This holiday season the Shockoe team has been visited by the ghosts of tech past, present and future. While we were a little concerned at first about ghosts socially distancing in the office, once they had a chance to impart their wisdom and remind us where tech has been, currently is, and can go we were happy to have them along!  Here’s what we learned from our holiday ghosts:

Ghosts of Tech Past

– Titanium

Kicking things off with a friendly ghost of tech past, Titanium is where it all began for the Shockoe team and for many mobile apps. As an early cross platform app development toolset, Titanium, later renamed to Appcelerator, let us all flex our creative muscles and jumpstart what was capable in the mobile space.  We chased the ethereal build once deploy twice mindset.

– Google Glass

With a slight Terminator feel and serious concerns over data privacy Google Glass is a hardware of the past that just couldn’t take off in the consumer space. While the concept has continued through other companies and use cases, the ghost of Google Glass reminds us to first ensure our audience wants the product we’re creating.

“The product was the product launched ahead of its time, which meant the clarity and use case for the product was not readily apparent to the end user, viewing Twitter feeds was not something people wanted to do all day” – Alex Otanez

 Ghosts of Tech Present

– React Native

When it comes to ease of use, react native has been a game changer in the coding world. React native allows developers to create mobile solutions for iOS and Android easily meaning more exciting and innovative mobile solutions, with less manpower. This ghost of tech present is a great example of meeting the industry needs to keep moving technology forward.

– NFTs

For everyone who went home for the holidays you may have fielded NFT questions from your relatives. NFTs or non-fungible tokens are unique pieces of blockchain content. Similar to bitcoin, NFTs exist through blockchain technology and represent a new way of buying and selling art in a digital world. As a ghost of tech present NFTs highlight the way the consumer marketplace is changing to reflect our growing focus on digital goods and services.  

Ghosts of Tech Future

– Apple Glasses

We wish the ghost of tech future could give us a look at the rumored Apple AR/VR headset, but since it can’t we’ll just have to wait to see what’s to come. Apple is rumored to be hard at work on AR and VR technology both as headsets and as glasses with a slimmer profile than the Google Glasses of the past. While we’ll have to wait to see the specifics, the buzz around Apple’s latest offering highlights the growing interest in augmented reality solutions.

– Metaverse

Far more than Facebook’s next solution, the metaverse is a wide ranging term with far reaching potential. In short, the metaverse is a virtual “place” meaning anything from augmented reality through headsets to games already played like Minecraft or Roblox. Looking into the future the metaverse will continue to move from sci-fi concept to reality as we dive more into immersive technologies and solutions to meet a dispersed, digital workforce.

“The Great Convergence, the merging of the digital and physical worlds.  Again, technology opens the door for creativity giving us new choices in how we interact with our fellow human beings. Which world will you choose?” – Dan Cui

No matter what’s in store for tech in the years to come the Shockoe team is here to help along the way. When you’re ready to start, or jump start, your digital journey let us know. 

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