In the past 10 years, a lot has changed for technology. It used to be that every new innovation was immediately adopted by the general public and businesses alike. However, as we can see from how technology has become so ubiquitous in our lives, it’s not necessarily that simple. We now live in a world where everything is digitized and recorded on devices smaller than your smartphone. This has given rise to numerous “2.0” revolutions, some of which have already taken place or are about to happen. Let’s take a look at what the past decade has been all about!
The iPhone – 10 Years Later
The iPhone proved itself to be the perfect balance of functionality and aesthetic appeal. Within six months of its launch, it revolutionized the mobile phone industry by becoming the first smartphone to ship with a user interface designed and developed by Apple Inc. At the same time, it established the iPhone as a lifestyle item for every person who owns one. It may have been too early to call it the “breakthrough technology of the decade,” but it definitely proved to be one of the most significant and impactful technologies of the past decade. The iPhone changed the way we look at and use technology and set a new standard for the entire mobile industry. It is still used by people all over the world and probably will be for some time to come.
Facebook – The “Face” of Social Media
Facebook quickly became a household name thanks to its more-than-just-friends-only format, but it was actually in 2004 that the social media giant was founded. The site was created as a way to bring people together through the sharing of interests, interests that could be anything from pictures to videos to profiles to messages. Furthermore, the Facebook platform allows you to connect with others from all over the world, making it a great platform for both casual and serious socializing. This has led to Facebook becoming one of the most popular websites in the world. What started as a college student’s experiment has grown into a multibillion-dollar business with more than a million employees worldwide.
Google – Making the World Smaller
You’ve likely done some Google searches while using a laptop or even a computer. While using a computer, you likely realized that you have an entire world of information at your fingertips that you might not even know about. Google, on the other hand, has been making the world smaller in a very specific way. The search engine has been scanning the entire web for data and making it available for free. The internet giant has been doing this for more than a decade and hopes to continue to expand the amount of information available to the public for free. It has been successfully scanning the entire internet since 2005 and now allows the public to access information not owned or controlled by any particular organization or governmental body. What started as an experiment to make web pages available for free in 2005 has grown into a worldwide movement to make the entire web more freely accessible to all.
Twitter: From Science of Communication to an Online Phenomenon
You’ve likely used Twitter at least once in your life, if not many times. The microblogging platform allows you to send messages to friends and followers in just a few keystrokes. What started as a very simple service has evolved into one of the most popular social media websites in the world, boasting close to 1 million million active users around the globe as of 2017. While it may not have been the “breakthrough technology of the decade,” it has been a critical part of our society over the past 10 years and will continue to be for many years to come.
Baidu: The Chinese Google
Most people know Baidu as the Google of China, but the company has much more to offer than just a search engine. The Baidu app is used on over 1 billion devices in 200 countries, making it one of the top-ranking apps in the entire world. What really sets Baidu apart from the rest is its role as a communication platform. The Baidu app allows users to search for anything and everything, including documentation, news, and events. Since it is the most widely used app in the world, it allows Baidu to show off its technological prowess by providing access to a wide range of data not possible with other search engines. Furthermore, Google has been getting a lot of criticism for showing China’s most notorious dictatorship, the Communist Party, as the default search engine. While it is understandable that Baidu would want to project a different image, we can’t help but think that the company could have done better.
4G LTE: The Future of Networking
In the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about the future of networking. Many people are wondering when (or if) 4G LTE will become a standard feature on almost all mobile devices. While it is definitely possible to imagine a world in which every mobile device features 4G LTE, it is not yet a reality. 4G LTE is still a bit afar, and most devices support only 3G or 2G connections. While it is difficult to predict how 4G LTE will affect the world, one thing is for sure: it promises to change the way we use mobile technology. 4G LTE technology works on the same frequency band as conventional cellular networks, meaning it does not change frequency to follow different locations or different users. This is great for the environment, but it means that 4G LTE networks are much more efficient than 3G and 2G networks. Furthermore, 4G LTE is also much less likely to be disrupted or regulated by third-party services or web-based ecosystems like Facebook and Google have become accustomed to. Overall, we can expect 4G LTE technology to become a standard feature on almost all devices within the next few years.
Conclusion
The past decade was about technology, but the most impactful was the invention of the smartphone. Although it was not the “breakthrough technology of the decade,” it was nonetheless a significant and impactful technology that changed the way we use technology and the way people communicate. With the release of the first iPhone, the mobile phone industry changed forever. It allowed people to communicate with each other more easily and worked as a useful communication tool for almost every aspect of life. The smartphone revolutionized the way people communicate, allowing people to message each other, look up information, and receive information without having to leave their homes or workplaces. Some of the most iconic technologies of recent years such as Facebook and Google have their origins in the smartphone. It is not likely that we will ever see another technology take the shape of the smartphone, and it is not likely that we will ever see another technology change the way we communicate as dramatically as the smartphone has over the last decade.
