LAS VEGAS - A new idea surrounding IoT will steer how technology will go in the new decade - instead of standing for the Internet of Things, the acronym should stand for the "intelligence of things", said Consumer Technology Association's (CTA) vice president of research Steve Koenig. "This new IoT bears testimony to the extent that artificial intelligence (AI) is permeating every facet of our commerce and our culture. "Now, commerce is pretty well-understood and we endorse that as we want to advance our economies around the world, but culture is really interesting to me as a researcher, because we're talking about technology's influence on human behaviour," he said. He brought up the example of how fast food giant McDonald's is looking at bringing AI-powered voice assistants to its drive-through restaurants in the United States. "People working in fast food - they've got a tough job.

In our recent blog, we covered some exciting tech trends hitting 2020 such as autonomous driving, hyperautomation and more. There are many areas however with even more developments, ones you may have heard of and ones that you may have not. Technology is accelerating at such a rapid pace that every industry will be affected as well as the everyday consumer. We examine a further 5 top tech trends hitting our doors in 2020. At this stage, we all know or have at least heard of the cloud. With the likes of Amazon (AWS), Google and Microsoft competing with each other head to head, it's a hot industry with huge margins to be made.

In 2019 it's all about data – a small, rather dull word for something that is profoundly changing the world we live in. New technologies, from voice-controlled speakers to "internet of things" (IoT) sensors, connected cars to fitness wearables, are vastly increasing the amount of digital data we produce. And artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and cloud computing are transforming the way we store, analyse and apply it – according to a BBC survey. "In 2019 smart sensors will start to be found everywhere, automating data collection to satisfy the voracious appetite of AI," says Tim Harper, a former European Space Centre engineer and now founder of G2O Water Technologies. AI could be a powerful force for good, improving healthcare and combating climate change, for example.