The Consumer Electronic Show (CES for short) is meant to prove the world the great potential of technology. This year was no different with lots of new gadgets being announced and mustered up at Las Vegas. However, one thing seems certain: the more advanced the gadgets are, the bigger the privacy holes will be. No wonder Mozilla stated that “IoT will be the first big battle of 2017”. Unfortunately, given all the latest cases of security breaches in banks and big-name multinational companies, Mozilla’s prediction may indeed become reality.
Truth being told, it wasn’t hard to foresee some of the popular announcements at CES 2017. In fact, virtual and augmented reality gadgets, wireless speakers and a handful of new smart devices are already featured in our favorite tech trends for 2017. L’Oreal for instance unveiled the world’s first smart hair brush equipped with microphones, an accelerometer and a gyroscope to analyze “brushing force and speed”, but the new sleeping tech and the vibrating shorts captured the imagination of many people. Nevertheless, there were also other interesting announcements for tech fans, particularly in the field of AI, the buzzing technology we expect to grow steadily in the months to come.
Car manufacturers are particularly interested in taking the next step forward, delivering vehicles capable of interacting with the driver in the most human-like way possible. Furthermore, these new cars will learn our music tastes, adapt themselves to better fit our mood and “communicate” with all the other cars on the road in order to predict or avoid accidents. Toyota and Honda were some of the manufacturers that attended the fair and unveiled their new futuristic AI cars capable of driving by themselves if necessary, something Uber is already testing in the streets of the U.S. However, we’ll have to wait until around 2030 because the market for these kinds of cars is still a grey zone. Aiming for a much nearer future though, Ford announced that drivers who use Amazon Echo will be able to ask Alexa to start their car remotely.
As for the present, smart technology is expected to influence even larger chunks of our life. The main feature of fitting simple household items with basic AI is to allow them to learn the habits and preferences of the residents. For example, a smart coffee machine can analyze the taste of every user, automatically cooking up your favorite coffee. AI-driven robots are also expected to be companions in the future, participating in chess games for instance. Robots and smart technology are now more part of the present than a dream of the future. The same goes for drones of all kinds, even including security guard drones that will keep a close watch on our homes.
The latest developments are very well a reason to be excited and will make our everyday life more enjoyable. However, such extremely extended network of devices all connected to the internet poses a huge security risk. Every IoT device is vulnerable and any smart home component, even the most preposterous ones – like baby monitors or these new smart hairbrushes – can be explored by attackers, who may use the smallest breach to their favor in gaining access to your home network. Furthermore, overly glorified self-learning smart technology can be a liability as well, since you’ll never know what kind of information they collect about you, exposing you to third party companies and targeted advertising. This way, companies could fill every second of your day with the most suitable business opportunity putting ads on your car, robots and wearable devices.
A great philosopher once said: technological advancement won’t make mankind more evolved. The future surely looks bright from a technology point-of-view, but we must be cautious when adding such devices to our life.
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