Predictions are easy. Especially when they’re 10 years out and no one remembers you stuck your neck out back in 2009.
When I was kid, I was told that in the future, I’d have my own hovercraft. Traffic jams a thing of the past. They also told us that nuclear power generation would enable us to disconnect our electric meters, power would be so cheap. Boy, did those prognosticators get it wrong as I open my $400 monthly oil bill.
Even though tellers of future events are wrong most of the time, even Nostradamus gets it wrong, Webwordslinger reads the tea leaves and makes his utterly fearless predictions for what the web of our grandkids will look like.
Just look at that changes that have occurred in the 15 years since you became web smart.
What do you think the future holds for the web? We’d like to know, so please leave your opinions below. We’d love to hear from you.
1. In less than 10 years out, your TV and computer will blend seamlessly into one device. Watch TV on your computer. Click a link on the TV screen to get a sample of new Fab laundry detergent.
Further, we’ll see shows develop around viewer interactivity. No more reaching for the phone to try to get in your American Idol vote. Just click your fave and your done.
2. Miniaturization of computers will continue, especially as voice activation and recognition becomes more sophisticated. 10 years from now, you will use a device no bigger than the frame of a pair of eye glasses. Through voice commands (keyboards are sooo 2011) you’ll have complete access to your personal data and a web that’s in its fifth incarnation.
3. We’ll all be stars. Anybody with something to say will become a star when blogs, TV and solid information collide. You’ll be able to call up any number of thousands of video blogs on your TV set to learn everything from fly fishing to how to remove your own pancreas!
4. You’ll interact more with the TV and computer. See something you like, click your TV mouse and learn more from your drop-down, glasses sized computer – immediately. Consider how the transmission of information quickly will affect everything from your food choices to who you vote for.
Right now, TV and computers are taking baby steps toward integrating content from a variety of sources. Google, search engine par excellence, is now also a content provider with its acquisition of You Tube. And Microsoft is chasing Yahoo, threatening a hostile takeover. The reason?
Because these companies see the future and it doesn’t really involve them to the degree they’d prefer. Want to send an email to a friend? No need to log on. Grab the TV keyboard and send it via digital to your friend who will be able to access the text on his TV, eye-glass computer, ear PDA or text via cell phone.
Integration of technologies is a certainty for the future because there’s money to be made. Lots and lots of it and every content producer (TV, movies, newspapers, blogs, any form of content) will be under siege to produce more, better, faster.
5. Accessibility will increase. We’ve mentioned voice commands, but eyeball scanning will also be in place. Just look at the link for 2 seconds and you’re there. Think it. You’re there. This technology is already available in our sophisticated war machinery. It’s only a matter of time before it trickles down to the consumer level – like Velcro did.
6. Functionality skyrockets. We’re toddlers trying to synch up different platforms, languages, protocols and other digital details. But these are stumbling blocks, not brick walls.
We’ve seen huge growth in digital functionality in the past few years. Order your pizza on line, using your cell. And, if your cell is equipped with GPS, it’ll tell you how to get to the pizza place.
Utility and functionality will make us more productive. Also more reliant on digital communications.
7. In a digital world, an electromagnetic pulse knocks out the web. The web is a grid, and like dominoes, and EMP, properly placed could throw us all off line for months. Hey, welcome to the ‘70s – again.
So we can expect to see the web a more secure bastion – a necessary means of commerce. Just think about it – how would your business and your life be if the web disappeared?
More secure walls and rebounders are being developed (we ain’t there yet, folks) to offset the effects of a terrorist EMP.
And lets’ not forget hackers who will have many more access points to a site and to your information. These black hats aren’t going to mosey out of town. In fact, hacker tactics grow more sophisticated (read lethal) everyday. So, in 10 years, we’ll be padlocked with iron clad protection updated 10K a second.
Wanna bet?
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