Technology exists to make our lives easier. Throughout history, scientists and inventors push the boundaries of science to make our lives better. Medicine is developed to heal the sick, architecture and engineering moves forward to give us better shelter, and in the past hundred years or so, digital technology evolves to make our day-to-day task more convenient.
Below are some of the technological tools many people employ to make their life easier, and you should consider utilizing them too.
Virtual Private Network for Privacy and Security
In this age of always connected and always online, privacy and security have been some of the most common topics. After all, the internet has progressed so much that it’s not as easy to realize whether something is amiss. That’s why the rise of virtual private networks or VPNs comes as no surprise.
VPNs allow you to maintain a private network despite accessing a public internet connection. It can create encrypted connections to keep your privacy safe, regardless of whatever connection you’re using. Its features include disguising or masking your online identity (through hiding your IP address) and even changing the detected location of the connection. If you value privacy and online anonymity, a VPN is something that you should consider using.
Financial Technology Makes Payment Easier
You’ve most probably used virtual prepaid cards to pay for software services, or have experienced transferring money through your phone. Using your phone to make payments has become commonplace recently, and is projected to remain relevant in the far future. How far financial technology has come is perhaps one of the most groundbreaking innovations in recent years. The developments and inventions in financial technology or fintech have strongly influenced the modern economy, with the rise of micro-businesses and seamless instant transactions, anywhere, anytime.
However, what you may not know is that these online financial software tools come with multiple features that can make your banking even easier. Take a quick look at your current banking app: it should include details like interest rates, discounts, promos, and similar things. While they may seem like ads or even abandonware at times, don’t discount them. Some banking apps offer easy investment strategies, loaning options, or even a separate “wallet” independent of your current account. You no longer have to deal with a banker to manage everything- you can quite literally do them on your phone.
Seamless Synchronization of Device
Nowadays, most people have more than one smart device. It’s normally a mixture of a smartphone and a desktop or laptop computer, but other people may have multiple devices. This ranges from tablets to smartwatches, to the Internet of Things (IoT) items like a smart mirror or microcomputer. A common problem having all of these devices entails is how do you connect and integrate them.
This concern has become such a common concern that many software developers and engineers have created multiple ways for your devices to interact. It can be a corporate-created connection tool like Samsung’s Dex and Flow. Or it can be through open source efforts like KDEconnect or GSconnect. Regardless of what device you’re using, synchronicity options are now available, allowing your computer and smartphone to interact with each other. Be it through quickly sharing files or data, to controlling your smartphone via your computer, or vice versa, it’s all now possible.
Cloud Technology is Here, and It’s Good
Everyone has heard of the term “cloud technology” or “cloud computing”. A few years ago, many tech media outfits would brand cloud technology “as the next big thing”, but skip to today, is cloud technology really that good? The short answer is, yes, yes it is- you’re most probably actively using one every day.
Cloud technology persists through many apps and software we often use. Browser-based apps like Google Documents or even streaming systems like Streamelements all utilize cloud technology. Which is using the internet to “stream” computing power. The service providers run the computational requirements on their end, and then it’s streamed to your computer. This all happens at high speeds, of course, fast enough that it seems as if it’s real-time.
Built-In Personal Assistant Apps
Smartphones come with considerable software capabilities out of the box. You don’t need to install further software to utilize it (unless you really want to), and many of its features are enough to get you by. However, the most impressive feature it carries is something that’s not quite used often: virtual personal assistants.
Thanks to the ever-improving field of AI and smart assistants, everyone now carries a little robot in their pocket. We can tell our phones to look up meanings of words, do quick calculations, or even translate foreign words for us! Such technology used to be limited to science fiction, but now it’s just a part of everyday reality.