Best Tech of 2015?

[Harold Mansfield]

I think 2015 was an awesome year for tech.
Some of my favorite things are:

#1 The Amazon Echo. I'm still finding new ways to use this both personally and while working. The way and the amount of other smart items that it can integrate with is pretty awesome and developers are really getting creative. Amazon knocked it out of the park with this one.

#2 The 2 TB micro SD card. I haven't seen one yet, but new smart phones like the LG V-10 have support for up to a 2TB SD card. I will never buy a phone that doesn't have expandable memory again.

#3 Self driving cars have made a lot of strides this past year. I'm loving where it's headed.

#4 Windows 10. It was free, and it works.

#5 VR. It's still in it's infancy, but Microsoft, Samsung, and Google are really tearing it up on this front. I have a simple little Google Cardboard, but I can see the potential of where this can go.

Honorable mention goes to Android 6.0 and The Android Development platform. Google is really committed to helping people learn, and to developers who want to participate in the platform.

What do you guys think was one of the top tech things of the past year?

[Fulcrum]

#3 Self driving cars have made a lot of strides this past year. I'm loving where it's headed.

As nice as this would be, self driving cars scare the pants off me. I do about 600-1000 miles per week, often in very poor weather, and I can't trust that these vehicles will be able to operate autonomously out of the gate.

[Harold Mansfield]

As nice as this would be, self driving cars scare the pants off me. I do about 600-1000 miles per week, often in very poor weather, and I can't trust that these vehicles will be able to operate autonomously out of the gate.
It'll be a while, but I can see where some things could be viable now. Shipping and transport through large complexes. Short distance trains of non explosives or other dangerous material. Automated golf carts on the course. Trams at amusement parks.

We already have some stuff on cars now. Park assist. Automatic breaking. Rear camera object detection. We're already doing it.

[Fulcrum]

It'll be a while, but I can see where some things could be viable now. Shipping and transport through large complexes. Short distance trains of non explosives or other dangerous material. Automated golf carts on the course. Trams at amusement parks.

If memory serves me correct, there already are systems like this in place in industrial warehouses.


We already have some stuff on cars now. Park assist. Automatic breaking. Rear camera object detection. We're already doing it.

Assisting a driver is one thing, but taking over the duty completely is something else. Not to mention drivers relying on the assisting tool rather than their own eyes. In fact, I saw someone trying to back up a trailer using the rear view camera (the only thing they accomplished was not jackknifing the trailer).

[Harold Mansfield]

I don't think we'll see completely autonomous cars anytime soon. Even if it's 100% safe with no room for error, we are a scared, paranoid society that will NEVER let that happen in this generation. I'd hate to think how bad people would freak out if they knew how automated commercial airliners are.

[Brian Altenhofel]

I don't think we'll see completely autonomous cars anytime soon. Even if it's 100% safe with no room for error, we are a scared, paranoid society that will NEVER let that happen in this generation. I'd hate to think how bad people would freak out if they knew how automated commercial airlines are.

That's exactly what I was going to mention. Near-zero visibility? Bad weather (the type you see some planes diverted for while others continue to land)? Welcome to automatic landing. Cruise (and most of the ascent and descent) is typically done with autopilot.

A computer can make decisions faster than a person. The limiting factor is the intelligence level required to process incoming data. We are really close to AI being good enough for moving drivers into a supervisory role.

There are non-autonomous cars on the road today that can practically drive themselves on a highway with lane assist and automatic cruise and brake control. Even 10-12 years ago, there were some production cars that let you set your cruise based on the car in front of or behind you and it would maintain distance using up to a certain percentage of acceleration and braking power.

As for the rear camera trailer backing, that person likely couldn't back a trailer at all to begin with. I've run into them a lot on amateur days (Labor Day, Independence Day, and Memorial Day) at the lake. It's fun to take a while just to sit out and watch them from a boat when we're coming in from fishing and trying to get gone before the rude skiers/tubers/wakeboarders/jetskiers/etc show up.

[Fulcrum]

I completely forgot about the planes. You're right that it can work, but the infrastructure will need to be put in place. I'd like to see it first implemented in the shipping industry during the winter on the eastern seaboard (US and in Ontario) to see how it affects road safety and on time delivery (the last few winters have given us many fatal accidents directly caused by the careless driving of the trucks).

OT on reversing trailers:
I clearly remember back in 1992 (I was 12 and my older brother was 13) we were camping in the Niagra region. There was someone trying to back his trailer onto his site (fairly sharp incline where the trailer needed to park) and he kept getting the rear bumper hung up on the ground. After 30 minutes of watching and smirking, and a few cars waiting, my brother walks over and offers to back it in for him. 1 attempt and 30 seconds later the trailer was parked and we left. We never did tell the guy our ages. The more I reminisce about that week, the more I remember that was a fun week.

[Owen]

Drones! I should've gotten a drone and a hoverboard for Christmas, though the hoverboards are expensive :/

[Harold Mansfield]

Drones! I should've gotten a drone and a hoverboard for Christmas, though the hoverboards are expensive :/
And they don't actually hover. I feel a little disappointed that they call them this. Cheated even.

Drones that use GPS for navigation, or that can stream video are pretty awesome to have available on a consumer level.
I remember seeing one of the keynotes last year from one of the tech conventions, and they had a pair of drones that they programmed a course and then let go of them (no human interaction) and they navigated around obstacles, completed the route, and flew back. Now THAT's a drone to me.

However, most things that people call drones today...we used to just call remote controlled helicopters when I was a kid.

[Owen]

And they don't actually hover. I feel a little disappointed that they call them this. Cheated even.

Drones that use GPS for navigation, or that can stream video are pretty awesome to have available on a consumer level.
I remember seeing one of the keynotes last year from one of the tech conventions, and they had a pair of drones that they programmed a course and then let go of them (no human interaction) and they navigated around obstacles, completed the route, and flew back. Now THAT's a drone to me.

However, most things that people call drones today...we used to just call remote controlled helicopters when I was a kid.

Yeah, the good drones are about $1,000+.

[Brian Altenhofel]

However, most things that people call drones today...we used to just call remote controlled helicopters when I was a kid.

And now you have to register them with Uncle Sam and pay a tax to operate these toys (https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=84386).

[Harold Mansfield]

And now you have to register them with Uncle Sam and pay a tax to operate these toys (https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=84386).

Yep. I think it's a good thing to be honest. People do use them commercially, and the FAA should monitor that.
They also can be dangerous. They can be used for nefarious purposes. And people lose them all of the time. They just fly off and crash somewhere. For that reason I also think the big ones should be insured or covered under existing insurance.

I think it's good to make people take some personal responsibility for them the same way we have to do this with every other vehicle that we want to operate out and around the public.

[billbenson]

Yeah, the good drones are about $1,000+.

And drones are going to be controlled. It's to easy to mount a camera on them to look in your neighbors window, not to mention weapons.

Back to the car stuff. One thing that wasn't mentioned is brakes.I read an article a while back from a driving instructor. He said in an emergency stop, the hardest thing to train is to get students to push the break as hard as you can. The anti-lock breaking system will stop you the fastest in modern cars. The hardest poeple to train on this are probably old farts like me. We grew up feathering the breaks so they didn't lock up.

As a kid growing up in a Chicago suburb I used to take my dads car to an icy parking lot and practice doing donuts or put the car into a slide. I doubt my dad would have approved, but it probably improved my driving skills in an emergency situation.

I'm thinking about finding an emergency driving school for my wife.I taught her to drive about 7 years ago. It would be a fun education / vacation. It probably wouldn’t do me any harm either.

[SocioDNa41]

As gadget lover i would love to have VR headset but still out of pocket. Last hope Google Cardboard. Anyone tried it? Is it worth to try?

[Harold Mansfield]

As gadget lover i would love to have VR headset but still out of pocket. Last hope Google Cardboard. Anyone tried it? Is it worth to try?

I have a cardboard. They're cool. It's worth a try for the price. I got mine for free during a Star Wars promo. I'm pretty sure they aren't much more than that from the Google store.
Even the Mattel Viewmaster ones are only $19.
Amazon.com: View-Master Virtual Reality Starter Pack: Toys & Games (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011EG5HJ2)