What is going to Happen in 2019?
January 16, 2019
With 2018 already over, it is not quite clear what 2019 holds for humans. This past year was a year like no other, and has set 2019 up to be an even more revolutionary year in terms of memes, technology, and science.
The memes that we saw during 2018 were unlike anything the internet has seen before. Each year, memes evolve more and more, as they seem to appeal to more people. Obviously, it is impossible to predict what memes will go viral this year, but so far “Big Chungus” seems to be kicking off the year. Though what meme is going viral next is hard to predict, it is possible to guess what gadgets and cars we could be seeing in the near future.
One of the biggest changes we saw in 2018 was the widespread use of electric cars. Companies such as Tesla, Chevy, BMW, and Nissan made electric cars that people actually wanted to buy. This makes them different than electric cars from past years, which produced little interest from the public. In 2019, Volvo plans to completely ditch the idea of petrol cars and plan to focus on fully electric cars from now on. Talks of self driving cars also began in 2018, and we could see this vision follow through this year. General Motors Autonomous Vehicles’ (GM) self driving car service is supposedly going to compete with Uber this year. Also, Harley Davidson could release a fully electric motorcycle. Electric and self driving cars aren’t the only new way of transportation we may be seeing in 2019, though.
Civilian space travel, courtesy of SpaceX, could be a new reality soon. For 2019, it might only be available for the wealthy, but we still may get to see regular people going to the International Space Station. This could open up ideas for bases on the moon and on Mars in the upcoming years. The year 2019 could be the jumpstart for regular space travel by normal people.
SpaceX will also be releasing gigabit internet satellites in 2019 which are forecasted to be accessible for internet around the world by the end of the year. Along with gigabit internet speed, laptops that are compatible with 5G internet speeds are predicted to be here in 2019, thanks to a partnership between Intel, HP, Lenovo, and Dell. Verizon has also promised 5G internet speeds at home for WiFi and mobile phones. We may only see a glimpse of this feature in 2019, but 2019 will introduce a new era in mobile connections. Another big advancement expected to be seen in 2019 is super colorful TVs.
Samsung’s micro LED technology, which was shown in 2018, could overtake the major use of OLED in most TVs. Since it could be selling under $1000, it should be a major upgrade to current TVs. Another big change coming to TVs could be the use of 8k television sets. Just as 4k starts to get popular in regular households across America, we could see 8k TVs, which have been getting teased for at least the past few years, beginning to sell. While TVs seem to be moving to a more futuristic side, mobile smartphones seem like they are taking a step back idea-wise.
Some phone companies have been discussing the idea of foldable phones. The last time we saw foldable mobile phones was before the widespread use of touch screens. The idea behind these new designs for phones is that they will have bigger screens that can be folded so they don’t take up as much space. The idea does make some sense as phone companies seem to want to make their screens bigger while at the same time they need to stay practical. It seems every year we see a new futuristic phone or internet device, but 2019 has more in store than futuristic phones.
Ever since the shut down of the Concorde program in the early 21st century, supersonic commercial air travel has been forgotten. There is little chance we will see commercial airliners going the speed of sound in 2019, but many companies expect to make progress this coming year. Boeing Aircraft manufacturing company is working on a plane capable of Mach 5 that they expect will be flying in the early 2020s. In an interview with Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and SpaceX, shared his ideas on what it will take for supersonic commercial air travel. Musk mentioned, “At a certain altitude, you can go supersonic with less energy per mile than an aircraft at 35,000 feet.” He didn’t share any specific ideas on the interview, but it is exciting that a bold inventor such as Elon Musk is sharing his ideas.
This year is a new year and it should bring lots of new things, both good and bad. The memes will get more creative, the cars will become faster and more efficient, humans will explore more of the solar system, and of course, President Trump is sure to make 2019 interesting politically.