New Year Brings New Advancements in Technology

Elon+Musk+posing+at+the+Tesla+Factory+with+a+new+Tesla

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Elon Musk posing at the Tesla Factory with a new Tesla

Madelyn Drohan, Reporter

From online shopping to self-driving cars, advancements in technology have changed the way people live their lives. In the mid-1700s, at the start of the Industrial Revolution, people started to figure out how to make simple jobs easier with new machines instead of doing everything by hand. In the 1920s, the basic appliances of any household, such as refrigerators and radios, were the new “must-haves” in any wealthy home.  Back in the mid-1900s, it was predicted that there would be flying cars and robots in the 2000s, and now, as we approach 2020, it seems that our predictions were not that far off.

According to Forbes.com, “Elon Musk, the creator of the brand Tesla, said he expects his company to create a truly ‘complete’ autonomous vehicle by this year.” Elon Musk wants the new car, Tesla Model 3, to have automated braking and automated lane changing. A famous influencer on YouTube, David Dobrik, has a Tesla Model X that he shows in his videos. In almost all of his YouTube videos, Dobrik shows off his advanced car and some of the updates. One of the most recent updates is the car being able to drive itself to pick you up; for example, if your car is parked in a parking space and you don’t feel like walking too far, the car can drive itself to where you are. Other car companies are also making their own models of self-driving cars, similar to Tesla.

SKIIN Smart Clothing, a digital design of an outfit that connects to the wearer, is coming out with SKIIN Smart Garments. The Smart Garments include clothes for men and women that “monitor your body’s vitals, measure your activity, understand your state-of-mind, heat up when you’re cold, anticipate illness, deliver therapies, and so much more,” according to Healthtechinsider.com. 

 Along with the Smart clothing, some new Smart inventions that are coming out in 2020, are Norm Glasses, Carro Smart Ceiling Fan, and Populife. Norm Glasses allow you to have more storage, a battery, a microphone, speakers, a camera, and a head-up display. According to a YouTube channel called Futurist, instead of having to look down at your phone for a GPS, you can connect your phone to the sunglasses and see the directions right in front of you. 

The Carro Smart Ceiling Fan is connected to Google Home and functions without sound so it doesn’t disturb you while sleeping. You can adjust the speed, lighting, and sound of the fan to meet your needs for any time of the day. The LED light can also change colors, and it can be controlled with the downloadable app on your phone.  

Lastly, Populife is a smart lockbox that can be controlled by an app that you can download on your phone. It is a storage box that no one can get into unless they have the app connected to the lockbox. If it is unlocked but not opened, it will automatically lock again, and if an invalid password is entered three times, it will go into security mode for five minutes. It is very durable and safe for any item you would like to lock up. With the app, you can track who uses the lockbox just in case there is any suspicious activity. All of these new items make life easier for people, which is exactly what society wants. 

Another field that is expecting some advancements in technology is medicine; the new advancements easing the pain of patients. One new advancement is therapy for peanut allergies by giving patients with the allergy a new oral immunotherapy medication that would slowly build a tolerance to being around peanuts and not having a severe allergic reaction. Artificial Intelligence is also making its way into the medical field to make it easier to diagnose medical problems patients have, monitor widespread health crisis’, improve clinical trials, and make operations more efficient and successful. Computer and Machine Vision is also becoming more advanced in medicine, one of the helpful advancement is to determine exactly how much blood a woman loses during childbirth so doctors can prevent the rate of mortality of mothers. According to Forbes.com, “Computers provide accurate intel, while previously this was a guessing game.” These are only a few of the progressions in the medical field being created to improve patient healthcare.

As we travel into the future, the world of technology advances in hopes to make daily life more luxurious. Inventors continue to create more ideas on how to lessen the effort that is put into daily activities. Who knows, we may have flying cars in the future!