The latest in tech development will be on display next week in Las Vegas at one of the country’s largest consumer technology trade shows, called CES.
Displays will focus on some of the hottest items of 2019 that will continue to predominate consumer technology this year, such as home and auto security, thermostats, television sets with AI, and those persistently clingy mobile devices on our wrists that tell us everything from the ambient outside temperature to our own blood pressure.
The next generation of cell phone technology, 5G, will undoubtedly take the spotlight, as engineers and other techno-mavens speculate on how fast it will be able to both send and receive data. So far the giant tech companies that are investing heavily in 5G are loath to give specifics, except to say that the delivery speed will be ‘mind-boggling. And, like an ancient underground fungus that science reporters tell us has its roots entangled in everything in a hundred mile radius, the internet will continue to invade every nook and cranny of the smart home — connecting the tv with the refrigerator with the washer and dryer with the thermostat with the lawn sprinkler with the toilet with the garbage disposal with the burglar alarm with the . . . well, you get the picture. Scientists are already calling 2020 “The Year of Connected Everything.” The goal, the promise, and the fear, is that everything at home, at the office, at the factory and in the warehouse, will work flawlessly together — and thus require fewer human interactions, which, in turn , could mean layoffs in many industries. As one expert put it — there will be more mics, more screens, more cameras, bigger sensors, more AI, in 2020, and less work for human hands and brains.