Tech predictions of imminent disasters for 2014

There are some major disasters predicted for next year in 2014.

Lets take a look at what’s to be expected and what was expected for 2013 that came true.

The end of the power grid

 

The National Intelligence Council, released this year, geomagnetic storms “pose substantial threat” to electronics and the power grid.  This past year we’ve seen a huge increase in solar storms since 1859, the solar super storm.

In 1989, a solar storm knocked out the Quebec power grid, impacting 6 million customers in the region.

Records show a return of a 50 year period for Quebec-level storms and 150 years for extreme storms.

Scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory demonstrated in tests that “geomagnetic disturbances have the ability to disrupt and possibly destroy electrical transformers.

Things that may go boom next year

“Bitcooin will explode. KABOOM!” CEO and co-founder of Gliph, Rob Banagale, predicts.
“OpenStack will implode,” said Jason Bloomberg, at ZapThink anticipates.

In 2013, scientists confirmed the existence of the largest volcano on the planet.  This volcano is also among the largest in the solar system.  Tamu Massif volcano is in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and is as large as the state of New Mexico.  Fortunately for us, it is inactive.

Google thinks about life extension, as did Edison

In 2013, Google created the company, Calico.  Calico is to focus on health as well as mental and spiritual well-being.

Thomas Edison figured out how to live a long life well before Google.  In a 1914 interview with The Day Book, Edison outlined a disciplined lifestyle.

Edison, at the age of 67, was very strict on himself.  He slept about five and a half hours a night.  He would not let himself work through the night anymore, before he only slept four hours to get more work done.  His daily diet didn’t exceed a pound and a half of food.  He smoked cigars and chewed tobacco but avoided cigarettes.  He read 118 scientific and trade periodicals and five newspapers daily.

“I read four lines at once,” said Edison.  “They should teach that kind of reading in the public schools.”

Too fast and too big for humans?

There have been warnings that machine-to-machine trading could disrupt financial markets.

Humans are losing the ability to intervene in machine actions in real time.  Systems are reducing communication and computational operating times down to several orders of magnitude below human response times.


Now lets take a look at what was predicted for the year of 2013.  I think all predictions came true.

1. Second-Screen Revolution – More users are watching TV on their smartphones and tablets.  By the enriched viewing experience, portability, and new apps, viewing on your portable device has risen to 80%.
2. Big Data – Companies and marketers have embraced big data because they are finally trusting it.  Data targeted information on channels, new discoveries that impact all walks of life based on deep data dives.
3. End of Anonymous Trolls – Internet and big data has not remained anonymous.  The watchful eye of the NSA has been made known and still, we can not do anything about it.
4. End of Privacy – Constant data collection, scanned emails and phone calls and hardware is able to see what we are doing as well as third-party sensors.
5. Death to Desktops – Traditional computers are becoming scarce, tablets and laptops have taken over.
6. 3D Printing – From retail stores the $2,000 3D Printer exploded.  Companies, hospitals, and homes, have utilized 3D printers since the beginning of the year.
7. Flexible Devices – TVs, computers, tablets, and phone screens, devices have gotten bendable and flexible.  The Samsung Galaxy S5 came out with its curved screen design.
8. Embedded Technology – Embedded technology has shown up with corporations wanting to put a chip into employees bodies so they don’t have to scan into work.  Also talk of embedding chips into children at schools has been talked about.
9. Robots Rise – It was expected for robots to rise, and it happened.  Robots are in cars, driving for us, on the phone, acting as customer service agents and replacing factory workers.  Robots have even come out looking as real as the person sitting next to you.

Cheers to 2014, and everything it will bring!

References:

Looming disasters, and other tech predictions, for 2014 and beyond – Computer World
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244964/Looming_disasters_and_other_…
 

11 Big Tech Trends You’ll See in 2013 – Mashable
http://mashable.com/2012/12/06/tech-trends-2013/