What’snext for the net?
From the Metaverse to smart devices, 2022 is shaping up to be a watershed moment for all facets of the web
I WON’T be alone in being quite glad to see the back of 2021, while at the same time being as hopeful as I can about what 2022 might bring.
One thing I can be sure of, though, is that the world of consumer technology will continue to play a huge part in all of our lives.
There will, of course, be new phones, new watches, new tablets, new computers, and they’ll all bring us to the next level.
What ties all these things together is the network they rely on to communicate with each other – that thing we call the internet.
It’s so crucial in our day-to-day lives now, especially during the pandemic. What’s next on the cloud, then, is becoming more important than the devices we use to experience our online world.
Here are five things that will move forward in 2022 in that space, then. After all, these days, everything is connected.
THE METAVERSE
Yes, we’re going to talk about THAT again. Mark Zuckerberg won’t stop going on about it, so why should we?
One of the biggest questions on people’s minds about the Facebook founder’s big idea for the future of the internet is… what is it?
I’ve slowly come to the realisation, after sitting through a lot of demos and videos trying to explain how this will work, that it’s really just another crack at making virtual reality popular.
So you’ll don your headset and enter an office, where you see a load of avatars that look a bit like people you know, and then you get on with whatever it is you’re there for.
Or you might visit a virtual party where you can dress up and dance with pals. There might even be parts of the Metaverse where you can engage with a digital version of worlds beyond our own – you might go for a hike on the Moon.
The difference between traditional VR, which tends to be a solitary experience, is that the Metaverse will be social – you’ll see and interact with other virtual people. It’ll also be a place, like social networks are very much now, where people do business and look to make money – Nike has already signed a deal with a designer of virtual trainers to make kicks to sell in a future virtual shoe shop, that your Metaverse avatar will be able to wear to that party. Other fashion brands will likely follow.
We’re probably reaching a point at which the speed of our connectivity, and the headset tech are going to make all this possible, and 2022 might see the first baby steps into this brave new world.
CONVERGENCE
I’ve been watching the tech world long enough to have seen a distinct pattern emerge – everyone ends up going in the same direction. Whether that be in the hardware world, the software world, or the virtual world.
A dominant idea develops and takes hold, and everyone else copies it. The iPhone is why all phones are touchscreen slabs of glass and metal. Everyone is making smart speakers and wireless headphones. And you’ll find all social networks feature a similar experience.
Everything comes together in the end, and 2022 will be no different.
Snapchat and Facebook are already getting into the spectacles business, and while at the moment all efforts are limited to eyewear with built-in cameras and audio, it can surely only be a matter of time before all-comers are fighting it out for a slice of the Metaverse action.
2022 is also likely to be the year in which Apple finally has some serious competition in the smartwatch space, too. Google is reportedly lining up to launch its first watch, which means it might finally be ready to get serious about watch software.
MATTER
There’s no getting away from it – the smart home and smart device world is a mess. Most smart home networks require some sort of hub to work, and there’s no single standard to have anything work with anything else.
At the moment there are three competing smart home voice assistants dominating the market – Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant. Alexa has the most compatible devices, while Google has lots of support, and Siri lags behind.
The problem is you have to choose a system, then add accessories that are compatible. If you change your mind you have to start again.
But 2022 may be the year that cleans all that mess up.
Matter is a new standard that the major players, including Amazon, Apple and Google, are working on to come up with a system that, hopefully, works across the board.
So you can buy devices and be sure, if they are compatible with the Matter standard, they’ll work with any of your voice assistants... and each other.
IN THE AIR
None of the things we love about the connected world would be possible without the internet services on which they are built.
And progress on those shows no signs of slowing down in 2022.
With Virgin Media finishing its rollout of superfast gigabit broadband to all its 15 million customers, and Vodafone busy rolling out its ‘Gigafast’ service, speeds will continue to get faster and bandwidth wider. We’ll have more devices than ever connected to each other.
That goes for mobile, too, as the 5G network continues to grow and mature. But these are not the only things coming over the air – there are moves afoot, too, to enable us to power up our devices without plugging anything in, too.
Chinese company Xiaomi has already shown off its Mi Air Charge system – a small box in a room can detect a compatible smartphone in the room, and direct its beam forming system at that phone and send it a charge.
It looks like magic… and it’s likely some way from primetime. Even if we don’t see air charging making it to market in 2022, it’s one of the things we’ll be hearing more about as we move ever deeper into the connected world.