2010: Technology predictions

Technology predictions were recently featured in Bits, the New York Times tech column.

Genealogists should keep an eye out for new - and useful - applications, features and tools. There's always something new coming down discovery road.

Read the complete post (link below) for all the details. Here are just the highlights:

"Five Tech Themes for 2010," by Jenna Wortham, began with the comment that we didn't have Facebook, iPhone, Wikipedia or YouTube 10 years ago. How did we function without the information these provide?

-- Third wave mobile apps will push cellphone limits, such as devices to turn cellphones into credit card machines and a glucose monitor that could assist diabetics with blood sugar readings.

-- Location, location, location: Geo-based location feature start-ups like Hot Potato, Foursquare, Grindr and UrbanSpoon.

-- Landline use continues to decline: Nearly 26% of US households do not have a wired phone.

-- Web TV: Watching TV online will get easier.

-- Your memories belong to the web: Note-taking service Evernote has more than 2 million members. More entrepreneurs will come up with more ways to make the Internet and cellphones a larger memory repository.

Read the complete piece and see comments by readers who chimed in with ideas on biometrics, ebooks, public recharging stations, MemCatch, loss of privacy, hardware and even a virtual kitchen.

Readers are welcome to add their comments to this post about what they think might be announced this year.

Enjoy!