Imagine technology that understands your needs and desires, enhances your physical capacity, increases mobility, and frees up space and unsightly wires. You need not imagine any longer, because this technology is here!

Computing and Electronics
1. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) refers to middleware, the connecting thread that allows data to be shared amongst a company's Web-based applications and specially tailored software, maximizing the effects of each. About 40% of IT budgets go toward information integration, and SOA is automating this process. It will not only change the way companies manage technology, but also improve overall performance.
2. High-Definition DVDs are out to replace their DVD parents just as they have established themselves in the multimedia market. With ownership of HDTV and LCD-TV on the rise, the 4.7GB DVD, having 720x480 resolution, does not quite fill the 1920x1080 screen of the high-definition monitor. Burnt with small-wavelength blue lasers instead of red, HD-DVDs are engraved in greater detail. The average HD-DVD will be about to hold 2 hours of HD video, and can hold 20-23GB. Right now, major manufacturers are in a squabble about how to standardize HD-DVD, but these superfine quality discs should hit the market within the next year.
3. Smart Dust – in reality, measuring 5 cubic centimeters – are hypersensitive chips that detect and transmit information about changes in their surroundings without any wires. They can communicate with systems 100 meters away about miniscule modifications in light, vibration, or airflow. These versatile sensors have projected applications in hospitals, A/C units, crop fields, and factories. Cheaper than typical sensors, they will save thousands of dollars in nearly every place they are used, mostly because the cost of labor and wiring is cut back. Batteries power smart Dust now, but solar power will be a future option.
4. Wireless USB will make uploading files from cameras, PDAs, music players, or other portable information devices a snap with no strings attached. It operates on a broad 3.1-10.6 GHz, allowing for high data transfer rates. At 2 meters, wireless USB can stream data at 480 megabytes per second, and 110Mbps at 10 meters away. Best of all, owners won't have to untangle and trade in their products once wireless USB hits stores in late 2005. Manufacturers will sell add-in cards for the slew of devices currently using wires.

Communications
5. Wi-MAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) can permit internet access up to 31 miles, running at 802.16 and10 Mbps. A more powerful cousin of Wi-Fi, a short range provider found in fast-food restaurants and office buildings, the Wi-MAX is perfect for the 20% of U.S. homes that can't be reached by high-speed internet lines. Intel and Nokia are two major proponents of Wi-MAX, and they are already installing equipment on existing cellular towers.
6. VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) no longer sounds like a grainy walkie-talkie. Researchers have improved clarity, and crystal clear calls are being made in New Jersey and Texas test markets. The only hurdle for nationwide use is that while regular telephone calls are taxed, these are not. Legislators are looking to find a balance in charging these calls without stifling their implementation. Also, since this phone service will allow for mobility and works from an IP address, it conflicts with the e911 law, which states that location information must accompany all emergency calls. While the kinks are being worked out, rest assured that VoIP will soon be counted amongst the preferred methods of communication.
7. Build-Your-Own Program Software takes care of the millions of lines of HTML code it requires to construct even your standard word processing program. Charles Simonyi, creator of the first WYSIWYG program, is working on this self-writing software, which supplies the consumer with intelligent meta-tools that take into consideration his or her expectations of the desired program, read diagrams, and review detailed descriptions. The secret behind this technology is the increasing the level of abstract components in computer language. There are less 1s and 0s and more human words, thanks to the Unified Modeling Language. In essence, the software understands what you want and spits it back out.

The Human Touch
8. Biomechantronics are machines that merge with and enhance human physiology. For example, the Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX) straps onto human legs and allows the person to carry heavy loads with Herculean strength. DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is the primary subsidizer of biomechantronics research, and general applications include rescue missions, defense, firefighting, etc. This technology can restore life to paralyzed limbs, such as the Active Ankle-Foot Orthosis does. It might also lead to an entirely new genre of transportation – one that does not rely on wheels or rails, but on one's own amplified strength.
9. Smart Skin operates much like the smart dust, but these micro-sensors are made from yttrium barium copper oxide, which is sensitive to changes in infrared radiation. They are small and flexible enough to be folded into clothing. Zeynep Celik and Donald Butler have developed a smart skin baby monitor that not only alerts caretakers when a baby is crying, but can also report what the problem is – be it a fever or difficulty breathing. Their research, funded by the National Science Foundation, is directed toward gas or toxic chemical leak detectors for use in high-risk conditions, or even in NASA space exploration technology.
10. Translation programs have finally gotten the gist of the conversation. Up until now, translators generally lacked sufficient database space to store and draw on contextual language information. New breeds of translators work in terabytes, and accuracy has increased tremendously. Meanings are giving a statistically ranking, and the result is calculated based on the most likely intention. This technology will aid in everything from translating government documents to voice-powered web searching.

Sources:

Top Ten Tech Trends
Lance Ulanoff
PC Magazine, July 2004
www.pcmag.com

Resources:

Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
http://www.mel.nist.gov/

Defense Advance Research Projects Agency
(DARPA)
http://www.darpa.mil/

Technology Review
http://www.techreview.com/

Technology News
Red Nova
http://www.rednova.com/rnprogs/