Tech in 2022 is going to get weird for all of us, from getting caught up in an NFT heist about bored apes to playing virtual golf with your coworkers. You need to get educated now.
If 2021, was the year to know about fancy TV features like refresh rates, then 2022, is the year to brush up on screens that sit a lot closer to our faces. Tech companies like Sony, Meta, and Apple are making big pushes for virtual reality. You will have to learn what the "metaverse" is. You should probably come to grips with the NFTs, because people like Eminem are spending a lot of money on JPEGs that may or may not be used for scamming.
There are still plenty to look forward to in the coming year, even though it may not look like the utopia you imagined as a kid. If you want to navigate the months ahead, take a few minutes to learn these terms.
Theverse
Are you excited to surf with Mark? Credit: Michael Nagle
Last fall, Facebook hosted a livestream to show off its vision of the future, which largely involves spending a lot of time wearing Quest headsets. The new name for Facebook was Meta. Was this a way for Zuck to distance himself from his social network? Probably. It also brings us to the term Metaverse, which will be heard more than any other term in the year 2022.
The metaverse is a persistent virtual world where people can work, play, and shop from anywhere using a virtual reality headset, augmented reality glasses, a phone, or any other compatible device.
The person who recently spent $450,000 to live next to a virtual mansion is a 3D virtual person who can go from a meeting in a fake boardroom to surfing on a virtual beach in a matter of minutes. You could be interacting with your coworkers who are thousands of miles away while shopping for a digital t-shirt.
It is very ambitious, and has the potential to be a nightmare like a capitalistic nightmare. You will not be able to ignore the metaverse in 2022.
There is a virtual reality.
Do not use a Quest 2 on the street. Edward Berthelot is the photographer.
There's never been a better time to refresh your knowledge about virtual reality, since you've almost certainly heard of it. If the metaverse plan pans out, we could all be spending more time in virtual reality than we want to, especially if it becomes a regular part of work. Not what you expected, right?
The term virtual reality is a blanket term for all digital spaces that can be accessed with special hardware. This isn't the same as playing Grand Theft Auto on your TV. These headsets use special lens technology, cameras, and motion- tracking controllers to immerse you in their computer worlds, making them seem real even when they're not. Virtual reality can be used for a lot of things, from foul-mouthing your way through a virtual escape room to killing zombies.
Or you can use it to fly around in a virtual reality nightmare, like a social networking app that would kill someone in the 1800s if they saw it.
There is augmented reality.
Those aren't supposed to be there. Credit is given to Chesnot/Getty Images.
augmented reality is related to virtual reality, but it's entirely separate.
The idea of augmenting reality has a sci-fi vibe to it, but it's usually more innocuous than that.
Digital objects are placed in the real world through augmented reality. They're not actually appearing in physical spaces, but your phone screen or glasses make it seem like they are. The summer of 2016 was a time when everyone in the world was obsessed with the mobile game, Pokémon Go, which placed Pikachu on the sidewalk in front of you. That is one of the most mainstream uses of augmented reality. The same applies to the silly effects filters you use on social media.
It has the potential for much more. It could be used to place furniture in a room before it arrives, and doctors could use it to see veins in someone's arm, so they don't miss an injection. Pikachu can be on your desk. That's also important.
There is mixed reality.
Remember when Tom Cruise did this? It's real now. Credit: Westend61
The term mixed reality is going to get thrown around more and more as big tech ramps up its metaverse plans. If you understand virtual reality and augmented reality, you will understand what mixed reality is all about.
A simple way to think about mixed reality is that it is a mix of both virtual and augmented reality. The rumored upcoming headset from Apple would allow users to fully immerse themselves in a virtual world but also see the real world around them, with virtual objects on top of it.
A mixed-reality headset would allow virtual interactions in real spaces.
Maybe one day we will all wear goggles for shopping and work on the go. It is best to learn the concept now, regardless of whether that happens or not.
There is a technology called the Blockchain.
This is where the money comes from. Credit is given to Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg.
You have probably heard of at least one of the two terms by now.
The NFTs blew up in 2021, but according to experts, you will hear a lot more about them this year.
It is best understood as a virtual public ledger where assets can be owned, traded, and tracked without being altered by those with devious intentions. No ultimate authority has power over it. The same is true of cryptocurrencies, which is a form of virtual money that uses a system of ledgers called the criptosystems.
NFTs.
"Arts." Credit: JUSTIN TALLIS/Agence France-Presse
NFTs are non-fungible token.
Think of an NFT as a unique unit of currency that is unique to the owner. People spend money on NFTs in a variety of ways, but the idea is to have an untainted receipt of ownership over a piece of digital art. The goal isn't just to appreciate the art, but to support the artist. The hope is that the NFT will appreciate in value over time and be sold again at a higher price.
Since NFTs don't exist in the real world, anyone can save a piece of art without spending a lot of money. SCAM artists can sell stolen art, steal money, and do other wild things in the NFT world.
Lossless audio.
You can get to recreate the joy of vinyl with lossless audio. Credit: Tempura
Let's take a break from the world of suffocating virtual reality spaces and internet funny money to listen to music.
It's not important to most people, but streaming audio quality has never been as good as listening to a hard copy of a vinyl album. Data loss and inferior quality can be caused by common audio formats that reduce file sizes. Lossless audio formats like FLAC can be used to restore that data and make songs sound better.
Apple Music and Spotify will support a lossless option in 2021, while Tidal has offered it for a while now. Only Apple had fulfilled that promise. It hasn't yet. If and when the Hifi service tier launches this year, it could have the power to push lossless audio to the mainstream if and when it becomes popular. Will it cost a lot? It's the price you pay for quality.
We understand that there is a lot to take in. People are spending thousands of dollars on cartoon apes. Is it true that the man is owning a virtual mansion? This is the future you have for now, even if it isn't the future you wanted. Take a deep breath, and be careful with your money, because you could be in trouble.
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