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S T E M I N C U R R E N T E V E N T S
meet the needs of individuals and businesses. Once scientists
have conceived and tested a scientific breakthrough, creators
in technology fields take those proven principles and create
products for the
end user
that can evolve with the times.
Smartphone: 3D Evolution
The smartphone has come a longway from2007,when Steve Jobs
of the Apple Corporation introduced the iPhone and promised,
“This will change everything.”According to
The Economist
maga-
zine,more than 80 percent of the adultAmerican population will
own a smartphone by 2020. Part of the reason for this growth has
been the evolution of the smartphone into amultifunction device.
While the fundamental function of the smartphone still relies
on radio technology, the iPhone kick-started the transformation
by presenting an easy-to-use, attractive interface that combined
three devices into one—an Internet connectivity device, a music
player with touchscreen controls, and a user-friendly mobile
phone. The adoption of the smartphone as the technological
device of choice had reached the point that, as of 2015, more
people searched for information using Google on a smartphone
than on a computer, and more people shopped onAmazon using
their devices as well.
Unbeknownst to many users, the average smartphone is already
chock-full of devices and sensors that are paving the way for
future innovations. For example, did you realize that your smart-
phone already likely has a
gyroscope
, an
accelerometer
, and
a
magnetometer
? These features allow your phone to know its
orientation andmovement.Howabout pressure, temperature,and