We are fresh into the new year, and it's the perfect time to think about the technology trends that are poised to emerge in 2017.
What are we going to see more of this year?
Barbara Ciaramitaro, an IT and cybersecurity professor at Walsh College, stopped by Broadcast House to talk about her predictions.
Ciaramitaro says the 2017 outlook falls into three key areas: intelligent, digital and mesh technologies.
"One interesting thing about the changing nature of technology and what we're seeing happening right now, is some of it is very visible, and some of it is kind of the undercurrent that's affecting our lives. So when we talk about the three key areas, which really is the emergence of intelligent devices -- is the use of mesh technology and the interconnection between the digital world and the real world," said Ciaramitaro.
Ciaramitaro explains that the intelligent realm includes technologies like artificial intelligence, digital is more focused on virtual and augmented reality technologies and mesh is about the Internet of Things IoT (think smart homes.)
But the future isn't without worry, according to the professor.
"We have this hyperconnected world with tremendous promise, but it's not yet secure, so that concerns me, keeps me up at night, but we're working on it," she said.
As far as what we may see fail this year, Ciaramitaro says it's more about seeing different technologies reemerge.
"We're seeing for example augmented reality -- and Pokemon Go, where is that going to go? Is that going to be part of education and training, so we see these waves of emerging technology -- up and down as they get refined."
