IBM's Five Predictions For the Next Five Years

PolygamousRanchKid writes "In each of the past five years, IBM has come up with a list of five innovations it believes will become popular within five years. In this, the sixth year, IBM has come up with the following technologies it thinks will gain traction: (1) People power will come to life. Advances in technology will allow us to trap the kinetic energy generated (and wasted) from walking, jogging, bicycling, and even from water flowing through pipes. (2) You will never need a password again. Biometrics will finally replace the password and thus redefine the word 'hack.' (3) Mind reading is no longer science fiction. Scientists are working on headsets with sensors that can read brain activity and recognize facial expressions, excitement, and more without needing any physical inputs from the wearer. (4) The digital divide will cease to exist. Mobile phones will make it easy for even the poorest of poor to get connected. (5) Junk mail will become priority mail. "In five years, unsolicited advertisements may feel so personalized and relevant it may seem that spam is dead."

Re:Anyone who thinks they can predict the future..

[Trepidity]

And here's their predictions from the end of 2007 [ibm.com], which have one year left to come true:

It will be easy for you to be green and save money doing it

Arguably yes in some cases, but not for any of the "smart grid" reasons the explanatory text talks about.

The way you drive will be completely different ... The cities you live in will find a cure for congestion using intelligent traffic systems that can make real-time adjustments to traffic lights and divert traffic to alternate routes with ease.

Nope.

You are what you eat, so you will know what you eat ... Advancements in computer software and wireless radio sensor technologies will give you access to much more detailed information about the food you are buying and eating. You will know everything from the climate and soil the food was grown in, to the pesticides and pollution it was exposed to, to the energy consumed to create the product, to the temperature and air quality of the shipping containers it traveled through

Sounds cool, but nope. All I know about my imported fruit is the "grown in Chile" sticker.

Your cell phone will be your wallet, your ticket broker, your concierge, your bank, your shopping buddy, and more

Arguably coming close.

Doctors will get enhanced “super-senses” to better diagnose and treat you ... An avatar – a 3D representation of your body – will allow doctors to visualize your medical records in an entirely new way, so they can click with the computer mouse on a particular part of the avatar, to trigger a search of your medical records and retrieve information relevant to that part of your body, instead of leafing through pages of notes.

Pretty sure this ain't happening.