Year of tech convergence 2020

Well, as far as the COVID-19 is concerned, it’s successful in completely destroying the year 2020. But, some inventions or concepts that might be successful in future can bring a smile on your face. So, after short listing we have come up with the list.

1. 5G connections.

5G can come up everywhere You may have already seen ads about 5G wireless phones. AT&T and Verizon both are setting up small connection points in public places, like sports stadiums, to show off what’s to come. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Right now, 5G doesn’t have a lot of range, which is why it can only be used in small areas, but that won’t always be the case.

According to Computer World, the 5G implementations out there right now use millimetre-wave technology, which uses the highest frequencies, but has the least range, which is why it can currently only cover portions of an NFL stadium, for example. This will change, however, as lower-frequency service is on the way, too, and while it won’t be as fast, it will have greater range, and still be way faster than 4G LTE, the current standard.

The most exciting thing about 5G, though, is that it’s not just for phones. 5G will be a full-on broadband internet service, meaning that instead of having one service for your mobile devices and one for home internet, you’ll be able to get home 5G and take it with you, as well. That also means less reliance on Wi-Fi and more potential for devices with their own, dedicated connection.

2. Electric car batteries.

Electric car batteries will only get better Electric cars are becoming more likely to replace standard cars every year, but currently, one of the biggest things holding them back are batteries. Your typical electric car today only has a range of 150 to 310 miles and takes an hour or more to charge. Once your vehicle runs out of juice, you might be stuck waiting for it to recharge.

But two new innovations are on the way. First, a new discovery has reduced those hours long charge times down to just 10 minutes. It works by increasing the temperature of the battery as it charges, which researchers have found causes the charging reaction to occur far more quickly than it did before. Best of all, this doesn’t degrade the battery at all, according to Science. The battery’s lifespan remains the same.

Meanwhile, Swiss company Innolith claims to have created a new electric car battery than can offer 600 miles on a charge, according to The Verge. That’s more than two tanks of gas for your average fossil fuel vehicle. It will take some time to release, and there are some skeptical folks out there, as independent researchers and reviewers haven’t gotten to take a look at the battery themselves just yet. Even still, the race to create a more efficient and higher capacity battery is ongoing now, and they’re only going to improve.

3.Virtual reality

People will be able to feel things in virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) made a big splash in the last decade, but things will only get more interesting from here, starting with the ability to touch and feel the things we see through all the various kinds of computer-generated imagery. While experiments of this sort have been tried in the past, the results were often very bulky and required a ton of power, necessitating large batteries to be attached.

Now, though, new technologies are allowing for tactile “skins” that are far thinner and require far less power. One of these is developed by John A. Rogers and his team at North-western University. Their skin uses tiny, thin discs to create vibrations instead of bigger actuators you might find in a gaming controller or phone, which use a lot more power. What’s more, they’re thin enough they can be charged using near-field technology, meaning less reliance on large batteries, according to Scientific American.

Meanwhile, Swiss researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed their own tactile skin, which works similarly, but uses pneumatic actuators instead and can provide very delicate amounts of tactile feedback all the way up to one Newton of force. These aren’t the only two groups working on this, either, so it’s likely there will be hepatic feedback patches all the way up to clothing like gloves and, someday, entire suits of second skin.