Happy New Year 2025!

So, Back to the Future 2 lied to us. We have no hoverboards, flying cars, self-drying clothes, sneakers that lace-up by themselves, oh, or time machines. Considering the movie was supposed to take place in 2015, you may think our tech world is a disappointment. Not so. They did get SOME things right. Doc Brown had his tablet and smart watch. Marty had his VR glasses to watch tv, and video calls were a thing. Let’s not forget the drones. Here’s some other tech that’s both futuristic and cool and here RIGHT NOW!

A Break from Propane

You may be asking yourself, “What does any of this have to do with propane?” Absolutely nothing. To be honest, I just wanted to write about something different. For those of you yearning for propane stuff, here you go…we have a great app for iOS and Android and we offer free tank monitoring. Propane tech covered. Now, on to the fun stuff.

Smart Fridges: Your New Best Friend

So, this is an example of tech going too far. In 2025, you open your fridge, and instead of just looking at some leftover pizza, expired yogurt, and a jar of something that doesn’t even look like food anymore, you’re greeted by a soothing voice…it’s your fridge. “I noticed you’re out of soda. Also, you’ve been eating a lot of lunch meat lately. Perhaps you should pick up some salad on your next trip to the grocery store.” Tech is cool and can be fun, but when your fridge tries to guilt-trip you into eating healthy, maybe a good old-fashioned “dumb” fridge is the way to go. At least it won’t get on you about not working out enough. That’s what your smart watch is for.

Smart Watches: Giving Your Self-Esteem a Workout

We all knew the future of fitness was going to be high-tech. Well, the future is now. They notify you when you don’t walk enough. They send you a report listing all the times you’ve failed. Your AI instructor doesn’t like the way you’re doing crunches and lets you know about it. Between your fridge telling you WHAT to eat and your watch telling you WHEN to eat, who’s in control of your life? At least these nagging pieces of tech are doing their best to help you stay healthy. Plus, making a phone call on your watch like you’re an advanced alien entity is super cool. I guess the watches can stay.

Self-Driving Cars: Sit Back and Relax

Never before has relaxing been so stressful. We’re not there yet, but eventually, we’ll be able to sit back, read a book (what is this “book” of which you speak?), even take a nap while driving. But for now, we need to reassure the car every few minutes that we’re paying attention and are in control. And that’s a good thing. If I accidentally hit the wrong combination of keys on my keyboard, that’s it! My computer refuses to work and I have to restart it. I’d prefer that didn’t happen to my self-driving car when we’re zipping around at 80 mph (I mean 55 mph, yeah 55). They’ll work out the kinks, but until then, I’m going to white-knuckle my way through traffic until my car can prove its smarter than me. Someday, our grand kids will laugh when we tell them how we used to drive our own cars, choose our own meals, and decided how and when we wanted to exercise. Spoiled little brats. Stop making fun of grandpa.

Artificial Intelligence: Our New Reality

Early AI, machine learning, deep learning, all progressing to where we are today. Created to make our lives easier and solve problems faster, AI is a harmless, amazing tool (unless you believe every science fiction movie ever). We’ve made great advancements in a very short time, but it’s still like a toddler with an encyclopedic knowledge of everything; throwing tantrums and answering questions IT wants to answer. Most of us interact with AI every day without even thinking about it. “Hey Siri, set a reminder to pick up milk when I go home at 5.” “Okay, done. Here is a 5-minute video about cows and where they live”. We’re at a point now where sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It can write emails for you, create art, write music…but it’s not consistent and, oftentimes, just plain wrong. Look for major advancements in 2025. In the new year, we’ll see AI grow from toddler to emotional teenager. That’s not scary at all…(ominous music plays)

Enjoy the New Year

I hope you enjoyed this silly, final blog of the year. As we say goodbye to 2024, I hope you have a happy and prosperous 2025! That is, until Skynet takes over and our new robot overlords put an end to happiness and prosperity. Even then, Keystone will be there to deliver your propane. Propane? What? Oh, wait a minute…you forgot where you were for a few minutes, didn’t you? Well, you’re on a propane website and, despite all evidence to the contrary, this is a propane blog.

Thank You!

In all seriousness and with all sincerity, we’d like to convey our deepest gratitude for your trust and loyalty throughout the years. You have helped make Keystone Propane what it is and we truly value our relationships with our customers. Your continued support helps motivate our team to do more…to be better. We receive so many reviews and emails thanking us for all the things we do for you. Well, relationships are a two-way street and we’d like to express how much we appreciate all you do for us. Rest assured, just as in the past, your safety and satisfaction will continue to be our top priorities. Thank you for making 2024 a great year and we look forward to serving you in 2025!