TOP 7 breakthrough technologies of the last decade

The period from 2010 to 2020 introduced the world to several innovative developments that have changed the life of the entire planet. Many of these ideas were invented by science fiction writers in the middle of the twentieth century, but have been put into action only in recent years.

So here they are:

1. Virtual assistants. The capabilities of the "smart" Siri system literally blew up the market with the release of the iPhone 4S in 2011. Until then, the dialogue with the computer remained a mere flight of fancy, but the Apple developers once again managed to astonish this world. After the introduction of Siri, other smartphone manufacturers have released Samsung Bixby, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft Cortana that are also able to not only understand human language, but also convert words into actions.

2. Virtual reality (VR). Thanks to the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, the Oculus Rift project raised $2.5 million from 10 thousand users and launched the development of the first virtual reality glasses in 2012. In 2 years, Facebook bought the promising company for $2 billion expecting up to 100 million units of glasses to have been sold worldwide by 2019. VR headsets. The actual sales turned out to be far from the planned figure and amounted to a bit over 2 million units. However, it did not stop other manufacturers from releasing their rival products - Sony VR, Lenovo Explorer, HTC Vive - and thus significantly enriching the user experience of gadget lovers.

3. Tablets. The release of the first iPad in 2010 made the experts unanimously declare the imminent death of computers and laptops, insomuch as this gadget turned out to be very progressive. Over the following years, smartphones had been trying to catch up with tablets in terms of power and screen size, and finally they succeeded. By 2019, the market of tablets had shrunk to almost zero, and "iPads" themselves began to look more like laptops, having acquired the keyboard and mouse options. Nevertheless, they fulfilled their function becoming one of the main innovative trends of the last decade.

4. Hoverboards. In 2015, these very unsafe vehicles swept the pedestrian zones and parks in large cities. Both young and old thought it's a must to "ride" this amazing innovative board at least once. Entrepreneurs seized the opportunity of the craze by opening hoverboard rentals in crowded areas, but this business was fated to fail: soon the two-wheeled boards were replaced by safer and more convenient electric scooters. Nevertheless, hoverboards have made a valuable contribution to the development of mobile electric transport and radically changed the attitude of consumers to this type of transport.

5. Wireless headphones. They had been discussed for a long time, waited for, tested and enhanced. Finally, they were released and won over the fan army forever. Despite the unusual appearance, released in 2016, Apple AirPods instantly became a sales hit and a role model for the rivals. Now you can buy Samsung Galaxy Buds, Mi Air 2 from Xiaomi and other rival products on the market. Few people remember about wired headphones nowadays.

6. Autopilot cars. Despite the fact that developments in this area had been going on for years, only the Tesla car maker succeeded in coming close to the dream of creating a full-fledged autopilot. Today, these electric cars are equipped with a smart system that can control the vehicle in an autonomous mode: move independently using the satnav route, monitor the traffic situation and react to other road users. The system may not be perfect yet, but it's impressive!

7. Touch ID on smartphones. The fingerprint scanning technology itself was not fundamentally new, but the first smartphone that saved the owner from having to remember the password was released by Apple in 2013. It was the iPhone 5s. In the following years, the fingerprint identity recognition began to be widely used not only for tablets and computers, but also for mobile payment systems. Apple's development was the beginning of developing biometric security systems that have become a commonly used technology today.

Of course, we haven't named all the impressive inventions of the last decade. What else would you add to this list?