#hashtech

I love it when you can get a peak of where things are heading when it comes to everyday technologies. And the next game changer to look out for on the mobile front is flexible OLED, which - in layman terms - means bendy phone screens.

As we see in Google Maps 10th year - what's the next step when it comes to using mapping devices? 

Gary Gale from the UK's Ordnance Survey spoke on Guardian Tech Weekly outlining two main areas that we will see change over the next 5 years. 

Firstly there's going to be a new generation of sensors being used that won't rely on GPS. This will enable people to accurately map indoors --  most useful when it comes to things like shopping malls and hospitals. Speaking on the show he explained that "the moment we get cut off from GPS the mapping experience becomes rubbish. We need something to fill the gap for mapping indoors, where accurate positioning is difficult. We’re not clear on what that will be yet – whether Bluetooth beacons or another suite of sensors”.

The second area that we will see change is how we use digital maps. At the moment they predominately take on a functional role, but apps like Ingress and Field Trip show the ways in which digital maps are evolving in different contexts. 

It’s Google’s first app that was designed from the beginning with children as the intended audience. YouTube Kids does exactly what it says on the tin, it features age-appropriate content such as "Sesame Street" and "Thomas the Tank Engine,” as well as having strict parental controls including the ability to filter inappropriate search terms. Parents can also set a time limit for how long they want their children to be able to use the app. A handy app for anyone who has little ones.

Over the last two years, we’ve seen virtual reality expand well beyond games into more unexpected areas like cinema and storytelling. This week as part of the Sundance Film Festival, Oculus, the Facebook owned tech company, launched an experimental cinema project called 'Oculus Story Studio’.

Audiences were played a 4 minute film through a virtual reality headset that propelled them into the unravelling story of ‘Lost'. The headsets used custom gaze controls to tailor the experience to each individual viewer resulting in an unique immersive pace to every story.