When I made the post with my 2007 predictions, I wrote that I would revisit the predictions from time to time, both to explore them more deeply or to reference them as events warranted.
One of the specific predictions (#3) I made was that gasoline will climb over $3 a gallon nationally and over $4 in some cities with higher taxes.  This prediction led to my appearance on the First Business television program to comment on energy prices in 2007.  First Business is the highest rated nationally syndicated business program, seen in over 400k households five days a week.  Here is the link to the First Business segment on gasoline prices for 2007 ( please note that I had a horrible cold that day).
 
One of the reasons First Business had me on the program is that last summer I commented on the future of newspapers and subsequent events and marketplace developments validated my predictions.  I am including this segment as it relates to another specific prediction (#6) that eyeballs and influenced would continue to migrate from older media to the Internet

More on that prediction in the next post.

Ten years ago the word convergence was most often used when predicting the convergence of the television set and the computer. Granted there were things like PDAs that synched up to a computer, but the PDA could go into the pocket and the computer could not.  As we all know, it was the cell phone where convergence first showed up, combining phone, camera and PDA.  Then music was added as was connectivity to the Internet.

In the last year the excitement was the convergence in the home between the computer and the television.  This was accelerated because of the penetration of broadband into 50% (now) of US households and the advent of sites like YouTube.  Apple, with iTV and now a number of companies at the CES show are providing ways to connect these two primary institutions of the American home.

The other exciting convergence during this past year has been video viewing on phones, iPods, MP3 players and all forms of wireless devices.  This has brought about the interesting dichotomy of watching video on a two inch screen while out of the home and then watching video on a brand new 42” or larger flat screen television in the living room.  One thing to note is that at this CES show several companies are displaying ever larger flat screens, with several producing ones with 108” diagonal screens.

There are two new and interesting developments coming out of this CES convention.  As mentioned in the prior post, there are an increasing number …

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show there are hundreds of companies touting new gadgets that are “revolutionary” “innovative” “at the cutting edge” and “totally cool”.  I will leave the descriptions of all these to the mainstream media as they already excessively cover this convention.  Instead I will give you some view on the larger trends that are clear.

Connectivity

We are rapidly moving to total connectedness. Whether you are in the office, in the home, on the road, or anywhere in the world you can be connected to information, data and billions of people.    Bill Gates spoke of the fact that the home is soon going to be completely connected.  Computers, televisions, phones, everything in the home will be connected.  Ed Zander, Chairman of Motorola spoke about the home as being a hub of “seamless technology” and that mobile devices provide “seamless mobility” wherever we are in the world.  Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia speaks of “a world where everyone can be connected” and of “mobility, interconnectivity, community and convenience” 

Compare how much more connected you are now than you were 10 years ago. That is how much more you will be connected in 3-5 years than you are today.  How we use that connectivity is up to us and is the human variable in the equation.  Technology is providing us with connectivity that twenty years ago was only imagined in science fiction and in the minds of a few visionary futurists.

Availability

We are moving toward a world where practically every type of …

In my last post I listed four General Trends and Dynamics that would gain power in this New Year.  The third one listed was the about alternative energy and Global Warming.  The fact that we reached a tipping point on this in 2006 will become much clearer this year.  It will be a dominant story, a forceful change in consciousness, a political/security issue, and both an economic issue and an incredible economic opportunity. 

In the first week of the year, while poor Denver continues to get blasted with snow, most of the rest of the country experienced spring weather.  Cherry blossoms in Washington D.C., people running in shorts in New York, and golf courses open for the first time in January.  Twenty years ago, Global Warming was an arcane concept understood only by ardent environmentalists, today it is a personal experience for all of us.  That was the first week of January. 

The second week of January brings us the Detroit Auto Show, the most important auto show in the US.  GM announced that it would launch a unique hybrid car.  Yes, the company accused of ‘killing the electric car’ announced that they would produce the Chevrolet Volt.  In addition they announced they were developing a hybrid plug-in version of the Saturn Vue Green Line. The obvious questions are how fast the automotive behemoth can bring these models to market, in what volume and at what price.  I submit that the survival of GM is in great part dependent on how …