Blockchain

a) We've all heard about how blockchain is revolutionizing almost every sector conceivable. Banking, politics, and healthcare might all benefit from the development of a decentralized digital ledger that monitors and saves information in several locations, making forgery difficult. Because identification is supplied by sophisticated mathematics, identity theft is also almost impossible.

However, one word leaps out in the above description: Decentralised. Banks, governments, and hospitals do not want their power to be restricted. As a result, we are likely to see some progress in the blockchain domain, but it will stay on the outside of technology, missing the revolution anticipated by its supporters.

Affective AI / Affective Computing

a) Artificial intelligence is already prevalent in 2020; it's just not as entertaining as we anticipated. If you've missed the AI train, it goes as follows: Increased storage capacity (cloud), calculating capabilities (chips), and access to vast datasets (e-commerce, social media...) have enabled businesses to develop statistical models on steroids that can evolve when fed fresh data.

Affective AI would take this process a step further by incorporating feelings into it. An algorithm might effectively identify your mood based on the way you appear (by training a deep learning algorithm on face data), write or talk, and then offer you a product or service based on that.

AI Cloud Services / Data-as-a-service / AI Paas

a) Most outstanding innovations aren't deemed revolutionary until they reach a large number of people. This might be one of the causes behind the recent wave of AI disillusionment. Indeed, only large corporations have benefited from automating processes that formerly required human intervention, while the rest of us are forced to rely on comparably archaic algorithms. This can be explained in part by a lack of resources, but it is primarily due to a data problem.

This could not be the case for a much longer period. Companies are recognizing that renting an algorithm has the added benefit of earning additional income from an existing asset while also pulling more data from consumers to feed the beast. As a result, expect to see the growth of AI platforms and marketplaces that offer to give algorithms that are tailored to specific client pain areas (chatbots and digital assistants are only the beginning). This movement is anticipated to grow tremendously as coders become more automated and enter the gig economy. This would enable small businesses, as well as individuals, to optimize their day-to-day operations. Follow your intuition if that appears to be hazardous to our collective mental health.

5G

a) Of course, connected things cannot afford to be as sluggish as the original iPhone (shots fired); they must communicate vast volumes of data swiftly and consistently. This is where 5G comes into play.

5G is the natural successor to 4G, with substantially faster speeds due to higher-frequency radio waves. Though this appears to be an easy enough explanation, a few phrases must be mastered in order to completely comprehend the challenge of adopting 5G around the world.

Millimeter waves are a component of the radio frequency spectrum with an extremely small wavelength that exists between 24GHz and 100GHz. Not only is this part of the spectrum largely untapped, but it can also carry data at breakneck speeds, despite its shorter transmission distance.

Microcells, femtocells, and picocells are tiny cell towers that serve as relays in constrained regions, such as within huge buildings. This infrastructure is required because, as previously stated, 5G transmission distance is substantially shorter than 4G. (and struggles to go through thick walls).

Massive MIMO: The capacity to transport and receive significantly more data from a wider range of sources.

All of these transfers must be organized and orchestrated. Beam-forming does this.

Full Duplex: the capacity to send and receive data on the same wavelength at the same time.

The technology will have a tremendous impact on most businesses since it will alter orders of magnitude in terms of data transmission speed and quantity, as well as connection quality. It will, among other things, connect self-driving cars and drones to the internet, but it will also enable significant breakthroughs in virtual reality and IoT. As a result, 5G is not a technology to be taken lightly.