2017 has been an exciting year for technology. We’ve seen many new products announced, demonstrated and sold. We’ve been covering the latest tech news and business updates with Between the Bytes for over half the year!
Now that 2017 is coming to a close, we wanted to review some of the best stories you may have forgotten about. We’ve got quite the list, so buckle in for the 2017 tech news recap.
New Gadgets
Every year companies are announcing their latest product updates and inventions. 2017 brought us the very best smartphones to date with the anniversary edition of the iPhone and the upgraded version of Google’s flagship phone, the Google Pixel. We also saw new gaming consoles from PlayStation and Xbox. But the standout game toy was the Nintendo Switch that had both incredible games and great hardware features.
Cool Technology
Companies made some amazing announcements in 2017. We saw technology that was weird, cool and even inspiring. A company in Wisconsin tested bioimplants for their employees that allowed them access to door controls and vending machines. Companies like Ford started testing exoskeletons for their assembly line workers and a German company started work on the world’s first flying taxi.
Artificial Intelligence
If you’ve watched Between the Bytes, you know that we cover a lot of Artificial Intelligence news. AI has become a hot trend for a good reason. AI companies made huge advances in 2017. Alpha Go Zero, created by a team at Google was able to beat the very best players in the game of Go and then beat the computer that beat them. OpenAI beat the very best online gamers at the game DOTA. And many companies have developed language AI to help with online chats, reviews and more.
Robots
Robots and artificial intelligence seem to go hand in hand. 2017 was the year of more robotic progress and some failures. Boston Dynamics released a video of a cute new robotic dog and a new robot that can perform backflips and other parkour-style tricks. Unfortunately, another Boston Dynamics robot took a tumble off a stage in an embarrassing mishap. Sophia the robot was unveiled to the world. Sophia is a human-like robot that can synthesize full speech and facial expressions.
Acquisitions
2017 also brought about some big mergers and acquisitions in the tech world. Here in Utah, we saw Digicert, based in Lehi, acquire a large part of Symantec. Amazon acquired Whole Foods to add another list of services to Amazon’s shelf. Disney acquired 20th Century Fox to make one of the largest media companies in the world.
Cyber Attacks
We also saw a rise in cyber attacks in 2017. There are more threats to your personal and company data than ever before. In the spring of this year, we saw the devastating WannaCry ransomware break out in Europe, disabling thousands of essential computer systems. There were also hacks of high-profile companies like Equifax and Deloitte that are still under investigation.
Elon Musk
We’re pretty big fans of the real-life Tony Stark, Elon Musk. Elon and his many science and technology companies have had a busy year. The new Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX was launched several times this year, including recently to the surprise of many Los Angeles residents. The “Boring Company” is on track to create the world’s first hyperloop tunnel in California. Tesla announced their model 3 vehicle, the roadster, and a fully electric semi truck.
Miscellaneous
Some other bits of news that made our headlines this year was the rise of Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency jumped from under $1,000 per coin to nearly $20,000 in the past year. The Eclipse was an amazing spectacle to see for the entire country and Net Neutrality was struck down by the FCC.
2017 was a busy and exciting year and showed us a glimpse of the future of technology. We’re excited to see what 2018 will bring. Let us know your predictions for technology in 2018 in the comments. Have a happy new year!
