At the end of the year, it is time to take stock. Here, in summary, are our favourites, what we think tech has done best in 2022. A list is not necessarily exhaustive, so do not hesitate, in the comments, to tell us about your most beautiful surprises.
Apple M1 Ultra, monster of power and stroke of genius
At the beginning of the year, Apple let go of the horses. To drive its all-new Mac Studio, the company is launching the M1 Ultra chip, a chip as powerful as it is ingenious. A huge SoC, containing no less than 114 billion transistors, with 20 CPU cores and 64 GPU cores, which provide its new fixed professional machine with exceptional performance. Above all, the M1 Ultra alone shows the talent of Apple’s engineers, who have impressed since the switch to ARM architecture. The M1 Ultra is indeed “nothing more” than two M1 Max assembled, but considered by the system as a single processor. But to achieve this tour de force, Apple had to develop a new technology that it called UltraFusion. A kind of silicon bridge, a connector that connects the two chips by more than 10,000 points and offers a gigantic bandwidth of 2.5 TB / s. A real technological tour de force… which also allows Apple to save money, since it can thus “recycle” chips that it has already developed to create others, even more powerful.
Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro: Google finally in the big leagues
The year was rich in new powerful and efficient smartphones… But it is undeniable that Google scored points with its new Pixel range, despite ever more efficient Chinese competitors. With the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, it polishes the copy of last year, which had marked the rebirth of a range that was vegetating a little.
Exceptional in photos, they also correct almost all the minor faults that weighed them down a little last year. But above all, they show all of Google’s know-how for the software: impeccable interface, flawless fluidity, and a host of small unique functions that make the smartphone even more practical on a daily basis. For example, the dictaphone which automatically transcribes what you record, an anti-blur function for photos animated by AI, or the provision of a free VPN. So many good ideas that make Pixels increasingly serious alternatives to iPhones.
Elden Ring, much more than the game of the year
We rarely talk about video games in our columns, but it is impossible not to mention here the phenomenon that has upset the video game year. Launched February 25, Elden Ring is a major success. By the end of September, FromSoftware’s game had sold 17.5 million copies! This magnificent open world which lets the player discover the story by himself, at his own pace, by guiding him only with small touches, upsets the codes, a bit like Zelda: Breath of the Wild before him. But beyond the game, it’s what happened all around him that proves his influence: an incredible triumph on Twitch, an overflowing literature around his lore and its mysterious quests… And even the debate surrounding its alleged difficulty. scoring, Elden Ring is the game that has been animating conversations this year, and will no doubt be animating them for a long time to come. A new pop culture icon!
ChatGPT, Dall-E: when AI creates for us
Image and text generators using artificial intelligence are not new… But it was in 2022 that the general public really started using them on a daily basis. Dall-E, but also Stable Diffusion, are now mature tools, open to everyone, which allow, from a few words, to generate an image from scratch, with impressive results. But at the end of the year, it is above all the ChatGPT service – resulting from research by the OpenAI company, like Dall-E – which has surprised all those who have tried it.
This service, currently free, is indeed able to “chat” with you in such a natural way that it is disturbing. It was quickly adopted for, pell-mell, creating presentations or cover letters, having complex concepts explained in a few words, and even… coding programs. Carried by an incredible buzz – it has exceeded one million users – ChatGPT could well prefigure the computing of tomorrow. Microsoft has understood this, and will integrate similar tools into its applications. As for Google, it panics a bit at the idea of seeing these new potential competitors emerge.
Matter, the future of the connected home is here
It was time. 2022 marked the great departure of Matter, this technology which will finally allow all connected objects to dialogue with each other. Matter is the result of an alliance that brings together all the big names in the sector, starting with the essentials Apple, Amazon and Google. They have all promised: their new home automation products will be compatible with this standard, which will greatly simplify our lives. No need for a “bridge” for your connected objects, and configuration in a few clicks from your Android or iOS smartphone. That’s all. The first compatible products have already been launched, others, already on the market, can be easily updated. Most Amazon Echo devices, for example, or even the Philips Hue bridge.
Ethereum is revolutionizing (and it’s good for the planet)
It has been a difficult year for cryptocurrencies… But we must salute the technical challenge that was taken up on September 15: the passage of Ethereum, the second most popular digital currency in the world, from “proof of work” to ” proof of stake”. Before this date, Ethereum indeed functioned much like Bitcoin. “Miners” used computer hardware (usually graphics cards) to validate transactions and obtain a reward in exchange. The problem is that this practice was extremely energy-intensive, since it required constantly running powerful machines. With the move to proof-of-stake (which basically consists of securing the network by committing its own cryptocurrency to it), Ethereum has suddenly reduced the energy consumption of the network by 99%! And that’s not all: the end of this practice also contributed to lowering the price of graphics cards, which were purchased in large numbers by miners. So much the better.
The beginning of the end for passwords
You’re probably like us: you hate passwords. Tired of typing them, tired of forgetting them, tired of having them stolen. Fortunately, this nightmare may soon be over. In May, Google, Apple and Microsoft agreed to make their respective ecosystems compatible with the new Multi-Device Fido standard. A new standard that should make life easier for us, and much more difficult for pirates.
With Multi-Device Fido, you will only need your smartphone to connect to your favorite sites, using a public/private key system that can be configured in just a few clicks. All you have to do is authenticate yourself on your phone to connect to compatible apps and services. All this is not quite finalized yet, but Apple has already made good progress and Google is testing its solution on Chrome and Android. Hooray!
