IBM Reveals Five Innovations That Will Change Our Lives within Five Years
You will no longer need to create, track or remember multiple passwords for various log-ins. Imagine you will be able to walk up to an ATM machine to securely withdraw money by simply speaking your name or looking into a tiny sensor that can recognize the unique patterns in the retina of your eye. Or by doing the same, you can check your account balance on your mobile phone or tablet.
IBM formally unveiled the sixth annual “IBM 5 in 5" (#ibm5in5) – a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and interact during the next five years:
You will make your own energy: Anything that moves has the potential to create energy. Your running shoes, your bicycle and even the water flowing through your pipes can create energy.
You will not need a password: Your biological makeup is the key to your individual identity, and soon, it will become the key to safeguarding it.
Mind reading is no longer science fiction: Scientists are researching how to link your brain to your devices, such as a computer or a smartphone, so you just need to think about calling someone and it happens.
The digital divide will cease to exist: In five years, the gap between information haves and have-nots will narrow considerably due to advances in mobile technology.
Junk mail will become priority mail: Think about how often we're flooded with advertisements we consider to be irrelevant or unwanted - it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.
The IBM Five in Five is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM Labs around the world that can make these innovations possible. In fact the mind-reading prediction is based on work undertaken in our R&D laboratory in the UK. Many of the company’s previous Five in Five predictions are already taking root, such as in 2008, when IBM predicted that consumers would be talking to the web - and the web would talk right back.
A short video of this year's predictions has been created: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuisda1q6ns
Photos are also available: http://flickr.com/gp/ibm_research_zurich/bV00tn/
