Our 5 Top Technologies for 2014 (The Groundbreaker List)

2013, I’m done with you. It’s not that I don’t like you, but you’ve lost your zeal, and 2014 has taken it. Why? Because these 5 technologies are going to make 2014 an awesome year for not just us nerds, but for people around the globe.

This is our list of predictions for for 2014.

P.S – to our over 2,000 email Subscribers, I apologize for not publishing all week. I’ve been incredibly busy.

1. Wireless Power

Imagine being able to charge your phone or computer without wires. Imagine never running out of battery, and never having to plug in your devices. That future is coming, for early adopters at least, in 2014. I have it on good authority from a few industry insiders that at least one Wireless power product will be launching in January or February of 2014 (Maybe at CES), and once one comes, there will be tons of competitors. Apple also recently patented the wirelessly powered computer, so look out for that sometime soon.

2. Affordable Home 3D Printing

3D printing is one of the fastest growing industries out there. Each year, the number of companies, and the number of printers out there increases by several times, and 2014 will be the year of the home 3D printer. Several companies with sub-$300 home printers will be shipping their preorders by Spring of this year, and multiple $100-200 printers will also make their debut. 2014 will be the year that the average consumer can afford a 3D printer. I’m ordering my printer next week, and I’ll be blogging about the whole process here.

3. Wearable Devices

We saw a lot of cool but expensive devices this year, like the Pebble watch, Galaxy Gear smart watch, and Google Glass, but their prices brought them out of reach of anyone other than early adopters. This year, they’ll be better, and available at a more reasonable price. Google Glass should be around $7-800, versus $1500, and the redesigned Galaxy Gear should be in the $200 range.

P. S. I owe Samsung an apology on the galaxy gear. I tried it out, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s still way overpriced, but it actually looks really nice, and does a few things, like calling, quite well.

4. Accessible Education

I realize that this won’t affect the vast majority of the people who read this blog directly, but in 2014 education is going to be much more accesible, and that’s big!

Millions and millions of children around the globe don’t have access to even a basic education, but lower-cost devices like Kindles have been making big headway in bringing education to every corner of the globe, and in 2014 that trend will continue. It’s not something that affects us every day, but it’s something very important nonetheless.

5. Crypto-currencies and new ways to pay

Money is changing, and so is how we use it. The Coin is a thin device that replaces all of your credit cards, by storing them, and pulling them up on demand for you to use. The Bitcoin is sure to be hugely controversial in the year of 2014, but as Paypal’s Peter Thiel told us, it could be revolutionary. 2014 should also see a host of other options for paying, like NFC, and bluetooth based money transfers. The wallet is getting close to being obsolete.

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Michael Sitver

Michael Sitver is a technology insider who has been blogging about technology since 2011. Along the way, he's interviewed founders of innovative startups, and executives from fortune 500 companies, and he's tried dozens or hundreds of gadgets. Michael has also contributed to works featured in Newsday, The San Francisco Chronicle, and the associated press. Michael also occasionally consults, and writes for Seeking Alpha and Yahoo News.

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