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So with that in mind, I took a look at some emerging technologies that may improve productivity, enhance entertainment, and even blur the line more with mobile computing items.

The Wireless Future (Is Now?)

It is a forgone conclusion now that computer buyers are more likely to purchase a notebook than a desktop. And for many corporate types, a BlackBerry or Treo has become their main tether to the office community. Therefore, seeing the advancing state of wireless acceptance is something that we will see more often in the workplace, and even public places. It's true that in many major cities, and increasingly so in smaller ones, you can walk into places like coffee shops, restaurants and libraries and be treated to a free (or low cost) wireless Hotspot. My guess is within 2 years wireless standards such as 802.11n and WiMax will enable these connections to happen over a larger area, and even eliminate Internet inaccessibility in some areas.

Wireless technologies will continue to compete for your wallet and air space. If the pending issue with deploying city-wide wireless in Philadelphia and San Francisco is any indication, cellular companies all over the world will either have to adapt their usage models to including VoIP plans, or be lost to companies such as Vonage and Skype. Both already offer these services, at lower rates than many unlimited Wireless Data plans.

In terms of devices, the competitive wireless landscape will push fringe devices to the lower rungs of usage (meaning non-connected PDAs, phones that cannot access the Internet and act as a modem, and notebooks/tablets that have only limited versions of WiFi). We have seen, and will continue to see PDAs morph into handheld connected terminals (GPS and VoIP probably being the next main features). Notebooks will continue to get smaller, and convertible TabletPCs may take a larger slice of the traditional notebook market share.

Entertainment Becomes Productivity Becomes Entertainment...

I took a look at some laser technology from a company called Light Blue Optics (http://www.lightblueoptics.com/) and it got me thinking that it would be a great idea to have a notebook or tablet PC with a projector built right in. I know that business people would easily have a use for this as that would mean the end of two bags, two cables, and those sometimes finicky setup situations.

Many PC/PDA makers have begun making devices in a new category called media managers/media players. What if a projector was put into those devices? Now we have a business application, being made consumer friendly. Imagine using a projector equipped PDA to show your family photos (also just taken with the PDA). Or, imagine instead of expensive flat screens and projector TV setups, one only downloads the movie from Comcast/Netflix/Blockbuster, etc. and now has a movie theater ready to go.

The same kind of thing is happening with Storage capacity. It used to be that only archivists, photographers, and the graphically inclined needed mounds of Storage space. The Future of Mobility sees the normal user taking advantage of large hard drives and advance screen types to offer their families and clients a "cheaper than going out" entertainment experience. Of course, some will like these perpendicular-formatted hard drives for storing mounds and mounds of textbooks and related materials.

Yea, But What Can I Expect Tomorrow

It's always great to look out three to five years to speculate about what could, or should happen. But what kind of innovations will we see in the next year? What will we all purchase for our mobile devices? That answer is simple, but complicated. Simple because you need only to look back to see the smaller, faster, and thinner trends. But complicated because what comes out in the next year, started in planning stages two years ago.

In the next year there will be at least one VoIP service offered by a major carrier. While this is not a shock, the interesting part will probably be that they will bundle it with some kind of card for laptop (and possibly PDA users). It may cost an arm and a leg if someone like Verizon offers it though. I never thought they would want to undercut their cellular business with a cheaper to maintain and potentially easier to use WiFi one.

Look for more devices offering some kind of flash memory subsystem for backup purposes. We have already seen this with Palm and upcoming with Windows Mobile 5 PDAs. I will also go out on a limb saying that there will be one laptop maker offering a fuel cell-powered laptop before the end of spring.

We can finally expect...

Hey look, I don't have a crystal ball. I only want to see user interfaces become more intuitive in all devices, and maybe a usable web browser on my phone and PDA. I believe that XML will further break down the boundaries of document sharing, and blogs will continue to push the realism and speed of news reports. But all in all, computing will be even more entrenched within western cultures. We might even see some social issues tackled more on the web than in offline arenas. Who knows for sure? We will be looking though, and waiting with open eyes and wallets.