Top Ten future peeks that could change the game next

INDIA: Rear view mirrors are helpful while driving. But on the tracks where technology and business intersects it sometimes helps to let your gaze wander far ahead. The probability of looking at nothing but a mirage is always there, but it doesn't harm when the so-called forest of innovation around you feels like a desert.

1. We may stop carrying computers. Start wearing them?

James Bond is no more about fiction, specially when you start wearing gadgets all over your arms and eyes like him.

As an analyst firm envisages, by 2016, wearable smart electronics in shoes, tattoos and accessories will emerge as a $10 billion industry. It turns out that the majority of revenue from wearable smart electronics over the next four years will come from athletic shoes and fitness tracking, communications devices for the ear, and automatic insulin delivery for diabetics.

A case in point could be when Verizon introduced a wearable display and computer in at a conference recently with a partner named Kopin.

A headset called Golden Eye apparently allows for hands free operation with voice recognition and navigation running local and cloud apps.

The more powerful bit is that wearable smart electronics, like fitness trackers, often come with data analysis applications or services that create useful insights for the wearer.

Applications and services, as analysts predict, will create new value for consumers, especially when combined with personal preferences, location, biosensing and social information.

We have already seen the buzz created by Google's Googles prototype. Not long back, the next-age glasses found company with a wearable display called the M100, made by Vuzix. It accentuates what Google has been trying with its effort on augmented-reality goggles. It creates a cocoon in crowds but while the concept remains to be tested well, excitement is already on many radars.

Should CIOs bother? For now, they must evaluate how the data from wearable electronics can be used to improve worker productivity, asset tracking and workflow, as IT research experts advise. Wearable electronics will also provide more-detailed information to retailers for targeting advertisements and promotions.

2. And cars will fly

What the 2013 North American International Auto Show in Detroit might be showcasing could be just a glance of things to come. But words like self-driving cars or LCD screens communicating with the driver as in Acura NCX, or eye tracking and 3D Hand recognition, plus, you heard it - suicide doors as in Hyundai HCD 14 etc, they are almost here.

Almost, another one that can use this word is the Terrafugia's Transition, which has been reported to be an airplane-that-rolls more than a car-that-flies and tells us that Volkswagen Hovercraft could watch out for quite a peer. The company is already promoting Transition in these words: "you can call it your ‘flying car.' "

Another vehicle sesigned by a team of MIT graduates, claims it converts from a street-legal automobile to a Light Sport aircraft in 30 seconds. It seems that a 100 hp, four-cylinder engine powers the craft's three-bladed propeller for a maximum airspeed of 115 mph. The ings can fold and the craft can squeeze into a garage.

3. Doctors all over your body

That doesn't sound quite pleasant yeah. But health-tracking devices and fitness-monitors seem to be on the prowl for reality checks now. Like iSpO2, a pulse oximeter from Masimo which can clip onto a finger and measures the amount of oxygen carried in blood, as MIT Tech Review highlights.Or activity-tracking devices like MisFit Wearable's Shine and Fitbit's new Flex or Spree, a headband with sensors to measure heart rate, body temperature, and motion. 

Some of these fitness machines can work in tandem with smartphones too. Or PerformTek made for earbuds or other small electronics to gauge heart rate, respiration rate, speed, distance etc, Basis, a wristwatch that tracks heart rate, perspiration, temperature, and motion, even while you are sleeping.

4. Microwaves that cook Rockets

Well, quite the same. 

Scientists in Japan have accomplished the launch of a tiny metal rocket using an unusual source of propelling with microwaves.

Conventional rockets, such as Japanese H-II rockets, gain thrust via combustion of loaded propellants; such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. These propellants' weight is approximately 90% of the launch weight, which results in their huge thrust requirements and prevents significant launch-cost reduction.

On the other hand, Microwave Rocket does not require combustion reactions and loading propellants, so that the launch-cost is expected to be reduced by 1/100 by downsizing and weight saving of a launcher and Microwave Rocket is recognized as one of the promising future space transportation systems which can contribute to space infrastructure constructions, such as Space Solar Power Satellite Systems or Lunar Bases.

The group of Prof. Kimiya KOMURASAKI, the Graduate School of Frontier Science, the University of Tokyo conducted the Microwave Rocket launch experiment in collaboration with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) as a Collaborative Research using JAEA facilities.  A high power microwavegenerator, Gyrotron, whose oscillation frequency and output power are 170GHz and 1MW, respectively, was used as a ground-based power source and a metallic rocket model of 126g weight was propelled by a repetitively pulsed microwave beam for 1.2m without any propellant consumption. 

Thrust is generated through the explosive expansion of the atmospheric air by microwave energy deposition at the focus of the microwave beam, which is similar to that of a peal of thunder: A pulsedmicrowave beam sent from the ground is focused inside the rocket and the air is heated up to 10,000 degrees Celsius very rapidly. Steady thrust can be generated by repetitively pulsed microwaveirradiations.

Now what next? This technology implies the possibility of high-power wireless transmission for future applications including rocket propulsion.

5. Give me an octopus: no single-purpose device

An Accenture survey has found the pulse right -Consumers are looking to buy multipurpose digital devices such as smartphones and tablets in the coming year, and have little interest in single-purpose gadgets such as cameras and e-book readers. It could be a trend that particularly pronounced among young U.S. consumers, with more than one in 10 millennials planning to buy a tablet device in 2013.

6. Algorithms that break the path

Lots of them are happening. Like Music X-Ray. A platform where artists can submit their music directly to Industry Professionals. When you submit to an opportunity, your track goes directly to the decision makers; no middle-men, no pre-screeners, just a direct link between artist and industry professional.

One can submit a song for label consideration, song placement, or get feedback and advice to help improve your music through this technology to detect musical hooks that are destined for the charts.  Music X-Ray's algorithms use Fourier transforms-a method of separating a signal from the "noise" of complex data-to isolate a song's base melody, beat, tempo, rhythm, octave, pitch, chords, progression, sonic brilliance, and several other factors that catch a listener's ear.

The software then builds three-dimensional models of the song based on these properties and compares it with hit songs of the past.  Many radical algorithms are rearing their heads. Like a Blacklisting software SRI'sHighly Predictive Blacklisting (HPB) that analyzes millions of entries from worldwide volunteers participating in a firewall correlation system, and uses them to analyze attack trends.

Of course, Blacklists have been used since the Internet's earliest days. Network administrators use generic blacklists to fortify their network firewalls against malicious attacks. But SRI claims the HPB algorithm offers a radically different strategy than traditional methods by providing individualized lists of the most probable attackers likely to penetrate a network.

Another software called Structured Evidential Argumentation System (SEAS) software tool uses best analytic practices to guide analysts in collaboratively reasoning from evidence about potential threats and opportunities.

It captures structured lines of reasoning, representing analytic best practices for given classes of problems, and then uses these to guide the collection and interpretation of evidence.

7. Robots for Tomorrow:

Robots could soon swarm our factories and roads. At least many people are working towards that scenario when you hear names like Baxter robot called Baxter or Frida. Rodney Brooks, the Australian roboticist and artificial-intelligence expert has built a humanoid robot that can easily be programmed to do simple jobs that have never been automated before. The company he runs Rethink Robotics, opines that the robot will etch a revolution in American manufacturing as it helps small companies compete against low-wage offshore labor.  General Motors ‘Unimate" that came as early as 1961 on the assembly lines can hope for good scions now.

There are many more in the aisle. Like SRI's new telerobotic surgical system, M7, that claims it expands the reach of surgical intervention by enhancing the precision of minimally invasive procedures and enabling surgeons to operate from afar. Two anthropomorphic robotic arms cover a large workspace and move through seven degrees of freedom. Auditory, visual, and tactile sensations, including the force or pressure felt while making an incision, are communicated directly to the surgeon performing the operation.

The pudding's proof has been attempted inn 2006, when SRI says it successfully demonstrated a remote robotic surgical system as part of the ninth NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) in the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory, located 60 feet underwater off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.

For the mission, SRI's robot electronics were redesigned to permit long-distance operation over IP networks. NEEMO 9 marked the first time an entire robotic surgical system was transported to an extreme environment and manipulated successfully from afar. Then in 2007, SRI researchers and collaborators from the University of Cincinnati evaluated the benefits of robotic surgery during air and space flights. Four flights aboard a NASA C-9 aircraft simulated the microgravity of space and variable gravity of military critical care air transport.

On the other side of the atlas Automation giant ABB, which is based in Zurich, developed Frida. This is a two-armed concept robot meant to be carried around and mounted to regular workstations on the manufacturing floor.

For now, ABB confidently says Frida can be "easily interchanged with a human coworker" when new layouts are needed. Let's see if robots indeed accompany us in offices and factories?

8. Hola Lola: Speech gets new decibels

SIRI is not an unfamiliar name now. And its parents are busy conceiving more of the smart kids.  It is a word that was recognized as early as the 2000s, when DARPA deployed the Phraselator in war zones. Handheld, one-way speech recognition devices could help soldiers translate phrases in different languages depending on their locations.

When in 2006 IBM reportedly provided the U.S. joint forces command with 35 laptops that came equipped with the company's Multilingual Automatic Speech-to-Speech Translator (Mastor), it was another milestone in this area.

Today lots of big and small power houses are working in this area. Microsoft's attempts in speech recognition technology, range from reduction of error rate by over 30 per cent to products like Xbox or Kinect. In fact, Windows Speech Recognition in Windows Vista empowers users to interact with their computers by voice. It as stated, has been designed for people who want to significantly limit their use of the mouse and keyboard while maintaining or increasing their overall productivity. One can dictate documents and emails in mainstream applications, use voice commands to start and switch between applications, control the operating system, and even fill out forms on the Web.

Coming back to the research group that invented Siri, the virtual assistant built into Apple's iPhone, and one finds them busy with Lola. The Lola project which is touted as the future of Virtual Personal Assistants for banking, has been in work with BBVA for several years now, and is the first application of what SRI sees as the next generation of virtual personal assistant technology beyond Siri.

It adds: Creating more human-like interaction means understanding the user's intent and then acting upon it. Since users usually can't express their intent in a single sentence, Lola needs to understand conversation. To act on the user's intent, Lola must reason about what to do, and know how to do it in the online banking system. With Lola we are seeing a fundamental step toward the future of banking, and a key milestone for SRI's next generation of VPA technology.

Like another product DynaSpeakm which is a small-footprint, high-accuracy, speaker-independent speech recognition engine as the company sells it.  It scales from embedded to large-scale system use in industrial, consumer, and military products and systems. The technology is available for license from SRI.

9. Non-intrusive bio metrics and intrusive games

Heard of the Iris on the Move biometric identification system? They apparently perform iris recognition effortlessly at a distance to ensure that only authorized individuals gain access to critical information, valuable assets, or secure locations. Unlike other systems that require users to stop or to position their eyes close to a camera, Iris on the Move enables people to simply glance and go. At the latest CES conclave in Las Vegas one also saw a full line of accessories for children two- to 12-years old. Named Animatone, the accessory lineup includes plush toys with the ability to amplify sound from a mobile device. As it explains: Snug users simply place a smartphone, MP3 player or other portable device in the front pocket of the Snug to provide kids a fun and interactive way to listen to music or watch videos.

10. No more boring white boards

LCD TVs on walls would adorn the office you inhabit if you allow. They could change the way we use and struggle with old conference room video equipments. May be a touch-enabled display on the wall is not so bad after all.

A smart board with a whiteboard/projector combo might just do the trick,

Like the 65" Viewsonic touch-enabled display showcased at this year's CES.

Or a touch panel by Sengital DigiTouch that installs over any standard size LCD display or TV and effectively turns it into a big Android tablet.