25 technologies that changed the world

The 25 technologies that have changed the world in the last 25 years

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In recent years, these 25 technologies have arrived and changed the status quo. Learn what they are and board our technology time capsule

New T changed the way we perceive and deal with the world. After all, we have entered the second decade of a new century and we can say that many things have changed since then. Whether it's the way we deal with the space and time we live in, whether it's the provision of services or even the way we manage our payments and our daily lives, technology has allowed us countless new possibilities.

To recap the big events in technology, we bring you the 25 technologies that have changed the world in the last 25 years. From Android to Wi-Fi, this list provides an overview of how our daily lives have changed with the mass creation and access of technologies that 50 years ago would have been worthy of science fiction.

Android

android logo in purple and green
Android fosters a multiple ecosystem for its users and is massively present in the smartphone market

O Android came to the market with an ambitious proposal: to create an open and free ecosystem, giving more freedom to programmers. The operating system has fueled the creation of new cell phones, applications and services, accelerating innovation.

Its influence is such that every 4 smartphones in the world, 3 use the Android as an operating system. Its compatibility with various devices was one of the key points in the dissemination of smartphones, optimizing both the creation of new software and hardware and, in addition, appearing as one of the most essential technologies that reached the technology market.

mobile apps

Printscreen of a smartphone screen with various mobile app icons
Mobile apps dictate the way we look at the world or perform everyday tasks

Os cell phone apps changed the way we consume media and communicate, from news and streaming services to texting and social media apps. They've also changed the way we live our everyday lives, helping us find on-demand entertainment, short-term and long-term rentals, and have food delivered to our doorstep, just to name a few of the myriad benefits.

To give you an idea, there are more than 2 million apps on the App Store — Apple's app store — generating about $50 billion dollars in revenue.

Apple iPhone

Apple's latest iPhone model is one of the most coveted technologies
Since its launch in 2007, the iPhone has revolutionized the way we look at electronic devices.

Although it was not the first smartphone, the Apple really gave something to talk about with the launch of the first iPhone back in 2007. What he brought with him was the way we view the consumption of technological devices. More than accessories, they became items of desire. But don't think that things stopped there.

Armed with powerful features and capable of running thousands of applications, the iPhone it's one of those technologies capable of squeezing more functionality into a device than we've ever seen before. This mobile revolution also brought the demise of point-and-shoot cameras, in-dash GPS units, camcorders, PDAs and MP3 players. Now we use smartphones for shopping, as a flashlight, and sometimes even to call people, check it out. It is the technological version of the Swiss Army knife.

Today, 13 years later, more than 3,5 billion people around the world use a smartphone, nearly half of the Earth's population. You may even be using one to read this article. It is impossible to measure the impact of iPhone over the years, but we can say that he is indispensable for our list.

voice assistants

Woman using voice assistant service, she being one of 25 inventions that changed the world
The Voice Assistant is perhaps the biggest example when we think of the Internet of Things (Image: Depositphotos)

For many consumers, the heart of a smart home is a voice assistant like Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple's Siri. In addition to being a prerequisite for controlling devices in your home, the voice assistant — in conjunction with connected speakers — tells you the weather, reads the news and plays music from various streaming services, among thousands of other services, all with a single purpose: to facilitate your routine.

To give you an idea, there are over 3,25 billion voice assistant devices in use worldwide as of 2019, and that number is expected to more than double to 8 billion by 2023.

Privacy is still a point of attention, as assistants are on devices that have the microphone on constantly, connected to servers at Amazon, Google or Apple. While the companies guarantee that the data sent is all anonymized, they have admitted that people listen to selected conversations from voice assistants to improve the software's accuracy.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is one of the technologies that revolutionized the world
Bitcoin is the digital cryptocurrency that has appreciated and depreciated in the same proportion in a year

Bitcoin is the digital cryptocurrency that racked up headlines with its meteoric rise in value a few years ago and then its equally impressive decline, and it's another technology popularized by anonymity.

It crossed the $2017 barrier for the first time in January 19, surpassed $50 in December of that year, and then lost about 2018% of its value during the first half of XNUMX. Innovation incorporates technology, math, economics, and social dynamics.

And it's anonymous: instead of using name and CPF, the Bitcoin connects buyers and sellers through encryption. Computers run special software — miners — and record transactions in a vast digital block. These blocks are collectively known as a “blockchain”. But the computational process of mining bitcoins can be arduous, with thousands of “miners” competing simultaneously.

Blockchain

Blockchain is one of the technologies that revolutionized the world by incorporating bitcoin
Blockchain is one of the technologies that revolutionized the world by incorporating bitcoin (Image: Depositphotos)

greater than bitcoin is blockchain, the encryption technology behind cryptocurrency. Blockchains work like a secure digital ledger, and a lot of startups hope to use it for everyday activities like welfare payments or insurance payments.

It's potentially a big deal. Gartner estimates that blockchain will provide $176 billion of value to businesses by 2025 and $3,1 trillion in 2030.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is one of the most present technologies in all devices available on the market.
Bluetooth today is one of the technologies that is present in almost all devices available on the market.

Another wireless communication technology that has proven indispensable is the Bluetooth. Introduced to consumers in 1999, the Bluetooth is designed to connect a cell phone to a hands-free headset, allowing you to talk while keeping your hands available for other uses, such as driving a car.

Since then, the Bluetooth has expanded to connect devices like headphones, wireless speakers and hearing aids to audio sources like phones, PCs, stereo receivers and even cars.

Between 2012 and 2018, the number of devices enabled for Bluetooth in the world is around 10 billion. Its use has expanded and you can find it in smart homes, such as unlocking door locks and streaming audio to lamps with built-in speakers.

Autonomous cars

The self-driving car is one of the 25 technologies that changed the world
The dream of the autonomous car becomes a reality with the application of automated resources in everyday life

the promise of autonomous cars has been around for more than a decade: without human drivers, advocates say, cars will be safer and more comfortable, especially on long journeys. Tech companies have been working to make them a reality for a long time and the first levels of automation are already present in the latest vehicle launches.

Fully autonomous cars may not hit dealerships for another decade, but we are already benefiting from technology developed for autonomous vehicles, including adaptive cruise control, automatic forward collision braking, automatic parking, cruise control and lane-keep assist.

Quantum Computing

Quantum computing chip image
Quantum Computing is the new bet in the technology market, with still immeasurable potential (Image: Depositphotos)

Companies and countries are investing billions of dollars in research and development of computação quântica. This is a long-term bet, and it should open up new possibilities for areas such as chemistry, transportation, materials design, finance, artificial intelligence, and more.

The technology is starting to deliver on some of the promises. Last year, a Google-designed quantum processor called Sycamore completed a task in 200 seconds that Google estimated would take the world's fastest supercomputer 10.000 years.

Drones

Drones are one of the most important technologies in recent years
From a hobby, drones have become one of the most important technological innovations of recent years.

What started as a hobby has transformed industries. You drones now range from noisy quadcopters to mini planes with payloads. In the not too distant future, it is expected that drones are more present in the skies, acting as flying taxis and performing life-saving tasks such as transporting medicine, helping with search and rescue and fighting fires.

3D printing

3d printing is one of the 25 technologies that changed the world
3D printing has gone from a science fiction feature to reality

A print 3D it's one of those technologies that gets closer and closer to everyday use every year. We've seen the concept played out on TV and in movies for years, and now with home 3D printers it's going beyond just being a hobby for enthusiasts.

The technology initially stood out as a way to develop prototypes of just about anything. With 3D printing, it is possible to design lighter components using different materials and complex shapes, which would not be possible using traditional manufacturing processes such as injection and machining.

Some call the print 3D of the fourth industrial revolution. Technology-related expenses are growing at about 13% a year among large US companies, estimates consulting firm Deloitte, and will likely reach $2 billion in 2020.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence as one of the most important technologies.
Artificial Intelligence has become a reality and is one of the most applied technologies in solving everyday activities

A artificial intelligence — simulating human intelligence in machines — used to be seen only in science fiction. But in the last few decades, it has entered the real world, becoming one of the most important technologies of our time. In addition to being the brains behind technologies like facial recognition, AI is helping to solve critical problems in transportation, retail and healthcare. On the internet, it's used for everything from speech recognition to spam filtering.

And you can go further. Warner Bros. plans to use AI to analyze its potential films and choose which ones to put in development. But there can be its setbacks. Industry leaders have called for regulation of the technology to prevent potential harm from tools like deepfakes, which are video spoofs that make people appear to say or do things they haven't done.

Internet of Things

Internet of things in an illustration of your connectivity
The Internet of Things is one of the technologies that best illustrates the application of a connected world

In a not so distant past, there was what we call Internet of Things something like unimaginable, possible only in science fiction. Being able to have access to a universal system, which connects all the devices in your home — even the lamps —is perhaps one of the most revolutionary comforts in recent decades.

The term was coined in 1999, but the idea only started to take off with consumers until the past decade. Today, there are tens of billions of internet-connected devices around the world that allow us to perform smart household tasks like turning on lights, checking who's at the door, and getting an alert when groceries are missing. It also has industrial applications, such as in healthcare and municipal service management.

The costs of studying and applying the Internet of Things are expected to reach $248 billion this year, more than double the amount spent three years ago. In five years, the market is expected to reach US$ 1,5 trillion dollars.

MP3

The mp3 revolutionized the market in its time
MP3 has always been perhaps the most democratic way of consuming music, even if it is now somewhat obsolete.

Entertainment has become much more portable in the last quarter century, largely due to the introduction of compression technologies. MP3 e MP4. Research into high-quality, low-bitrate encoding began in the 1970s.

The idea was to compress the audio into a digital file with little or no loss of audio quality. The standard MP3 we know today emerged in the mid-90s, but the first MP3 mobile player came into being in 1998, when Saehan of South Korea launched the MPMan, a player that could hold about 12 songs.

The format's popularity took off in 1999, when student Shawn Fanning — considered one of the most famous geeks — created Napster at age 19, allowing users to exchange files MP3 each other over the Internet, free of charge. This activity reduced the profits of the music industry and the artists, who took legal action and brought down Napster. However, the popularity of the format helped to give rise to the market for music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and many others.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality illustrated with a girl simulating use and having fun with her
The potential of virtual reality has not yet been fully exploited, but it is a revolution in itself in the entertainment market (Image: Depositphotos)

Companies large and small have started to use the virtual reality, which transports users into a computer-generated world. Once confined to the realm of science fiction films, as Tron from disney, airvirtual reality has turned into a real-world industry worth an estimated $18 billion dollars.

While the video game industry was expected to exclusively and enthusiastically welcome the resources of virtual reality, the tech industry in general sees other destinations for technology, including education, healthcare, architecture and entertainment.

Facial recognition

An illustration featuring various characters going through the facial recognition process
Straight from science fiction, facial recognition is now synonymous with security


O facial recognition it is a field of technology that plays an ever-increasing role in our lives. It is a form of biometric authentication that uses your face features to verify your identity. Technology helps us unlock devices and sort photos into digital albums, but surveillance and marketing could end up being its main uses.

Cameras linked to facial recognition databases containing millions of photos are used to identify criminal suspects. They can also be used to recognize your face and make personalized shopping recommendations when you enter a store.

Both activities raise privacy concerns, ranging from breaking the law to hackers accessing your secure information. And some systems are not always very accurate.

Even so, the market is showing no signs of resistance. In the US alone, the facial recognition industry is expected to grow from $3,2 billion dollars in 2019 to $7 billion dollars by 2024.

Social Media

Various logos of social networks such as facebook and twitter
Social networks have revolutionized the way we socialize today (Image: Depositphotos)

In 2002 a website called Friendster allowed people to fill out an online profile and connect with others they knew in real life. This was the embryo of social networks, which two years later saw the birth of Orkut and the most famous of all social networks, Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg created The Facebook in 2004 as a social network among college students in the US. Two years later, after the investment of investors, the platform is open to the public with the name just being Facebook, and quickly left Friendster and MySpace behind. Today, Facebook helps people connect with each other, but its real business is advertising.

Last year, it generated $32 billion in advertising revenue. It also helped pave the way for other social networks that help people chat, share photos and find jobs, among other activities. It now has 2,37 billion users — nearly a third of the world's population.

RFID

A person makes the payment by going through the rfid
RFID has transcended inventory control and is now present in our everyday life making everything easier (Image: Depositphotos)

Retailers fell in love with RFID for about 20 years, touting the small chips as a convenient way to control inventory and reduce theft, without people having to come into contact with the marked item. Today, they have a variety of applications, including tracking cars, computer equipment and books.

They are implanted in animals to help identify stray pet owners, farmers use them to monitor crops and animals, and help food companies trace the source of packaged products. Do you know the tag you use to open the gate of your building? So, it's RFID.

Thanks to growing demand, which includes contactless payments, and also in the medical and healthcare industries where tracking technology is used to monitor patients and label drugs, spending in the RFID tag industry is estimated to reach $17 billion USD. dollars, more than double the $8,2 billion spent in 2018.

Music streaming

A young girl listens to music, having a lot of fun with it
Music streaming has become the leading platform for music consumption (Image: Depositphotos)

Music streaming accounts for 80% of the total revenue in the music industry in the last year. Vinyl will always be popular with music lovers, but music streaming is cheap or free (in the case of Pandora and Spotify) and trumps any physical format when it comes to convenience. Streaming now accounts for 85% of all US music consumption.

In 2019, total music industry revenue increased 13% to $11,1 billion, with streaming accounting for nearly 80% of that total, according to the RIAA, meaning that music streaming platforms became the biggest source of consumption in the music scene, causing the industry as a whole to adapt.

Video streaming

Icons of various streaming services like netflix and hulu
Video streaming has revolutionized the way users consume entertainment

The entertainment world took a technological leap 25 years ago with the release of DVDs, which came to replace VHS tapes with superior sound and image quality, taking up a fraction of the space on the shelves. At that time, video stores were the place where you could find the latest movie releases, and eventually online DVD rental services emerged, where the media was sent to the consumer's home. One of these companies was Netflix.

Over time, the YouTube in 2005, a streaming service initially designed for the publication of user videos, which over time began to receive video clips, excerpts from TV shows and series, among other content. And in 2007, Netflix launches its movie and series streaming service, starting one of the largest operations in the segment.

Consumers fell in love with the convenience of on-demand programming, and as more streaming services like Amazon Prime Video and Hulu emerged, cable and satellite subscriptions began to be canceled, and DVD rental services like Blockbuster went out of business.

Learn more about streaming video in our list of best streaming services available in Brazil.

LCD screen

LCD screen in the center, with a series of images around it
The LCD screen has opened the door to the image quality we have access to (Image: Depositphotos)

A LCD screen It may seem outdated these days, but it was technology that paved the way for the wide dissemination of screens that are part of our daily lives. In recent years, liquid crystal display technology (Liquid Crystal Display, from which the acronym LCD comes) was replaced by more robust versions such as LED and OLED, but there would be no touchscreen on smartphones and other devices without LCD, which has also become popular in televisions due to its reduced weight and greater possibilities of front size. to plasma, which introduced flat-panel televisions to the market.

With the evolution of screens, mainly due to the new high resolution content formats – read 4K and 8K – even LED has given way to more advanced technologies, such as OLED, QLED and AMOLED screens. LCD may already be considered nostalgic, but it will forever be an important part of screen history.

rapid DNA testing

Image with DNA testing
Rapid DNA testing enables crime solving and paternity testing

From a small sample collected in the mouth, the rapid DNA testing helped deepen our understanding of ancestry, introducing us to living relatives around the world, determining the paternity of children, and evidencing predisposition to specific health problems and illnesses.

In recent years, kits have become quite affordable and popular. After all, who has never seen the feature in a police series? Used as one of the main resources for solving crimes, rapid DNA testing is one of the most popular technologies in recent years.

Video conference

Man participates in a video conference in front of his notebook
Videoconferencing shortened distances and allowed a new way of relating in the midst of the pandemic (Image: Depositphotos)

How the new coronavirus pandemic changed the world we live in, forcing us to social isolation, video conference exploded in popularity — until the WhatsApp lets you make group video calls. A few months ago this technology would not have been on our list, but now it is proving indispensable. This technology has been around, in some form, since the 1970s, but it wasn't until the web debuted that the technology took off.

Along with webcams, free services like Skype and iChat popularized the technology in the 2000s, leading to video conference to every corner of the Internet. The corporate world has embraced the tool as a way to reduce employee travel to meetings and as a marketing tool.

As businesses and schools implement work-from-home and study-from-home policies, video chatting and conferencing apps have grown in popularity as a way to get work done and communicate with friends and family, especially among people who have never used the technology before.

VPN

VPN is one of the most innovative technologies
VPN breaks down geographic barriers, allowing access to content restricted to certain countries and regions

Developed in 1996, the VPN it was initially used almost exclusively by companies so that their remote workers could securely access their internal network. But this is water under the bridge.

Since then the use of VPN grew in popularity, being used by about a quarter of internet users in 2018. Today, other popular uses for VPNs include hiding online activity, bypassing censorship in countries without free internet, and avoiding geo-restrictions on streaming services.

Wi-Fi

Mobile phone with wifi connection symbol on its screen
Wi-Fi allows access to the internet as we know it today (Image: Depositphotos)

The smartphone and the internet that we use and know today would not be possible without the Wi-Fi, which has dictated the game since its launch, back in 1997. It's one of the most important technologies of the turn of the century.

With a router and a dongle for the laptop, it was possible to unplug the network cable, roam around the home or office, and stay online. Over the years, the Wi-Fi it got faster and faster and reached computers, mobile devices and even cars. O Wi-Fi it is so essential to our personal and professional lives that nowadays we even find it strange to be in a house or public place that we don't have access to.

Currently, to support the demand for data trafficked between all the devices in the house — especially those that make up the connected house — it is essential to use routers with Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6, which are the latest versions of this technology.


This list brings a compilation of all the technologies we have listed:

  • Android
  • mobile apps
  • Apple iPhone
  • voice assistants
  • Bitcoin
  • Blockchain
  • Bluetooth
  • Autonomous cars
  • Quantum Computing
  • LCD Display
  • Drones
  • 3D printing
  • Artificial intelligence 
  • Internet of Things
  • MP3
  • Virtual reality
  • Facial recognition
  • Social Media
  • RFID
  • Music streaming
  • Video streaming
  • rapid DNA testing
  • Video conference
  • VPN
  • Wi-Fi

What did you think of our list? do you agree? Disagree? Do you think any ended up being left out? Share your opinion with us Comment.

Sources: The report of Statista, CNET, Depositphotos (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11).


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