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Greatest Inventions of the Past Decade
A look back at the innovations that defined the 2010s, from iPads to self-driving cars.
When the 2010s began, smartphones were in their infancy, artificial intelligence had few consumer-facing applications, and self-driving cars were a sci-fi fantasy. A lot has changed. Here's a look back at some of the best and most important inventions of the decade.
Google Assistant
Unlike the early iterations of A.I. that could, say, identify faces in photos or beat you in chess but not do much else, Google Assistant is perhaps the closest thing yet to what's known as general artificial intelligence. The Assistant, installed on the Google Home smart speaker, Google phones, and other devices, converses with people primarily by voice. At your command, it can compose messages, make calendar reminders, or scan the internet for answers to questions, sometimes with a dose of humor, and can instantly translate spoken words into 27 different languages. When it comes to accurately understanding what you want, it's leaving Siri and Alexa in its dust.
SpaceX's Reusable Rocket
Say what you will about Elon Musk, his ideas are visionary, and when he executes, his inventions can be world-changing. SpaceX spent much of the decade developing its reusable rocket system. In December 2015, when its Falcon 9 rocket launched, and delivered a payload into orbit, and then landed at Cape Canaveral, it ushered in a new era of space travel. A Falcon 9 launch costs about $62 million, or $2,500 per pound of cargo - one-quarter of what it cost a decade ago, which has helped make space accessible to startups. And it could also come in handy if, you know, we ever need to abandon Earth entirely and move civilization to Mars.
PAGE 20 INSIDE ACCESS | AUGUST 2020 2ND EDITION