Tell anyone that you earn a living as a digital strategist and I can guarantee one of the first questions you’ll get is, “What’s going to be the next big thing after Facebook?”
I’ve tried every polite way I can to laugh it off, pointing out that if I knew I wouldn’t be working for a living, or that my crystal ball isn’t working. But now I have a better answer, holograms! Right there in your living room, talking with you just like Princess Lea in Star Wars. (“Help me Obi Wan Kenobi.”)
And if that doesn’t impress them I’ll have four more predictions, all thanks to the big heads at the IBM Research Labs. Buried in my holiday backlog of messages was a stunning list of five innovations IBM predicts will change the way we live, work and play over the next years.
Called appropriately, “Next Five in Five,” the report predicts:
- Real-time interactive holograms summoned from your computer, television or any mobile device.
- Batteries that last 10x as long as now, and some that recharge from breathing in air or static electricity.
- All of us will be citizen scientists, streaming a stunning amount of real-time data about our environment from devices we already carry around.
- Powerful computers feeding information to you to alleviate traffic jams and optimize your daily commute.
- All those data centers pumping out tons of heat will be put to work powering our cities.
Want more details, there’s fact sheets on all the predictions at the bottom of this page.
Sure, it’s all cool stuff to think about. But I dare you to stop your mind from wandering when you see the piece on holograms. Suddenly every sci-fi movie scene comes to mind. Video chats seem limiting. And the marketer in me is off the races with the possibilities.
True, none of this is ready for prime time, yet. But the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show starts later this week in Las Vegas. And suddenly big announcements about 3-D televisions and new tablet PCs just don’t seem like such a big deal.
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