We Are Already Living in the Future

This month'due south cover story for the PC Mag Digital Edition is loaded with tech predictions for 2022. To write information technology, we interviewed dozens of engineers, executives, and futurists and got their opinions on where technology is heading. Our story is filled with revealing insights from a wide spectrum of industry pioneers. Only I want to clarify i affair: We are already living in the future.

This exclamation was best expressed past William Gibson, who said, "The hereafter is already here—it's just non evenly distributed." Indeed, while there the are important debates to exist had most the negative effects of unequal income distribution, unequal "future distribution" may be the more important issue to rail.

To see the time to come, you just have to look in the correct places. I've been travelling a lot during the past few months and have had the opportunity to meet the future correct now, all over the world. Here are just a few examples.

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I was in Hong Kong a few months ago and got to see what a cashless society looks similar, and it looks an octopus. Octopus is a cashless payment provider operating in that metropolis that allows for NFC transactions to purchase cab rides, parking, convenience store items, and even meals. The company simply launched a QR-code-based system to augment Octopus that doesn't require the presence of NFC readers. At present the marketplace is virtually to be taken over by WeChat Pay and Alipay, which offering even more ubiquity.

You may non know this if you don't work in law enforcement, but cities across the world have dramatically improved their ability to identify the location of gunfire. Using a network of publicly installed microphones, a service chosen ShotSpotter tin can triangulate gunfire inside x feet and instantly report that location to the law. The sensors can be installed as standalone devices or built into street lights. This engineering is currently being used in more than 90 cities, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and Greatcoat Town, South Africa.

In Needham, Massachusetts, a company called Big Belly is making smart garbage bins. Big Belly bins are solar-powered trash compactors that can separate drinking glass, plastic, and paper recyclables from traditional garbage. The bins need to to be cleared 75 percent less frequently than ordinary bins. And they can be configured to deliver public Wi-Fi. Bigbelly bins are currently installed in all 50 US states and more than l other countries.

In cities as diverse as Paris and Kansas City, municipalities are using Cisco Kinetic to rails the availability of parking spaces in real time. The technology has made finding spots faster for drivers, reduced traffic congestion, and even increased urban center revenue with better enforcement reporting.

At the same time, every major urban center is converting to LED street lighting. Los Angeles spent $57 million to switch to LED—and since doing then, it has saved $9 million a year in utility costs. Streetlights as well provide a platform for delivering other services, including WAN (wide area networking). By 2022, 10 percentage of Us cities will be using streetlamps equally the backbone for WANs, according to Gartner.

Standing on a street in Washington, DC recently, I saw real-fourth dimension digital billboards that told me when the side by side autobus or train was arriving. They also told me how far abroad the nearest Lyft or Uber driver was. This represented a blending of public and private data and technology platforms that volition replicate across industries.

We live in troubled times, for sure, just they are as well amazing times. Hither at PCMag, we'll keep looking for those places where the future first appears. We'll endeavour to bring the future to you in these pages with speed, accuracy, and passion. And by reporting on the future, we promise to be a partner to making it available to anybody, as.

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About Dan Costa

Dan Costa

Dan Costa served every bit Editor-in-Main of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis from 2022 to 2022. In that fourth dimension, he oversaw the editorial operations for PCMag.com, AskMen.com, ExtremeTech.com, and Geek.com. Dan has appeared on local, national, and international news programs, including CNN, MSNBC, Flim-flam, ABC, and NBC discussing new technologies and their impact. He was as well the host of the Fast Forrad podcast, where he interviewed CEOs, technologists, and artists nigh living in the future, available on Apple Podcasts and anywhere fine podcasts are given away for complimentary.