Predictions For 2019
It's the end of the year, this is the last episode of 2018. As has become tradition for our last episode we'll be reviewing our predictions for this year discussing the ones we got right, the ones we got wrong, and the ones we came close. Last year BJ made four predictions about 2018 and Will cheated by making five. Then we'll each give our predictions for next year.
BJ's Predictions
Increase in IoT wearables. This is the opposite of last years prediction. While many have been taken off the market the desire is there and people have become accustomed to their wearables. The security issues are being addressed and companies are rethinking the way they are building devices.
Node.JS will start going out of style. Ryan Dahl it's creator stopped working on it years ago. JavaScript is a low barrier to entry into the web development world. However, because of it's versatility causes limits in functionality.
Web Assembly will become the new popular thing as the standards are accepted by more browsers. Web Assembly is a binary instruction format for a stack-based virtual machine. It allows you to compile languages like C# or C++ in the browser and on the server.
Realtime universal translator apps will be on mobile devices. DARPA has been working on them for a while now. Google is able to recognize the language of a website or entry into their translator. It will likely be buggy at first but we'll see it improve with time until we're living in Star Trek world.
Will's Predictions
More hysteria from the US in regards to Russia, China, and possibly Saudi Arabia and Iran. Worsening tensions (especially with the current Russia/Ukraine situation) will probably lead to some nasty economic actions from one or more parties.
Full marijuana legalization in US. I don't partake, but it is less damaging than alcohol and every cash-strapped government in the US sees the revenue possibilities. Might be time to buy stock in doritos and Papa Johns. At some point, enough states will have legalized it, that it will be impossible for governments to pretend like they can police it anyway. This is something popular that representatives can push in the current political environment.
Extended data privacy laws. Silicon valley has ticked off both political parties in the US. I suspect this year that there will be a major privacy breach that will stay in the news for long enough to give lawmakers an excuse. If you want to predict this, all you need to do is figure out when the Representatives/Senators are shorting tech companies... Home surveillance...er...home assistance technologies like Amazon echo and the like, will be found to have a major security hole or two, and private/intimate data will be leaked as a result. People are getting dumber with this stuff, so it's bound to happen. This is a good way for it to happen, although there are so many other options that work too.
Telephone spam will be acted upon by congress. 85-90% of the phone calls I get on my cell are robocalls with spoofed numbers. I've disabled the phone ringing entirely. While there is good reason for being able to "spoof" phone numbers in some cases, this is the sort of annoyance that politicans can act on for a quick win in a political environment that allows few such wins.
IoTease: Project
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DIY New Year’s Eve LED ball
](https://www.flickr.com/photos/macetech/4235536612/in/set-72157623116877654/)
With the New Year coming up this is a great project for the family to do before the New Year. This is a light up ball make from LED's and plastic cups. It uses six Satellite Modules (high power RGB LED arrays), six ShiftBars (three channel LED controllers), a Seeeduino, and a ShiftBrite Shield. This is a fun project you can do with your family in preparation for the new year.
Tricks of the Trade
Human nature and self-interest are better predictors of behavior than some leader caring about you.