Top 8 Tech Innovations of 2014

Technology revolution reached newer heights in 2014 as we saw the advent of various innovative technologies like smartwatches and fitness bands. The year also promised us of a few bizarre innovations, one of them being “urine that could be used as fuel” somewhere in the near future. While most of these innovations remained in the spotlight for a while, there were a few being worked upon with an intention to make lives a lot better.

Here is a list of some of the best technological breakthroughs of 2014.

GOOGLE GLASS

Released back in 2013 with a price tag of $1,500, the Glass was made public only in May 2014. It was developed by Google X, the same Google facility that also has been working on the driver-less car.

Some of its features include a touchpad located on the side, a camera capable of capturing photos and recording videos at 720p, and above all, a LED illuminated display.

HTML5

In October 2014, the World Wide Consortium decided to endorse HTML5 as an official standard, which in fact came in as a good news for web developers around the world. Michael Smith one of the core members of the development team said it took 7 years of hard work to achieve the milestone.

HTML5 includes features such as video and audio track support, canvas elements for graphics rendering and native support for SVG.

GOOGLE’S SMART CONTACT LENS

In January last year, Google developed contact lenses capable of monitoring glucose levels in a diabetic patient. The lenses consist of chips and sensors that can efficiently measure glucose levels in a tear.

HOVERBOARD
Remember the hoverboard in the movie ‘Back to the Future’ part 2 and 3? It is for real. Earlier last year, the web seemed to have been flooded with videos demonstrating fake hoverboards. However, Arx Pax, a California-based company decided to come up with a real hoverboard called the Hendo Hoverboard.

The current model hovers about 3cm off the ground and can carry a maximum of 140kg for around 15 minutes. The gizmo comes with a price tag of $10,000.

3-D PRINTING IN MEDICINE

3D printers are now being used for building prosthetics devices and carrying out numerous surgical procedures. The technology is still in the pre-clinical stage, but is sure to change millions of lives in the years to come.

MEDTRONIC MICRA – THE SMALLEST PACEMAKER

Medtronic, one of the leaders in medical technology has developed the Micra Pacemaker that can easily fit inside the ventricular cavity, and causes no pacemaker complications. The device, due to its extremely small size, will largely prevent surgical revisions caused by incorrectly positioned leads.

APPLE PAY

For quite a while, numerous companies have been trying hard to make mobile payments much efficient and error free. While many seemed to have got it “not quite right”, Apple marched in with “Apple Pay”. In just 72 hours of its launch, over 1 million credit cards were registered for the service.

The mobile payment industry is expected to grow from $52 billion last year to $142 billion in 2019, with Apple Pay hopefully being a major contributor.

MOTO 360

Announced back in March 2014, the Moto 360 smartwatch runs on Android Wear, a version specifically designed for wearable devices.

Featuring a 1.56 inch LCD display, the watch is powered by a 1 GHz processor and offers a storage space of up to 4GB. The device is available in 2 colours – black and white.

That’s not all. 2014 witnessed many more technological advances in almost every field known. However, listing them all down may not be possible. While we have just entered 2015, we can surely expect some more exciting innovations to be unveiled.

Who knows? Someone may probably come up with a time machine that takes you to the past and the future, or may be a flying car that might prevent you from getting stuck in traffic. So, hold your breath. Something cool is surely coming your way