However, experts are also concerned that some devices may misdiagnose, cause anxiety for users, as well as collect personal medical data excessively.
Electric cars will be popular
Many companies around the globe started the race to develop electric vehicles. According to the New York YTimes, this trend will explode this year, reflected in CES 2021 - an event that used to be mainly about consumer products. Here, Ford Motor announced plans to produce an electric pickup truck F-150 Lightning, while General Motors also developed a battery version for the Chevrolet Silverado. Mercedes-Benz has also planned to release an electric car in the near future.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post predicts that the number of electric vehicles produced in 2022 will be more, while the charging infrastructure for this type of vehicle is increasing and there is a uniform standard for all vehicles. Besides names like Tesla, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, the market will have a series of electric car start-ups entering the competition.
