3. What about virtual worlds?

An average internet user has probably heard of Second Life at least once in their life. A virtual world which gives you a second life to live. But why would people want to use something like Second Life?

First of all, these virtual worlds basically let you be whoever or whatever you want inside them. They let you be as creative as you want to, create your own worlds in the metaverse. People feel more freedom in expressing themselves because they are not tied by the constraints they had in real world and finding people to connect with is a lot easier. Virtual worlds are very different from well known chat rooms or social networks. While the latter let you communicate with people all other the world through internet, virtual worlds give you the opportunity to create a new self and explore a whole new world.

Aside from that, virtual worlds can be used as an addition to the real world. People can hold meetings, be it business related or just a friends meetup, exhibitions or musical performances that could gather visitors from all over the world. Even schools can use virtual worlds for their advantage.

In addition to all that, with the gradual increase in popularity of Virtual Reality headsets in consumer market, the experience of virtual worlds can be enhanced even further. AltspaceVR, VRChat and NeosVR are just a few examples of virtual worlds that let you use VR headsets and interactions with other users can feel almost real in them.

However, it would be too optimistic to mention only the good aspects that virtual worlds brought to us. There are quite a few problems with virtual worlds. No matter how you look at it, virtual worlds are a great form of escapism. While it is not necessarily a bad thing(it helps to forget about your problems for a bit and recharge), it's really easy to get lost in there which could lead to neglecting real life. The other big problem is that virtual worlds give you anonymity and that brings people with all sorts of bad intentions that can damage the experience of using virtual worlds.

I believe virtual worlds will soon grow to be a bigger part of our lives, considering how fast everything is being developed, and have a larger impact in the future.

2. What the internet changed in our lives

Face to face communication

Spending time with friends, chatting and having a good time. Getting together after school or on the weekends to have some fun surrounded by familiar faces. This is not so common to see now that the Internet is a thing.

In 1980s the only way to talk to your friends aside from face to face was to call them on the phone but you couldn't do that for too long, so meeting up in the cafes or parks was really common then. With the appearance of online chat rooms and other social places you could talk with your friends without having the need to meet up. Nowadays it's really common to see teens(if you can see them at all) socialize online instead of in the park or other places of the outside world. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit and other social platforms give good opportunities to meet new friends and chat without leaving home. Though there are still people who prefer to talk with their friends face to face, there is quite a lot of people who do that online more often than not.

Newspapers are still being printed?

Have you seen any newspapers lately? I haven't seen one with my own two eyes for at least five years. And that's not surprising because nowadays you can get all the necessary information on the Internet. 

But before the Internet the only way to know what was going on in the world was either ask other people or get a newspaper. People had to buy them monthly or weekly to get the news. In the recent years the production of newspapers has been gradually declining. With all the social media and news portals if you have access to the Internet you don't need to touch newspapers ever again. You can get all the news you want any day just by looking it up online. There's no need to wait for weeks to get the new edition of the newspaper if you have a smartphone or a computer(and that is a necessity nowadays). I think there's really no need for newspapers today.

1. Promising Startups that failed

Anki

Anki was a robotics based startup company famous for their robots Cozmo and Vector. Company raised around $180 million over the course of it's life and even hired animators from Pixar and Dreamworks to work on their robots. It was doing well and sold around 1.5 million of their robots. However, failing to secure a needed funding and not being able to sustain itself on the market the company went bankrupt and shut down.

Yik Yak

Yik Yak was an anonymous social media app for students that was launched in 2013. It gained a lot of popularity between 2013 and 2014. However, due to it's use for cyber-bullying it lost a good portion of it's user base in the following years. Despite attempts of improving Yik Yak being made, it's decrease in popularity led to it's shut down in 2017.

Navdy's heads-up display

 

Navdy's idea was to make a compact transparent HUD that would display GPS navigation directly in front of the driver. The device would replace the need to look at the phone and help you focus on the road. Navdy also made an app that you could link up with the main display to get additional information on the HUD. Built-in heads-up displays were existent in some cars, although in the luxurious models, Navdy wanted to bring them to the mainstream cars as well. However, they didn't sell well as the initial price was $799, which was later dropped to $499. But even with the price drop it was too expensive for the average consumer. In addition, Navdy's HUD received harsh feedback. Customers complained that the HUD obstructed the vision, becoming the problem it wanted to solve. The biggest reason this company failed was the implementation of their own navigational system. Navdy didn't thought the costs of maintaining the service would be so high and this led to their shut down in 2018.