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The Top Technology Stories of 2015

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January: Google lets users design their own phones

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Internet kingpins Google unveiled a new prototype this year for their modular smartphone, which will allow users to swap out components and essentially design their own phones. The phone will work in a similar manner to a desktop gaming PC, only it won't require any specialist knowledge to build and operate. In fact, it would appear Google has gone with an incredibly user friendly design that allows owners to simply slot components into the devices external shell as easily as they would a replacement battery or memory card in a conventional smartphone.

February: Love the World by Loving Yourself

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The Wankband (yes, you read that right) from the smut peddlers at Pornhub was the kind of device that would have once been the stuff of parody. Indeed, even the official commercial seemed like a particularly lewd Fast Show sketch. The device was in actuality, little more than a simple wrist strap that works using a small inner valve that sends a small weight up and down with every stroke (chuckle). The movement of this weight generates a small amount of power, which is fed through a USB port into any device the wearer fancies. From smartphones and tablets, to laptops, portable games consoles and more! In fact, why not hook it up to your girlfriends USB rechargeable vibrator? Talk about mutual masturbation. Essentially it works in the same manner as a shake to charge watch or flashlight, only with a much dirtier angle, and it gave us all a right chuckle when it was unveiled back in February.

February: Can VR help your mental health?

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Thanks to companies such as the Manchester-based Corporation Pop consultancy, young people of the near future suffering through the grim uncertainty of mental illness could be more well equipped to combat it. “ProReal” is a piece of 3D virtual reality software in which players create avatars they can use in order to visualise their real-life relationships. This affords them a safe, identifiable environment in which to identify and work through problems they might have in reality, and then take what they've learned and apply it to their actual lives.

March: A Symphony of one for everyone

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Only four days after it was launched, the Kickstarter page for the Artiphon INSTRUMENT 1 noted that the goal of $75,000 had already been reached. By any stretch of the imagination this is a monumental achievement, but considering the sheer versatility of the device, it's not exactly surprising. This is a potential game-changer we're looking at here. The INSTRUMENT 1 is aptly named, as it essentially gives the player access to hundreds of instruments on one device. Of course, there are hundreds, nay thousands of devices that do this already thanks to the wonders of MIDI, but what makes this wonderful instrument so unique is not what you play, but how you play it.

April: How to control a plane with your mind

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A remarkable experience from Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam and Tellart answered the immortal question; “What if you could actually fly to your dream travel destination using only the power of your brain?” It's called the “Imagination Machine,” and was first unveiled at a crowded mall in Moscow to advertise S7 Airlines, one of the biggest carriers in the country. The unique installation used advanced EEG technology to effectively turn a user's brain into a controller, and was created as part of the Russian airline's “Fly to any place you can imagine” campaign. The integrated campaign aimed to turn a new generation of Russians into globe trotters, and underlined the huge reach of the airline, which flies to over 900 destinations worldwide.

July: One man's trash is another man's Wi-Fi

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A Massachusetts-based waste management company called Bigbelly struck upon the genius idea of turning the trash and recycling bins of New York city into wireless hotspots back in July. The project kicked off in downtown Manhattan, where almost 200 of the “Smart Bins” were installed, each of which also contained a chip that detected when the bin was full, allowing bin men to make a pick-up when and where they were needed most. As useful as the technology was, however, the general consensus is that there was still more to be done with these high-tech bins.

August: See the first person riding the Lexus Hoverboard

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After months of teasing (and months before the unofficial Back to the Future Day), the Lexus Hoverboard, which the company had been working on alongside creative agency CHI&Partners as part of their “Amazing in Motion” campaign, was finally unveiled to the public back in August, and it looked unbelievable. After a teaser campaign that generated thousands of pieces of international press coverage (we ourselves covered the campaign towards the start of the year in fact) and sparked a worldwide debate on social media, Lexus finally released the amazing SLIDE; a film featuring the real, rideable Lexus branded hoverboard!

August: Experience a music festival as the Festival Buddy Robot

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The Sziget Festival in Hungary developed the Festival Buddy this year, which was a charming robot that would appear to offer a far more involving “At Home” music festival experience than the lacklustre red button services offered by the BBC. Developed by the festival's sponsor's Telekom and their creative agency DDB Budapest as part of the brand’s “We Bring Everyone to the Festival” campaign, the Festival Buddy is a device that allowed people from all over the world to attend the Sziget Festival in a ground breaking new way. The buddies are three tele-presence bots that effectively let users remotely visit the festival, allowing them to not only watch and listen to what’s going on, but to actually interact with what's around them.

September: The Evolution of Google

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Less than a month after a major restructuring that saw the larger Google holding company change its name from Google Inc. to Alphabet, the search engine moved the goalposts yet again by changing their ubiquitous typeface for the 5th time since 1998. The new, slightly more subtle logo uses the same four colour scheme the company has utilised since the late 90’s, but there’s a distinctly more cartoony look to this latest iteration, which some might have reasonably presumed was part of a conscious move to make the brand more accessible to a younger audience.

November: Exhibition blurs the line between Football games and reality

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“Pitch to Pixel: The World of Football Gaming,” has been designed to blur the line between computer games and reality, which is surely a distressing prospect for anyone who lost several years of their life to the likes of Championship Manager. The London exhibition is a fully immersive experience, which also pays visual homage to around 40 years of football gaming. Instruct Studio led the design of the exhibition, which incorporates artwork, gaming paraphernalia, unique gaming experiences and playable arcade cabinets.

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