Hifyre is in love with tech and the ability of tech to make our lives better. So it felt only fitting to pick a handful of our favourite tech to celebrate Valentine’s Day 2018.
#1: VR
This past year has been a big year for virtual reality. The technology has improved in leaps and bounds, allowing people to finally begin to see the potential for applications. Our team embraced the advances and built out a VR training demo. The demo prompts the user to enter a car garage, explore, and then help rebuild an engine block. Although our demo is short, the proof of concept is delivered by demonstrating that it is possible to teach someone skills using VR.
#2: Slack
Here at Hifyre, we are constantly working on projects that require collaboration. Slack may seem like a simple tool, but what it enables us to do is not simple in the slightest. All of our team’s internal communications are based in Slack, and we have even developed external agency partnerships using the platform. There is a reason Slack’s slogan is “Where Work Happens”. We would be lost without our ability to seamlessly communicate.
#3: Wearables
The wearables market has blossomed in recent years. Although there are still plenty of skeptics about the purpose and utility of wearables out there, the sales numbers are proving them wrong. Our team has been especially fond of wearables like the Apple Watch and the Fitbit. Why you ask? Well, every Spring we run an internal team “step off” competition, and tracking our steps has been significantly easier with wearable tech.
#4: Smart assistants
Who among us hasn’t wanted an assistant at some point or another? When your schedule gets hectic, when you need someone to get you up in the morning, when you just need to know what the weather is like so you know what to wear. Well, luckily now you can get an electronic one.
During the Holiday season in 2017, Hifyre opted to purchase Amazon Echo Dot 2’s for our clients. Just a smart assistant alone was already a fun idea, but we wanted to take it a step further — so we built a Hifyre “bat signal”. Using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), our developers built an Alexa Skill that allowed our clients to say, “Alexa, Launch Hifyre” and they would trigger a Slack alert to our team to get in touch with them. Moral of the story — smart assistants are pretty cool.
#5: Smart home accessories
While we’re on the subject of smart assistants, smart homes and offices are pretty great too. We chose to put this one on our Valentine’s Day list as well because who doesn’t love being able to warm up their house before they get home? Or lock the doors from the car? Or turn on the lights and tv with a voice command? We know we do.
#6: Smart transportation
As technology advances, our lives get simpler. A great example, curtesy of one of our developers, is smart transit. Here in Hamilton ON, our bus system is GPS enabled. It may be a small example, but when we’re able to get to our stop right as the bus pulls up instead of waiting 15 minutes in the freezing cold — we count it as a win.
#7: DevTips
One of our favourite aspects of being in tech is not the tech itself, but the community that fosters the tech. We try to give back as much as we can and in that spirit, we started a DevTips page right here on medium. You can now follow along with our developers bi-monthly as they give tips and tricks on best practices in the industry, talk about tools they love, or walk you through an API.
#8: Blockchain
The possibilities for blockchain technology are endless. This past year, we have watched as cryptocurrencies and cryptokitties alike were all the rage. You’ll hear many people say, “Oh, crypto? That’s a bubble”, but we know that the real value is the systems behind it all. We’ll be developing a few systems on the blockchain this coming year and we’re so excited to learn about it all.
#9: AR
Virtual is not the only alt-reality that got some major attention this past year. Augmented reality, or “AR”, took off with the creation and launch of Pokémon Go and hasn’t slowed down since. Now companies like Snap Inc, Facebook, Apple and Google have all got some skin in the game.
#10: Old Tech
Although everything on our list so far has been the newest, hottest tech, we wanted to take a moment to recognize how far we’ve come. Old technologies have lead the way and taught us everything we know. Not to mention, some old technologies refuse to go away! Take for instance doctor’s offices. They all still rely on fax machines to transmit documents. Perhaps one day blockchain will assist in easing this process into the future, but for now, old tech is here to stay.
#11: Infotainment & Autonomous Vehicles
If this year’s CES proved anything, it’s that car tech is changing rapidly. Vehicles are one step closer to being autonomous transportation and entertainment on wheels. Can you imagine a day when you won’t need to think about where you’re going or how you’re getting there? But can instead spend the commute time watching tv or getting work done? That day is speeding towards us, pun intended.
#12: AI
Have you heard of the singularity? Well, it’s certainly on its way to being very real. Artificial Intelligence has progressed in great leaps and bounds over the last few decades. The concepts behind AI have been around for millennia, but it wasn’t until the advent of computers that it actually took off. These past few years, governments around the world are putting funding towards continuing to develop AI research and as a result, the world as we know it is changing.
We Love Tech
Technology is in nearly every facet of our lives in this day and age. For the most part, it enables us to be better, to do better, and to become better. But technology is about more than just the physical objects and code. It’s about the people behind the technology. The ideas, the creations, the problems and the solutions. Technology exists because of the people that saw an issue in the world that they wanted to improve. So our We 💙 Tech list, it’s really just a Valentine’s Day ode to all of the technology lovers, the thinkers, the creators, and the doers. We love you.
