~Rishabh Kumar
Technologies have always been the backbone of any development. In today’s world, all our comforts, benefits and securities, we owe it all to the breakthrough technologies and scientific developments. Let us see the 15 breakthrough technologies that have changed the world in the last decade.
Table of Contents
1. Biometrics & Fintech
Well, how easy has it gotten to unlock your phone? We now are opening not only phones but doors, locks, safes and even are marking our attendance. All such just by a fingerprint or through face locks. It has only been possible because of the Biometrics that were developed in the last 10 years. AADHAR Cards are one of the biggest instances of biometrics in India.
Biometrics, combined with high-speed internet and connectivity, have completely changed the way we interact with each other, with governments, and with financial services.
2. Smartphones
Here comes the favourite tech that we are glued to these days. Without this, we can’t even imagine our lives and most probably you are reading this article on a smartphone. Apple unveiled the first iPhone in 2007. But the smartphone began to appear everywhere in the 2010s.
Compared to other tech advancements, the evolution of the smartphone has likely had the most significant influence on our day-to-day lives, according to Liviu Arsene, a global cybersecurity researcher at Bitdefender.
With the introduction of 4G networks and 5G lying at the door, waiting to replace the former, Smartphones can easily replace a laptop, while offering more mobility, flexibility, and availability. Moreover, they allow everyone to stay connected and be online every second.
3. Social Media
Along with smartphones, social media too has become one of the breakthrough technologies over this past decade. It has changed the world, maybe not in a very positive way but it still holds the top ranks in terms of our leisure spending platforms. In addition to Facebook, which became mainstream after 2007, we now spend a lot of our time on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
4. Artificial Intelligence
This is regarded as the best of the technologies of today’s world and also of tomorrow in terms of making our lives easier. Whether it be a simple task like performing a search or a complex task like doing surgery, AIs are capable of doing almost everything in the modern era.
5. iPad
Here comes one of the favourite devices of students and businessmen. However, it was mocked by many at the time of its 2010 launch for its name and for its awkward size. The iPad has sold 400 million units till date. It has created a new field of electronic devices and now many giants like Microsoft, Google and Samsung are giving stiff competition in the tablet market.
6. Driverless Cars
While many companies had started testing driverless cars by 2010, it was 2012 when Google announced that it had completed 300,000 miles of accident-free driving. In the last few years, although Google cars have become immensely popular, almost all major car manufacturers are working on driverless cars.
7. Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
First tested in 2013, LHC is definitely one of the latest breakthrough technologies of not only the last decade. Undoubtedly, it has led in the development of Quantum Physics and in the finding of the God particle.
8. SpaceX Reusable Rocket
Space programs are very expensive to carry out. However, Ellon Musk’s SpaceX has come with a solution by building reusable rockets that were successfully tested in 2015. This development has greatly cheapened the cost of space travel. Moreover, it has brought commercial space travel a step closer to reality.
9. Gene Editing
Although being restricted to a limited extent in most of the countries, gene-editing research has much improved in the last decade. By removing pieces of harmful DNA, this technology is likely to change the future of medicine. Moreover, it is likely to eradicate some major diseases in the future.
10. Stem Cell Research
Once used to be a science fantasy, stem cells are now possible to be created and are being used to grow, kidney, lung, brain, and heart tissues. This, like many other breakthrough technologies, will likely save millions of lives in the coming decades as the patients will no longer have to wait for donor organs.
11. E-Books
After the release of Amazon Kindle in 2007, a plethora of e-readers have changed the way millions of people read. Now, e-books are an important part of the book industry and almost all the books are released in e-book formats.
12. Ride Sharing Apps
Waiting for a taxi was never a time saver for the working-class. However ride-sharing apps changed the whole Taxi service into something easily accessible by making it online. The ride-hailing service allows people to call a private or shared car using an app and has set the stage for a number of subsequent car-share apps since its launch.
13. Smart Wearables
Most of us use some sort of wearables to monitor our fitness activities or for hands-free mobile usage. But they didn’t exist before 2010. With the launch of Fitbit Ultra in 2011, fitness tracking and management took a whole new level. Many other tech giants like Apple, Samsung and Motorola launched their own wearables which further revolutionized the consumer electronics market.
14. Virtual Reality (VR)
Although VR or HUD was first invented in 1968, they were merely a screen, not practically the same VR that we know today. But the consumer electronics market changed when Oculus launched a VR named ‘Rift’ in 2012 with a 3D view, bringing the Virtual Reality experience to a whole new level. There are now several more VR companies with Google Cardboard being immensely popular and the VR experience has got much better since its initial release.
15. Smart Home Devices
Google came with the idea of smart homes back in 2014 with the launch of Google Nest, which creates smart, connected devices for almost everything one might need in the home. The company has developed out a cluster of additional smart products for our homes. These include smoke detectors, Chromecast, and others. Other companies too have stepped into the advanced technologies and now almost all day to day appliances can be connected to some or other smart home devices
These were the 15 breakthrough technologies over the last decade that have reshaped the fate of mankind.
