Stem in Current Events Information Technology

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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