The Olympics have officially concluded. For many, it was the ultimate display of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. For others, it's a way to boast about their country's medal count. If you're curious, here are the final medal standings.
One of the most captivating moments occurred in the men's 100-meter sprint. It made me reflect on how years of preparation can come down to a few thousandths of a second determining the difference between Gold, Silver, and Bronze — or virtual irrelevance.
Last week, Noah Lyles broke a 20-year U.S. drought in the men's 100m final, winning gold with a 9.784 time.
Lyles came into the race ranked No. 1 in the world, but he had to run his fastest time ever to win the Olympic gold medal, and he did so by the slimmest of margins — 0.005 seconds.
In that race, Lyles achieved an average speed of 25.7 mph, and his max speed hit 27.84 mph.
Surprisingly, Lyles didn't lead the race until the final and most important moment. Many thought that Jamaica's Kishane Thompson had the gold ... but advanced technology showed that Lyles surged ahead in the final stretch, edging Thompson out by a split second to claim victory. Here is the photo finish.
via ESPN
It took over half a minute (much longer than the race itself) for the judges to announce the winner - it was that close.
As a tech nerd, what I found most interesting about the win was the camera used to certify the win.
Omega, which has been the official Olympics timekeeper for decades, released a new camera that shoots 40,000 frames per second, aimed directly at the finish line.
It reminded me of the facial recognition technology NFL teams like the Dallas Cowboys use to track - theoretically - every person who steps into a stadium. The cameras are so good that when a crime is committed, they can completely track the perpetrator as they travel throughout the stadium. The Cowboys' security office boasts that their camera system surpasses even the ones used by Las Vegas casinos to catch cheaters at the gaming tables. However, it seems like Omega has taken things to a whole new level at the Olympics with its advanced camera technology this year.
Many think the 200m race is Lyles' specialty. His personal best of 19.31 seconds in the 200m is the American record, making him the third fastest in the event.
Unfortunately, Lyles couldn't grasp gold in the 200. He got Bronze instead. However, after the race, he revealed that he ran the race with COVID ... which might explain his drop in performance. Still, it stands as a testament of will to me.
As a side note, while the International Olympic Committee does not pay athletes for winning at the Olympics, many countries do!
via Voronai
While the U.S. isn't near the top of the list - American athletes who get gold bring home $37,500. A silver nets you $22,500, and a bronze nets you $15,000.
Of course, these medals can also lead to other compensation and endorsements - but the payout table was still interesting.
The achievements of athletes like Noah Lyles create national pride and open doors to numerous opportunities and rewards.
Meanwhile, the integration of advanced technology in the Olympics highlights the importance of innovation in sports. As we celebrate these victories, we also look forward to the future advancements that will continue to shape the world of athletics and the world itself.
The Most Hyped Technologies of the 00s
The Gartner Group’s Hype Cycle research provides the raw material for some of my favorite posts every year.
It is a graphical and conceptual presentation used to represent the maturity, adoption, and social application of popular technologies.
Here is a link to a Gartner research note on understanding Hype Cycles.
I’ve found that they are an excellent source of well-researched tech and business analysis. As another example, here is a video of their Top Ten Tech Trends for 2024.
via YouTube
Humans are famously bad at predicting the future of technologies. We tend to overestimate technology’s abilities in the near term and massively underestimate what it can do in the long term.
The shape of that curve has come to be known as the Gartner Hype Cycle, and the five stages of that curve are important for any entrepreneur or investor to understand.
In general, as technology advances, it is human nature to get excited about the possibilities and disappointed when those expectations aren’t met.
At its core, the Hype Cycle tells us where we are in the product’s timeline and how long it will likely take the technology to hit maturity. It attempts to tell us which technologies will survive the hype and have the potential to become a part of our daily lives.
Gartner’s Hype Cycle Report is a considered analysis of market excitement, maturity, and the benefit of various technologies. It aggregates data and distills more than 2,000 technologies into a succinct and contextually understandable snapshot of where various emerging technologies sit in their hype cycle.
Here are the five regions of Gartner’s Hype Cycle framework:
Understanding this hype cycle framework enables you to ask important questions like “How will these technologies impact my business?” and “Which technologies can I trust to stay relevant in 5 years?”
If you are curious, here is Perplexity’s explanation of Gartner’s Hype Cycle and related research.
Another methodology uses frequency analysis to identify the “most hyped” concepts and technologies.
VisualCapitalist recently put together an infographic highlighting the most hyped technologies of each year. They call it the “Peak of Inflated Expectations”.
(Click To See Full Infographic) via VisualCapitalist
Here’s a Summary of the most hyped technologies, by year, since 2000.
*Missing from the infographic, but updated by Gartner
As we take our smartphones for granted, it’s hard to imagine Bluetooth, wireless web, or e-book readers as emerging technologies at this point - but at one point in time, the lightbulb was an emerging technology.
It’s also interesting to look at which technologies peaked in a hype cycle ... and which now popular technologies no longer appear on this list. For example, despite Virtual Reality being around since the 80s, I still expected to see it on this list.
Cryptocurrencies, “smart homes”, and several older examples are in a recession - but that doesn’t mean they won’t have resurgences.
As a reminder, the hype cycle and the innovation adoption cycle are often on very different time scales. It’s very possible that technologies from the early 2000s may still have their heyday.
What are you surprised wasn’t on the list? And, what do you think is about to get added?
We live in interesting and exciting times!
Posted at 09:28 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Gadgets, Ideas, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Science, Trading, Trading Tools, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
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