IBM's 5 in 5

It is no secret that technology changes rapidly - the cellphone you carry may be the envy of everyone around, but be rest assured that it would be outdated in as soon as six months' time. It is significant to adapt ourselves to changing times in order to stay relevant. It has been an annual practice at IBM to predict the technology of the future and how would it affect our lives. The company just released its "Five in Five" list - carrying five innovations in the next five years and the list is anything but astonishing.

Battery technology - Since most of us are going mobile now with smartphones and tablets, it can be predicted that future gadgets would come with much more battery power and durability. But it running on air using oxygen as a component looks like a plot from a sci-fi movie. But it is all going to be available and ready to use by 2015. Smaller gadgets like, say an MP3 player may not require a battery at all as it would run on static or kinetic electricity.

Heat from servers and computers - If you work in a substantially large company or have ever been to a server room, you must have seen how important it is to maintain the temperature inside the premises and always cool down the servers; 50 per cent of the total power consumed by a modern datacentre goes toward cooling it down. The tremendous amount of heat generated is wasted - in fact, it is unwanted and that is why different types of coolants and air conditioners are installed to keep the heat away. In the next five years, the same heat from your datacentre could be recycled to be used to power up your homes -- that's what IBM thinks would be the future.

Holograms - Some of the science-fiction movies have already demonstrated this and it might be the inspiration behind this technology too. By 2015, you would be able to interact with your friend/relative - anyone you wish to talk to in real time using a 3D image of the person right in front of you. We already see the rapid adoption of 3D imagery in movies, LCD TVs, laptops, projectors etc. In the future, these holographic cameras that project 3D imagery will become so small that they could fit into your mobile device and be used to interact with anyone in real-time 3D imaging. Fascinating, isn't it?

Predicting traffic conditions - In the future, you wont be stuck in traffic waiting for the jam to be cleared so that you could reach work on time. It would all be personalised based on your most common routes, days of work, local events affecting common routes and hundreds of other possibilities that would combine to give you your personalised route for commuting. We already see some of it when you check in "traffic conditions" on Google Maps. Although, this isn't available anywhere in India, but users in the US use it to know which routes are jam packed and the best possible route to reach a particular destination.

Citizen Scientists - You have heard of the term 'Citizen Journalist'! Now get ready to become a scientist in the future. All your activity beamed through the sensors in your phone, tablet, car, wallet etc. will act as huge data sets to actual scientists who would study it to make useful products.