This is how the tech industry will change your life this year

The tech industry may be increasingly harder to get a handle on with the pace at which it moves, but that doesn’t mean we’re any less enamoured with the startling progress it makes on a seemingly weekly basis. These are the breakout trends of 2016 that will likely be encroaching onto your daily life by the time 2017 rolls around.

(Image: Facebook)

Whilst the image above looks a little like Mark Zuckerberg has finally completed his quest for dominance over the physical world as well as the digital, it’s actually most likely going to be the first step in virtual reality establishing itself big time. Having bubbled below the surface for a year or two, this is the year VR goes big, as we’ve already seen with HTC and Facebook shipping their hardware and Sony due to before the year’s out. Outside of the parameters of entertainment, it’s likely that the tech will come into education, healthcare and video conferencing – next level FaceTime is on the way.

(Image: Amazon)

You may have inexplicably put one on your Christmas list last year, but drones are far more than just an expensive toy that will make it out of the box on a rare occasion. Expect them to be delivering parcels, certainly inner-city, before the year’s out, whilst media uses could certainly change how you see developing news stories.

(Image: Number26)

One of our startups to watch this year, Number26, the app-only bank, added 60,000 customers to the 100,000 it already had in the first quarter of this year and now mobile banking is seriously threatening to distribute the financial industry. With plans to add the UK to the list of countries it operates in this year, it could have the established banks looking over their shoulder before too long.

(Image: Hassan Ahmed)

Between Fitbit going from strength to strength, the promise of a new Apple Watch this year and Nike debuting its auto-lacing trainers, technology is becoming very much wearable. The Apple Watch has had a solid if unspectacular debut, but as the Cupertino juggernaut continues to suss out the market, it’s not unthinkable to see a second model picking up steam. Previously derided as aesthetically unpleasing, the wearables market is cottoning on to good taste and we’re becoming ever more open to the idea of replacing watches and whatnot with something that does a little more.

The Internet of Things has been bounded around a lot in the last 12 months, and essentially it means that everyday objects are becoming wirelessly connected. Amazon’s Echo home assistant has become one of the company’s best-selling products and at its core is the ability to control other smart devices. The follow up to the original device, the Echo Dot is small enough to have in every room, ensuring you’re connected wherever you are. This allows you to turn off the lights, catch up on the news, play music, order products from Amazon and even brew a coffee, all through voice commands. What a time to be alive.

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