Information technology is driving the world. There is no
doubt about it. Being aware of the current trends in this leading, critical
domain, is not only interesting, it also may help us to better live alongside
it, and cope with its progression, as it will progress into all aspects of
daily life.
اضافة اعلان
Though it is not the only trend, AI, understandably, is the
most obvious and spectacular one. In less than nine months, and since the
beginning of this year, AI has moved from an eye-opening curiosity to tools we
started using in a practical, tangible, daily manners. If
ChatGPT is the most
publicized one and probably the first to hit the big time, AI has been injected
and applied in many a system.
Microsoft AI and
Google AI – as expected - are
other important players in the game, and not minor ones, of course.
From automatically designing websites or commercial logos,
to coming up with a catchy, creative name for your new company, monitoring
forests with intelligent cameras for the early detection and warning of fires,
drafting the ideal CV, or simply fueling chatbots – not to mention doing
students homework - AI is here. For good.
Alongside AI are the ever-expanding online digital services.
Almost two years after the
Covid crisis - the event that contributed to pushing
it to new heights - the trend goes unabated to moving online every single
service that can be digitized and managed remotely.
In terms of time, effort and transportation cost saved, with
the consequential positive impact on the environment and on the human stress
factor, online remote services are invaluable. Some will inevitably criticize
the de-humanizing aspect of “doing everything remotely”; and they may be right,
in principle. But today we are past this kind of debate. The advantages of
doing it remotely outweigh the downsides, and by far. Hence it is essential to
understand these trends in order to adapt them to be more practical and better
live alongside digital life.
Digitization of
public infrastructure
Jordan is among the countries that are implementing this
change faster and better than most other countries in the world. Sanad mobile
application, managed by The
Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MODEE), offers a significant number of government digital services to the
citizen.
In addition to civil status identification or health
documents, among others, one can even order a passport online. Just last week,
MODEE added a service to Sanad that lets departing travelers obtain an
international driving license at MODEE’s office at Queen Alia International
airport, before boarding their flight. The whole process takes less than five
minutes.
Digitization of
personal space/memory
Another noticeable trend is the usage of cloud storage for
personal use. The history of this tool is interesting. Whereas most users
believe that it started about 10 or 15 years ago, the concept was actually
introduced as early as in the 1970s by scientist Dr. Joseph Carl Robnett
Licklider. Back then it was only theoretical. The first applications came circa
1990 and remained confined to the professional community. But indeed, the wide
public was given the possibility to make use of this storage over recent years
only.
What is inspiring today with personal cloud storage, is that
apart from old timers like Google Drive,
Dropbox, Apple iCloud and Microsoft
OneDrive, the massive, global use of the feature has generated a number of similar
services that offer interesting alternatives to the big ones, and that often
propose free storage of up to 20 and even 50 GB in some cases. This is more
than enough for most users.
Mega for example, based in Australia, is one of these
relatively new cloud services. It is fast, technically reliable, and you can
trust it with your personal data. It has an excellent reputation when it comes
to data integrity and privacy. Sync is another similar service, but contrary to
Mega, it does not seem to have any free plan to offer to its users.
At enterprise level, cloud servers are becoming the norm,
and understandably, their use goes well beyond mere data and files storage. It
extends to full processing and software handling.
Jean-Claude Elias is a computer engineer and a classically trained pianist and guitarist. He has been regularly writing IT articles, reviewing music albums, and covering concerts for more than 30 years.
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