My challenge to our team of PaperCutters (and avid tech-heads): what is a tech trend you think will shape 2024, and why.
I kicked things off with:
Deepfakes
PaperCutter Al
Because I think they’ll have an impact on the US election. It’s just too, too easy to pitch a video or still image as real and convince a distracted viewer that what they’re looking at actually happened.
The parody videos that are popping up on YouTube today will quickly morph to election speeches purporting to say outrageous things.
Watch this space (well, watch YouTube).
ARM chips to replace X86
Matt C
The second best beard in the business (and head honcho of PaperCut MF) thinks the big news will be the shift by hardware manufacturers towards ARM chips instead of the incumbent x86 models.
On a related note, PaperCut’s first (and still current) employee Tom C thinks 2024 will see the rise of ARM in the cloud. Tom says:
“The majority of cloud workloads are currently x86-64, but ARM64 is becoming available and looking promising on price-to-performance. Who will supply those chipsets?”
Who indeed, Tom, who indeed.
Spatial computing
Abdul A
Augmented reality, spatial computing - fancy terms to describe the hardware coming out of Meta and Apple at the moment. Of course Meta has bet big on augmented reality with the metaverse and Meta Quest (Ray-Ban partnership). And now that Apple’s joined the virtual market, it’s going to be a busy year where we see infinite comparisons between headsets.
Abdul also thinks this is the year we see Google and Samsung VR/AR headset rumours and leaks.
Tom C controversially weighed in on this one as well (he’s easily PaperCut’s biggest tech nerd, which is saying something):
“Counter-prediction: Apple Vision Pro struggles. Augmented reality is in the future, but is still 5+ years away from meaningful impact.”
Smart rings to supplant smart watches
Tom C
Hand on heart, I had to google smart rings. I had no idea and now I want one desperately. Perhaps Tom’s onto something here. He says:
“Everyone was quick to ditch the wristwatch once the pocket smartphone was convenient enough to tell the time. Your smart watch’s reason for being is the sensors, not the annoying notifications. If people can get those in a smaller form factor without the sweaty wrists, then I figure they’ll ditch the wrist watch for a second time.”
Consolidation of streaming services
Matthew T
Matthew, UK support engineer of great repute, suggests the honeymoon is over for streaming services, sort of:
“The consolidation of streaming services / people getting rid of excessive services is in my opinion going to reach a breaking point soon. Couple that with the huge headcount reductions at major tech firms, it’s going to be really bad.”
So long as I get a second season of ‘House of Ninjas’, I’m good with this.
Higher education changes
Willem G
Willem’s one of our super brainies masquerading as a principal product manager. So when he says something, I listen and act as if I thought of it when talking to someone else.
Here’s his thoughts on what’s about to happen to universities:
“Universities will be hit by another shakeup. Covid accelerated the adoption of online learning, which already had a big impact on traditional universities.
“I think 2024 will be the start of a rapid industry transformation, not only because of the current capabilities of AI, but by the prediction of future capabilities. We’ll see more and more businesses try and take advantage of these technology opportunities to replace manual and expensive services. These rapid industry changes will put a strain on universities to stay relevant and adapt their courses.
“Their main goal is to prepare students to enter the workforce in 3-4 years. In the past, 3-4 years meant nothing for an industry like legal for example, but now, 3-4 years will likely see a massive change to what it means to be a lawyer.”
EV sales will plateau (but only for a bit)
Abdul A
Hmm, Abdul got another turn. Looks like there’s nothing in the rules so I’ll allow it. No second photo though, I’m drawing the line.
“Battery powered automobile sales will plateau, until a sudden breakthrough in battery tech will reinvigorate it. And this will probably be one of the many new inventions/discoveries that AI will assist in.”
Eavesdropping on Abdul’s prediction, Josh B thinks the breakthrough’s already happened (solid-state batteries), and now it’s just a matter of time for the new tech to be fully tested and production capabilities scaled up.
Also listening in, Tim B thinks it’s “… interesting that EV takeup in Europe is slowing, and that the current proportion of ~30% total EVs is about what the likes of Toyota predicted would be the stable market share.”
That’s it - the seven hottest tech trends to watch for in 2024, according to PaperCutters. Coming up, seven uses for your printer in 2024 (number 3 will astonish you and make you rethink sandwiches).
Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash
