Tech Trends Coming In 2016

Algorithmic personality detection– life insurance underwriters are attempting to assess your personality — via your magazine and website subscriptions, the photos you post to social media, and more — in order to determine how risky an investment you are? Some lenders have used personality algorithms to predict your future financial transactions. (The data show that if you look at two people with the same professional and personal circumstances, the one with a higher college G.P.A. will be more likely to pay off a debt.) Algorithms can trace personal data in order to assess an employee’s predicted success at work: for example, how likely he or she is to bounce around jobs.

Bots-keep us company, and help us track what others are doing. News organizations will soon use bots to sort and tag articles in real time. We’ll see advanced bots manipulating social media and stocks simultaneously.

Glitches- Expect more “glitches” in 2016

Backdoors– Backdoors are lines of code developers intentionally install in firmware so that manufacturers can safely upgrade devices and operating systems. Some government officials will be advocating for a set of “golden keys,” allowing law enforcement to use backdoors as they wish. This won’t just affect companies, such as Facebook and Google. In 2016, any company that stores customer data could be asked to create a backdoor. This might include banks, advocacy groups, travel agencies, hotel companies and more. Opponents argue that the simple act of creating a backdoor would leave ordinary people vulnerable to everyday attacks by even unskilled hackers.

Blockchain–The blockchain is a sort of distributed consensus system, where no one person controls all the data. It’s the technogy behind bitcoin.Blockstream recently launched its first prototype “sidechain,” which functions as a separate ledger with its own code. Sidechains allow for easier authentication. Blockstream and the sidechain projects that follow will turn the blockchain into a universal platform and disrupt entire industries.The blockchain enables people to participate in “trustless” transactions, eliminating the need for an intermediary between buyers and sellers

Drone lanes- discussions taking place  about whether or not the airspace should be regulated for hobbyists and commercial drone pilots, which will prompt difficult conversations between technologists, researchers, drone manufacturers, businesses and the aviation industry, since each has an economic stake in the future of unmanned vehicles.

Quantum computing-Quantum computers most powerful than anything built to date — they require special algorithms capable of doing new things. . 

Augmented knowledge. . Scientists at the University of Southern California have been working on a cognitive neural prosthesis that can restore and enhance memory function. This research can help victims of stroke or traumatic brain injury regain their cognitive abilities and motor function. Rather than having to relearn, they need only reload those memories.