Expansion of London's Heathrow Airport

For many years, Heathrow Airport in London held the title of world's busiest airport when measured by international passenger traffic, as well as the busiest in Europe by overall passenger traffic. By the early 2010s, it was handling 70 million passenger journeys per year (though Dubai International would eventually overtake it) and forecast to reach 85 million by 2030. As the airport began to reach 100% capacity at peak times, concerns were raised about overcrowding and the need for expansion. Globally, air traffic in general was growing rapidly – due in large part to booming demand from the emerging markets of the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions – and the number of planes in service was projected to double between 2015 and 2035.

In 2009, the UK's Labour government announced that it would support the expansion of Heathrow and encouraged the airport operator (BAA) to apply for planning permission. However, these plans were cancelled the following year by the new coalition government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Following several more years of planning and reviews, the Airport Commission recommended a third runway and sixth terminal. A full report was finally published in 2015 that confirmed a new expansion to the northwest as the chosen proposal. After further revisions, and with estimated costs of £14.3bn (funded privately), this northwest runway and terminal plan was approved by the government in 2018.

The new infrastructure would increase Heathrow's capacity from 85 million to 130 million passengers annually. It was predicted to create 180,000 new jobs and generate £200bn in total economic benefits by 2050. Up to 40 new long-haul routes would become available. In addition to the airport itself, a number of access improvements were planned – such as the 118 km (73 mile) Cross rail line running all the way from east to west London, along with a refurbished Piccadilly line providing more spacious, air-cooled trains at higher frequencies than before.

The International Linear Collider is completed

This project is the culmination of more than 25 years of concerted international efforts, with funding and research from Europe, Asia and the Americas. Over 300 universities and laboratories have taken part. It originated as a series of three separate collider proposals – the Next Linear Collider (NLC), the Global Linear Collider (GLC) and the tera_electron_volt Energy Superconducting Linear Accelerator (TESLA) – all of which were combined into the International Linear Collider (ILC).

Located in Europe, the ILC is the successor to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), building upon the work already done by that machine. Although its collisions are less powerful, it offers far more precise measurements. It also gives off less electromagnetic radiation. The ILC consists of two opposite-facing linear accelerators, together stretching 31 km (19.3 miles), that hurl particles and anti-particles towards each other at close to the speed of light.* Along with the linear accelerators, the facility contains two dampening rings, with a circumference of 6.7 km (4.2 miles). Energy levels of the collisions are initially 500 billion-electron-volts (GeV), but are soon upgraded to a trillion-electron-volts (TeV).

The extreme precision and exact recordings offered by the ILC help to reveal some of the deepest mysteries of the universe. Some experiments are concerned with extra-dimensional physics and super symmetric particles, while others provide research into dark matter.* Originally planned for completion in 2019, the ILC faced considerable delays due to funding, technical issues and international agreements. It is finally ready by 2026.

Security will move upstream

"Everybody is waking up to the fact that data security is a critical problem that needs to be addressed earlier in the development process. This is true not only for customers whose data is on the line, but also for business leaders and software developers who are charged with protecting it. Today, these parties are trying to understand how they can incorporate security into their DevOps process.

Upstream improves the safety and security of connected vehicles and services built around them by monitoring business-critical events and identifying cyber threats in real-time via a centralized cloud-based analysis of multiple automotive data feeds, including telematics and mobile applications.

In 2019, Businesses will implement what they have learned. Tech leaders will educate developers on how to avoid errors like coding security holes into their apps. Additionally, developers will increasingly add security detection features at the code level. Not only will code be better protected against intruders; it will watch out for anomalous activity as well."

Omni-Directional Treadmills

An omnidirectional treadmill (ODT) is a mechanical device, similar to a typical treadmill, that allows a person to perform locomotive motion in any direction, allowing for 360 degrees of movement. The ability to move in any direction is how these treadmills differ from their basic counterparts (that permit only unidirectional locomotion). Omnidirectional treadmills are employed in immersive virtual environment implementations to allow unencumbered movement within the virtual space.

This VR technology was made similarly as the regular treadmill and can point you in any direction. You are not limited to only a few movements. Picture this, you have played the Star Wars game a couple of time but wish to walk in the deck or imagine yourself walking around the street in GTA, with AXON Exo Suit, this is possible. Additional features like climbing the stair and playing sports are also likely.

 In addition, the harness may provide lifting force to simulate free-body flight. And the well-defined user space makes interaction with outside haptic devices feasible. Omnidirectional treadmills have the potential to also be used in film, such as in conjunction with a green screen. This type of application would allow limitless movement by the actors.

Industry consolidation will continue in cybersecurity

Following the recent IBM and Red Hat deal that just took place and what it meant for open source, the trend of industry consolidation will continue in cybersecurity. Next year, smaller security players will be snapped up for a variety of reasons. For talent, for a company's underlying technology, to boost sagging top lines of legacy security or networking vendors trying to modernize themselves, etc.

 In addition, some traditional large public security vendors have stagnated due to their legacy on-premise box-oriented architectures and are ripe for private equity firms gobbling them up, being split up (especially those with consumer and enterprise businesses), or a combination of both. It especially affects businesses that depend on computerized technology to conduct their daily business.

 So, the investing in cyber security to protect your business and data from malicious cyber-criminals and hackers isn't just desirable. It's absolutely essential to maximize resistance against threats. Cyber security companies or IT security consulting firms manage IT security services such as firewalls, intrusion prevention, security threat analysis, proactive security vulnerability and penetration testing and incident preparation and response, which includes IT forensics.

Maps become Personal

A personal map is a mind map that emphasizes people's information, like home, education, work, hobbies, family, friends, values, goals. In 2019, maps will begin to become a layer on which we do everything from communicate to compile data. For most, maps are a feature of a smartphone.By creating a personal map of a colleague, you make an effort to better understand that person. 

People should get closer to the work of others in order to better understand what is going on. They can do this by moving their feet, moving their desk, or moving their microphone. Decreasing the distance between yourself and others helps increase communication and creativity. A great exercise for a better understanding of people is to capture what you know about them in personal maps.

A lot of the time we work next to each other but don’t really know each other. Learning a bit about someone’s life history and even private life can go a long way in creating empathy. Personal Maps branch off from the tradition of Mind Maps to tell your own story. Mind mapping is a simple but powerful technique that allows anyone who can hold a pen to visualize the relationships between concepts.

Amazon will move into Hospitality

“In the past year, Amazon has entered new spaces like grocery and health care, has hinted at venturing into banking, and is even selling live Christmas trees — so what’s next? If you look at consumer share-of-wallet as an indicator, one other area that’s ripe for Amazon expansion is hospitality. They’ve just started dipping their toes into local services like house cleaning and handymen. I see great potential value for Amazon to venture into travel and restaurants and leverage its enormous customer base to capture a share of the hospitality spend in 2019.”

Alexa for Hospitality integrates seamlessly with your existing amenities and services, to become your guests’ virtual concierge. Alexa simplifies tasks for guests like playing music, ordering towels, controlling in-room temperature or lighting, finding local restaurants and attractions, calling, and even checking out. Alexa makes delivering a great customer experience simple.  Excited to announce Alexa for Hospitality, a new experience offered by invitation to hoteliers that brings the simplicity and convenience of Alexa to hotels, vacation rentals, and other hospitality locations. This introduces new opportunities for you to build skills that help guests enjoy their stay even more.

             For hotels, Alexa for Hospitality helps deepen guest engagement through seamless voice-first experiences that offer new ways for guests to access services and amenities during their stay. Hospitality providers can request an invitation to Alexa for Hospitality beginning today. 

London's "Stratford City" is fully built

              Stratford is a metropolitan district in the London Borough of Newham in Greater London, England. It is 6 miles (10 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross and is in East London. Stratford is part of the Lower Lea Valley and includes the localities of Maryland, East Village and Stratford City.

              Then at the end of 2008 Westfield opened its White City development in west London. The centre, which dominates Shepherd's Bush, is Europe's largest urban mall until Stratford opens. Miller says that "nothing of any significance" is in the process of being built after Stratford. Westfield Stratford City is a shopping centre in Stratford, London, which opened on 13 September 2011.

              Westfield London is now the largest shopping centre in Europe with the opening of a £600m extension. The 740,000sq-foot expansion of White City, west London, will increase the overall size of the centre to 2.6 million square foot to overtake Aviapark in Moscow and the Westgate shopping city in Zagreb, Croatia.

China's waste-to-energy plan

             The Chinese city of Shenzhen plans to tackle its serious waste problem by burning 5,000 tonnes of it a day in what will become the largest waste-to-energy plant in the world. Cities have to move towards more recycling and reducing their waste for sure - and of course developing more sources of renewable energy. Expected to be up and running by 2020, the plant is less about generating electricity and more about finding a solution to the existing trash problem - the energy is just a handy bonus.

                The According to Adele Peters at Fast Company, the new incinerator is one of 300 waste-to-energy plans that the Chinese government plans on building over the next one year. What Hardie is referring to there is the fact that the roof of the massive plant - which will stretch about 1.6 km long (1 mile) - will be topped with around 44,000 square metres of solar panels. 

               The idea is that the plant won’t just be about getting rid of trash, it will be providing clean and sustainable electricity to the surrounding city, and inviting members of the public to visit the facility and see it in action.Fast Company points out that by 2020 - the year the plant is expected to be operational - San Francisco plans on being a zero-waste city through some serious composting and recycling efforts. If burning waste is our reality today, let’s hope no waste at all will be our future.

China's "Great City" is fully built

               The architects behind the Kingdom Tower -- planned to be the world's first building to reach 1km in height -- have been chosen to build a completely new suburban city from scratch on the outskirts of Chengdu in southwest China. The "Great City" is effectively an entirely new municipality, designed as one whole instead of the chaotic and environmentally inefficient alternative of urban sprawl. The designers -- Adrian Smith +  Gordin Gill Architecture, based in Chicago -- have marked out a 1.3km2 circle surrounded by 1.9km2 of farmland and parks, where residents won't need cars because everything is within a 15-minute walk of the city centre.

         If the model is successful, the Great City will be copied on the edges of China's other megalopolises and their populations continue to boom -- putting pressure on housing, infrastructure and the environment. The 80,000 people expected to live in the Great City would give it a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometre. In London, the most densely populated boroughs in the inner city have a density of around 10,000 people per square kilometre.

           The entire Great City complex -- urban circle and surrounding open park/farmland -- is roughly the same size as Hampsted Heath.The Great City will offer an inner-city experience for residents on the edge of an existing conurbation, rather than something semi-rural that we might recognise -- a good thing, too, as postwar suburban sprawl is a hugely inefficient way of living.