Hmmm.. well so much could possibly happen, most likely stuff that no one even imagined might happen. But I do think some thing will either be or have been and gone namely:

Traditional physical keyboards/mouse will go and be replaced by some electronic touch variant.


TV wise, HD will be "the norm", as in all broadcasts will be what is currently considered HD and everyone will have HD screens (of some form - possiblly multiple forms), in their homes. There will be a new HD format on the horizon. IPTV will be the norm, and the majority of, if not all, content will be "on demand" and charged as such.

Access to the internet will be faster from any fixed location, (FTTC will be in most areas and affordable by then), but I don't see Mobile internet access changing much in terms of speed, (unless 4G becomes a reality). The pricing structure of internet access is very likely to move from fixed ongoing charges to data usage charges, with most people having 50-100mb of bandwidth available but being charged on the basis of how much data they down/up loaded. Either that or on a fixed committed rate with 95% percentile charging of bandwidth use above that rate, much like a lot of current corporate internet access is paid for at the moment.

Cars will have a lot more automation.

Computers will be faster, smaller, quieter than now, (so what's new? :shrug.

Mobile devices will continually broadcast your status and location, (a la "unified communications"), to everybody and you'll have no choice about it. This will be due to having a permanently connected data service.

Edited to add - Biotechnology will have advanced and it will be possible to have certain parts of our bodies replaced by cyber parts if they are damaged.

Genetic research will have developed to the point where certain organs can be replaced by genetically regrown ones from your own stem cells. (Only for the uber rich however).

Quote from rich uk :

Binary solo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64

very appropriate indeed

Optical Disc research might end. I read this off somewhere that the Blu Ray is probably the last type of optical disc to be made.

Horses will displace cars

Quote from Nitrous13270 :

Optical Disc research might end. I read this off somewhere that the Blu Ray is probably the last type of optical disc to be made.

I hope so. That's what they're doing with the hard drives right now. Optical devices would be the last step in order to have all the hardware without mechanical parts

At the rate Boris is being stupid with his electric car crap (although he still is a LAD), most of the roads in England (or at least the South East) will be filled with stupid electric cars that don't solve the problem of greenhouse gas emissions.

women who obey, without punishment

Quote from Bob Smith :

Smaller, much more energy efficient, simpler to use, infuriatingly automatic, and damn complicated under the skin.

No no - he said "technology", not "girls".

Quote from Jordan2007 :

England would have been overran by Illegal Immigrants And there will be a massive war between religions.

Wait wait, Didn't this already happen?

Super Hi-Vision is already the next step from HDTV - and it IS in development. It has a resolution of 7680x4320.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Hi-Vision

Top Gear will start dropping electric keyboards on Morris Marinas.
Commercial jet planes will have a range long enough to do a lap around the world.
Some mobile phones will be able to make phone calls (got this one from a portuguese comedian ).

We will be driving hydrogen fuel cell cars, our PC's will run sixteen core cpu's & TV's will be holographic 3D or something like that.

Ryanair will be doing £30 space flights, but that will cover only one way without reentry and the oxygen supply will be an extra £45.

We'll have powerful enough computers to create exact simulations of human life on earth, and thus, drastically reducing the odds of us actually being real ourselves.

We'll all be speaking that language they use in The Sims

Quote from Intrepid :

We'll have powerful enough computers to create exact simulations of human life on earth, and thus, drastically reducing the odds of us actually being real ourselves.

To be fair, there's nothing really stopping us all from being an incredibly sophisticated simulation being run by some sufficiently advanced entity.

All it needs is for someone to hit the 'off' button....

..or indeed, maybe they have many times before, but it can save the state of the simulation. Maybe that last microsecond of our universe's existence was actually the simulation being paused for a few 'years'.

It *probably* isn't, but my point is that there's absolutely no way to prove it's not.

Your all a figment of my imagination anyway. when i turn my back none of you exist

Quote from Crashgate3 :

It *probably* isn't, but my point is that there's absolutely no way to prove it's not.

Well, if you believe that one day we could build a simulator powerful to simulate human life on earth then it's a near certainty we are a computer simulation ourselves

If all the people in the world are a figment of my imagination then I must be having a nightmare.

Our brains are dark places indeed. Think what evil things everyones brain has thaught up.

Also whoever said "wireless power" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

It will be smaller, faster, less expensive and more useless and annoying.

Most accurate response so far if the last decades are anything to go by.

Speculate all you want folks. Back in the 80's, they told us we'd all be in flying cars by the year 2000.

Still waiting for my flying car....

Hydrogen cell powered cars will start to become mainstream, but petrol or diesel / electric hybrids will be the norm as they will have phenomenal power output from relatively small turbocharged engines.

Continued development in run flat technology will see the end of the pneumatic tyre.

Home networks will routinely include TV, Stereos, Fridges, Central Heating (or AC), lights, cars etc

Monday will become "Work From Home" day for office workers due to technology and savings on office running costs.

SKY TV will be Pay On Demand rather than subscription, so you pay 20p to watch Ross Kemp On Gangs for example but don't have a monthly fixed fee.

Computing power will increase via more cores - maybe 50 in ten years.

Graphics will be a diminishing return in games as they can't continue to improve at current rates. Other senses will be exploited - for example, consoles and PCs will have "smell cards" so you will smell the battlefield when playing Call Of Duty 12.

Bill Kenwrights "24/7" search for new investment will continue at Everton.

(In 20 years, stimulating the other 4-19 senses - depending on how you classify a sense - will be done via direct connection to your nervous system. The brain / tech interface will also allow input so when they make the game of the film "Firefox" you will have to learn to think in Russian to fire the weapons and G-Force will be simulated via electronic interface. You might even be able to get Vietnam flashbacks beamed into your head)

Quote from mrodgers :

Speculate all you want folks. Back in the 80's, they told us we'd all be in flying cars by the year 2000.

Still waiting for my flying car....

what would you be willing to trade for the flying car?

Within 10 years, we will all have a holodeck (NCC-1701-D style, kthx) that can do anything, including interact flawlessly with LFS, and by that time there will no longer be any timeouts unless your internet connection gets physically cut.

You will be able to actually race a real feeling car in the holodeck in LFS, crash and be virtually injured but not really injured.

If you're an admin, you can sit in the posh control tower with full snack bar of properly edible food. Or you can be in the starter's stand working start, or you can be a pit marshal, or you can be a flag marshal round the track.

If you're a commentator, you can be in the commentary booth with full setup and doing epic commentary.

In the meanwhile, the world outside will be stuck in reality TV losing their minds, but we keep ours and end up taking over the world in about 15 years because we were immune to it in this virtual world.

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