The Massive Technologies Hidden in Daily Life

Saying that technology is part of life in the UK these days is a massive understatement. We often use technology without giving a second thought to how any of it works, and today we’re breaking down just a few of the most key techs we regularly overlook.

HTML

If you’ve ever taken any kind of class in websites or IT, odds are that you will have heard of HTML at some point. The framework, currently on HTML5 and working towards version 6, is the skeleton of every website in the world and something you’ll interact with on a daily basis, even if you never see the code itself. However, the uses of HTML go well beyond that.

For example, since the end of the Flash era, HTML5 has been used to create all kinds of interactive media playable directly in web browsers. Some areas make more extensive use of it than others, with all the games at online casinos using it as a base, for example. Whether you’re playing Plinko Go in the UK or signing in to a room of live roulette from halfway around the world, you’ll be playing through HTML5. Using this as a platform ensures that players of these games don’t need to install or manage any specific software, and therefore drops a barrier to playing.

Motion Sensors

Going now to technology which is surprisingly simple and older than you may think, motion sensors, whether as an independent gadget or using cameras, are everywhere in modern life and can play some fairly vital roles. In more basic applications, they get used for things like automatic doors and plenty of ways in modern cars such as with electronic parking and safety systems. 

Perhaps the most important use, however, is within security systems. Whether these devices are like the smart sensors tied to systems like Alexa or Google Home designed primarily for domestic use, or the advanced arrays of sensors that get used by large businesses, they are everywhere. The most advanced can even tie into things like facial recognition technology that can track individuals through a specific area.

Wi-Fi

Go back a couple of decades and wireless internet was easily the most hyped-up and dramatic shift in internet usage as a whole. Its introduction in devices like the Apple iBook and Nokia Communicator marked the first time the Internet could be accessed on the move, but just over 20 years on from that, Wi-Fi is taken for granted as just a natural feature of life, especially for those born after the year 2000.

Most don’t realise that some put the origin of Wi-Fi all the way back in the 1880s, long before the modern computer itself was even created. What many also don’t realise is just how much the world relies on Wi-Fi now. While most of the key facilities like power and water supply use wired Internet, it’s a reasonable assumption that a sudden disappearance of Wi-Fi would cause chaos, particularly in the European and American regions.

These are just a small selection of the vast number of technologies that we make use of every day, often without thinking about them. The next time you open up a website, keep in mind the incredible stuff under the hood needed to make that work!