TECH ALMANACALMANACTIMELINE HYPE CYCLE COMPLETE TECHNOLOGY TIMELINE 2015 - 2050 Figure 1. Graph of the life cycle for all company products compared to their relative hype in 2050. APPLICATION I N C L U D E S Figure 2. Graph representingAPPLE, the areas of concentration GOOGLE, in 2050. & M O R E ! TESLA, FACEBOOK 1 WE ARE THE BRIGADE We are not an agency. We are a global network of independent creatives who have joined together to do amazing work for great clients. It’s hard to believe that the 9-5 workday was created during the industrial revolution over a century ago, but almost every company still uses the same assembly line system. As a company that is looking towards the future, we don’t think that great ideas can grow inside cubicles. That’s why we created the Brigade. We’re leading a revolution by developing the ideal conditions for creativity. It’s not surprising that the most talented individuals don’t fit into the traditional routine and they certainly don’t want to be chained to a desk. We give our team the freedom to work where and when they want, with only two rules: do your best work and live and die by the deadline. So, why do you have this book in your hands? As a future focused company, we advise our clients on the emerging technologies that will be shaping the world, so we thought that we would have a little fun at SXSW. It’s also pretty obvious that we are massive Back to the Future fans and we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to parody one of our favourite films of all time. If you like what you see and you’re on the hunt for a forward thinking creative company, look us up. THEBRIGADE.CA /100 © 2050 The Brigade Creative Corp. LIMITED EDITION All brands, logos, product names, photos, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this book are for identification purposes only. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement. No copyright infringement intended. INDEX COMPANY PROFILES GOOGLE 04 15 KICKSTARTER APPLE 05 16 GOPRO MICROSOFT 06 17 23ANDME IBM 07 18 TESLA FACEBOOK 08 19 HYPERLOOP TWITTER 09 20 SPACE X SNAPCHAT 10 21 NETFLIX AMAZON 11 22 WIKILEAKS USHAHIDI 12 23 TED BOSTON DYNAMICS 13 24 RASPBERRY PI UNDER ARMOR 14 25 MAKERBOT 2015 - 2050 RECAP HOME 27 35 ENTERTAINMENT HEALTH 29 37 TRANSPORTATION THE MAKER MOVEMENT 31 39 COMMUNICATION ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 33 41 RETAIL THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HERE, IT’S JUST NOT VERY EVENLY DISTRIBUTED. William Ford Gibson GOOGLE Google’s initial mission was to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” but in the early part of the century they began to diversify into a wide variety of industries - everything from automotive to high speed internet to robotics. By the midpoint of the 21st century it was clear that all of their bets paid off, and they are now the most pervasive and highest valued company in the world. TIMELINE HYPE CYCLE HYPE 2015 Google Fiber Google Green Google Earth Nest Android TV Launches Thursday 2015 January 01 Android Fire Your Old TV After the success of the Chromecast and acqui-hiring the Sage TV team, Google decided to revitalize it’s television offering Friday into Android TV. Although the product launch Chromecast lacked a bit of punch because of Amazon’s Songza Chromebook 14 May 2021 Fire TV announcement the year prior, it still went on to sell millions of units. YouTube Nexus This Time The Market Is Ready Google Maps Google TV Glass was a revolutionary product when it Google Glass Wave launched in 2013, but it was far from a Augmented Memory Helpouts success. The market wasn’t quite ready for Google Resurrects Glass gmail the product, but after Apple launched their Google+ version, it was time for Google to take NEW PRODUCT HEIGHT OF YESTERDAYS PRODUCT OBSOLETE another stab at it. This time the results were LAUNCH POPULARITY NEWS REINVENTION far better and secured them a respectable market share. Figure 1. Graph of the life cycle for all company products compared to their 2030 relative hype in 2050. Tuesday APPLICATION 2036 August 12 HOME The Entire World Is Connected Google Completes Their TR Worldwide Internet Initiative After deploying their own satellites and even AN a number of airborne wind turbines, Google . SP succeeded in bringing the entire world IL O online with it’s Fiber service. Ubiquitous (and A R T T affordable) high speed internet changed the E A R T world, especially in third world countries that were just coming online. IO N E N T E 2040 R R T E A K I N A M M Friday E May N 19 2045 T Additional Brain Capacity C The biggest advancement since singularity Google Launches Their Augmented O was the ability to record and index all of a Memory Product M users experiences for easy review and recall M later. While some people longed for the H T U forgetful days, this technology has changed L N A I the way that we learn and even the way that E C H A our brains store our memories. T I O N A I . 2050 Figure 2. Graph representing the areas of concentration in 2050. 4 APPLE Apple may have moved the world into the future more than any other company, and a lot of the credit can be given to one man. Steve Jobs was a visionary leader that set a strong course for the company that lasted decades after he passed away. He institutionalized a culture that focused on user experience and design, which has paid off significantly with hit product after hit product. This culminated in the monumental direct neural interface product, the Apple Nano. TIMELINE HYPE CYCLE HYPE 2015 Siri Apple Watch Smart Watch Market Leader Friday Apple Pay 2015 April 17 Apple Car Mac Pro Monday It Only Took One Day September Until the Apple Watch was released, there 14 2019 wasn’t a clear leader in the category. That all changed when they sold over 5 million A New Way To See The World Apple Vision watches in one day, which immediately put Ever since the Newton, Apple has been very them in the front of the pack. iMac 5k calculated in determining the right moment to release products. The company waited 5 Apple Retail Solutions Beats Music Beats Headphones iPhone years after Google Glass to launch their MacBook Air revolutionary augmented reality glasses Apple TV The Phone You Wear On Your Face iTunes called ‘Apple Vision’. As with most of their MacBook Pro new products, it was an immediate hit. Apple Nano Phone iPod Friday Mac Mini The First Apple Car Rolls OffThe Line 2020 January 03 NEW PRODUCT HEIGHT OF YESTERDAYS PRODUCT OBSOLETE LAUNCH POPULARITY NEWS REINVENTION The Long Ride Rumours that Apple was working on an electric car were floating around since 2015, but it took them a while longer to release the Figure 1. Graph of the life cycle for all company products compared to their real thing. The self driving car was new relative hype in 2050. territory for the tech giant, but it was evident that the same care and attention to design could be applied to almost any product. 2030 APPLICATION Tuesday HOME The Next Level Of Smart Clothing 2031 November 04 TR AN Apple Is In Fashion . SP IL O Watches were their initial foray into fashion, A R but Apple seemed reluctant to take the next T T E A step into wearables. It wasn’t until smart R T I fabrics became readily available that they set O their sights on the clothing industry - starting N with a plain t-shirt that could become any colour simply by asking. E N T E R 2040 R T E A K I N A M M Thursday E June N 12 2044 T The Real Apple Nano C Ray Kurzweil had predicted that singularity Apple Wins The Singularity Race O would likely happen in 2045, but not many M people were too surprised when Apple beat M his prediction by half a year. The Apple Nano H T U L is a tiny device that bypasses your senses to N A I E project images and audio directly into your C H A T brain. It also monitors all of your vitals and I O gives you suggestions on how to live a better N life. A I . 2050 Figure 2. Graph representing the areas of concentration in 2050. 5 MICROSOFT A lot of people might have counted Microsoft down and out at the beginning of the century, but Satya Nadella turned them around in a big way. After being late to the game in mobile, they focused their efforts on the massive potential of the Internet of Things. The company quickly gained a foothold in 2015 and by 2050 they had become the biggest player in smart home technology. TIMELINE HYPE CYCLE 2015 HYPE Microsoft Windows IoT Wednesday Microsoft Home May Microsoft Purchases Nintendo 2017 03 Xbox Ten Mario & Luigi's Moving Day It was a sad day for most, but it was a long time coming. After Nintendo refused to acknowledge the threat of mobile gaming, their market share slowly slipped away. Not everyone was sad though, Xbox owners could Tuesday now play Mario games on the same console Minecraft Microsoft Hololens as Halo.