The next decade in tech: Podcast

LOS ANGELES — What will technology be like over the next 10 years?

Fans of #TalkingTech know we’ve been weighing in recently about our July tenth anniversary---we’ve been looking back at some of the high-points in tech since 2006--most notably, smartphones, social media and life-changing apps.

This weekend, let's look forward: What can we expect to wow us in the next decade? Will driverless cars, home automation and virtual reality without big dumb goggles be a way of life in 2026? Will we all be planning on trips to Mars and beyond?

On the extended, weekend edition of the #TalkingTech podcast, we dived into those subjects, looked at the future of dating and keeping your digital lives more secure. 

Our guests this week: Evan Birenbaum, the co-founder of Chai Energy, which aggregates energy data to homeowners and encourages them to save energy; Andy Ruff, vice-president of product for mobile security company Location Labs by AVG and Dawoon Kang, a co-founder of mobile dating app Coffee Meets Bagel.

Among our topics:

— Driverless cars. Nissan says they’ll have a model out by 2020. Really, that soon? After the recent death in a semi-automatic driving Tesla, will we really start to see these cars in just four years or later?

— Virtual reality. Bringing 360 degree wow to headsets is just taking off. Is this a fad, or something that will be mass market in five to 10 years?

— Smartphones. Will they still exist?

On the show, Ruff revealed the results of Location Labs latest survey about Android security. Guess which app is the biggest battery hog? Tune in to hear the answer. 

Wang reveals the latest twist in her dating app--letting women be in more control with the #LadiesChoice feature, and she talks about the changes augmented reality could bring to the dating world. The new advent of social media Augmented reality games like Pokemon Go introduce a new layer to people’s ability to interact in the real world and find love--not just crazy Pokemon characters inhabiting our worlds.

Follow USA TODAY tech columnist and #TalkingTech host Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham, and listen to the daily podcast on Stitcher and iTunes.