IBM Predicts Holographic Phones, Air-Breathing Batteries In Next 5 Years (VIDEO)

IBM has consulted with the oracle, and they have five predictions for how technology will reshape the world in the next five years.

IBM just released their "Five in Five" predictions for 2015, a list they've been compiling since 2006. The company surveys its 3,000 researchers to narrow down the five ideas that seem most likely to gather traction.

First up is Star Wars-ready holographic calling. Imagine dialing up grandma and having a 3D avatar pop up from the screen. The popularity of video chat services such as those offered by Skype and Apple's FaceTime are already priming consumers for a new kind of call. Movies and TVs are also developing the 3D technology that could enable these kinds of holographic phones.

IBM also predicts there will be batteries that will breathe in oxygen and turn out energy. Batteries will last ten times longer, an issue that moves to solve the feeble battery life of many smartphones. What's more, smaller electronics may actually be able to dispense of batteries altogether and run on static or kinetic electricity.

Energy preservation will also play a role in the use of computer heat. Right now, up to half of the energy consumed in data centers goes towards cooling computers. The heat they emit is wasted in the atmosphere. Imagine if that heat could instead be recycled to power air conditioning, or other systems.

IBM also anticipates the growth of pre-existing technologies. Though GPS plays a role in driving already, IBM envisions a far more sophisticated version which will take into account, in realtime, accidents, construction and delays on the road as well as driver patterns and behaviors. Such a system could predict congestion before it happens by calculating the numerous possible scenarios that affect traffic.

Their final prediction harnesses the power of ordinary citizens to assist scientists in their studies. People are "walking sensors" whose cars, wallets, phones, and other devices have the power to gather huge amounts of data just by wandering around the streets. Sensors pick up information about a person's environment automatically. That information could then be given to scientists who will use it to better understand the world.

Despite the science fiction flavor IBM's list exudes, these predictions are no joke to the company itself, which is engaged in an ongoing battle to anticipate what technologies will be indispensable in the future--technologies that no one has yet heard of. Last year, IBM spent $5.8 billion in research and development. In other words, the technologies they predict may be the technologies they have a hand in making a reality.

2011 marks five years since IBM's first list in 2006, which predicted we would have mind-reading phones and automatic speech translation technology by now.

Watch the video below (via YouTube):

Comments

[ChristopherAtom]

10:49 AM on 12/28/2010

Holographic phones...it's a neat idea but it's not gonna happen. It's a waste of time, money, and energy. I predict we will be using glasses or contact lenses that will project any video based media directly in the eye. Dare i say that these could come in the form of implants. But this will take more than five years, more like 20.
http://www.livescience.com/health/080118-super-contacts.html
The contact will be powered by a wireless power source (They called Tesla crazy for this idea). http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200910/09-119E/index.html
All of it will be transmitted from a pocket sized super computer.

If you think it's strange to see people walking down the street, talking seemingly to no one, wait until they are standing around like statues in the conner of a room staring off into space.

[Carachama]

10:00 PM on 12/26/2010

I don't know if I trust their vision of the future. If you notice on the highway video, a car merging onto the highway passes right through one of the cars already on the road. If they can't get their cheap animation right today, how are we going to have smart roads five years from now?

[Lannie]

02:38 PM on 12/26/2010

"2011 marks five years since IBM's first list in 2006, which predicted we would have mind-reading phones and automatic speech translation technology by now."

In other words, we should assume that we WON'T have air batteries and holophones in 2015!!

[RizePosta]

05:45 AM on 12/26/2010

IBM's juggernaut abilities to churn out the most useful technologi es to the business environment.
http://programbilgi.blogcu.com/

[Truth789]

09:48 PM on 12/25/2010

We love IBM at my company. we sell IBM Servers and Storage. You can checkout IBM Servers and IBM San Systems here..... http://www.itosolutions.net

[fireofenergy]

04:25 PM on 12/25/2010

People are afraid this tech will turn into a big brother nightmare fascism. Just how does the users of this tech profit if they do indeed convert over to such regime?
Ok, I will try to answer my own question... Hmmm, since in America, nobody wants fascism (because there is no profit in that!), some other country uses it (and debt) to literally take over. Perhaps the conspiracy theories are just detracting from the real threat!

On a lighter note, Oak Ridge National Laboratories has millions of hours of supercomputing time dedicated for the lithium air concept for EV's. I'm afraid that once it is developed, will only be available for cheap in China, just as everything else invented in the western world.
Also, they developed the molten salt reactor that can fission thorium and "spent fuel" (producing far less wastes and making Yucca mountain almost obsolete), yet this seemingly PERFECT and UNLIMITED energy source has been completely dumped in favor of far less energy dense sources. Why?
I know that during the fission process, this fuel is highly radioactive, however, it decays down to "lead" in human timescales. Is there really a way terrorists can use robots to gain access to the highly radioactive fuel within the confinement? (I'm hoping for a nuclear physicist/security guard here...)

[StephenJK]

03:32 PM on 12/25/2010

IBM has been winning the technology race for some 60 or 70 years. They remain at the cutting edge and there isn't another company even close to IBM's juggernaut abilities to churn out the most useful technologies to the business environment. If google and facebook disappeared overnight no one would care much, outside of a few weeks. If IBM disappeared overnight the business community would reel.

[fireofenergy]

02:16 PM on 12/25/2010

Sensors are a natural part of evolution, which i believe will do more good than harm. "Everybody" will do something that's "wrong" and it will be recorded. Yet only the violent or more serious acts will be picked by the "sifter". If everybody got in trouble for say, smoking pot, the entire economy would be destroyed! I'm sure there is a name for this and it is this that which will guarantee that people will have rights beyond paranoia.
Now, it's just for traffic and Earth data, then, it will be for social media (somehow?) and for advancing the sort of artificial intelligence needed to save the planet from energy depletion, global warming and irrational leaders (I have a feeling that those air batteries aren't going to be good enough for electric cars)...

[ectoendomezo]

01:19 PM on 12/25/2010

Another Amazingly Bizarre Aspect of this.."Prediction" Propaganda (basically a "Threat" to whats left of "Liberty" specifically "Privacy")..is the Simple Fact that IBM's..Either:

In reality Incapable of "Predicting" Anything..or.They're INTENTIONALLY Leaving Out..the Economic Reality of a Collapsing National Economy..Society and "Culture"!

This is Like "Predicting" Your Neighbor's gonna purchase a new car "In The Future"..despite the fact..this same Neighbor's a Member of a Failing Union..Will Have No Social Security..has No other Resources..and Is Sure to See His/Her Job (Perhaps a Job At "IBM").."OUTSOURCED" to "?"!

Its Frankly..A Perfect Example of the kind of "Corporate Creativity" We're Witnessing With Increasing Rapidity.

"Ideas" and "Concepts" based on what They "Want"..as opposed to say.."Reality"!

These Aren't.."Predictions"..They're Marketing!

Add to Which Endless "Wars"..A Nation with an "Educational Level" that can best be summed up in a story from Last Week stating unequivocally:

"44% Of Americans Believe In Creationism".

Oh..Okay..so Thats..who IBM "Predicts" are gonna be "Walking Censors" for "The Environment"?

Hmm..well..Sorry to Interrupt You there..Mr. IBM Predictor..'Specially With You Doin' All That..Good Figurin..But..The People Your ASSUMING are gonna be your little corporate clones..Don't Exist!

Recall Please People..IBM's the Company that Not Only..Produced the "Tattoo Readers and Card System" for.."You Know Who" (Not Allowed To Discuss Certain Historical Figures Here)..But Also..Visited the Camps to Maintain "Their Equipment".

[Brody Marino]

10:00 PM on 12/26/2010

You Know, Typing Like This Is Usually Annoying Enough, But Dammit, Why On A Rant Post?!?

[garder54]

10:22 AM on 12/27/2010

Think how much faster you could have typed that if you weren't obsessed with the shift key.

[ClevelandTom]

01:00 PM on 12/25/2010

I'm pretty dubious of the holographic phone idea because of the energy demands I suspect are involved and its usefulness.

What I'm waiting for is an LCD screen that is paper thin and can be rolled or even folded like paper. With something like that you could really have cell phone, pad computer and maybe even laptop computer capability all in one pocket-sized device. I have heard of R&D being done on such a screen but no idea how close it might be.

[ectoendomezo]

12:58 PM on 12/25/2010

Now Why..Would This.."Conversation"..be Censored?

Has Anyone Else Noticed..the "Policy" Is Ultra-Consistent? Any.."Topic"..that Includes Corporate Control In The Future..Google..Facebook..Steve Jobs Penchant for "Source Censorship"..is Aggressively Controlled!

Apparently the Technological Abuse Of Power..Must Have Any Potential "Narrative"..Tightly..Rigidly..Controlled!

Now..whats Funny About that..and its so..Obvious its..really a Perfect Illustration of "Why All Their Efforts To Predict The Future" Are Utterly Empty and Pointless (Except as Indicators Of Their Desire FOR Control)..well..the Reality is So Simple its..again..Amusing:

To "Control" the narrative..is to Undermine "Predictions".

This "Conversation" for example..cannot "Predict" Anything because So Many "Opinions" are Being Excluded!

Either You have "Complete Data"..or you have Tightly Controlled..and thus INCOMPLETE Data!

Example:

Say Someone Wants To "Predict" A Response By The Public To These "Predictions"?

Well..With Non-Consensus Based..Censored "Discussions"..All that "Data" thats being "Disappeared"..is Lost to "The Equation".

However..there's one way they can still do it:

By NOT Allowing Us to Speak..BUT..Keeping Our Opinions Anyway for "Data".

Aka Surveillance..But No Freedom!

Your "Opinion" Used By the Censors..But Not Allowed into the "Discussion".

And thats the "Secondary" reality to this overt "Total Information" System they're so intent upon.

No Voice..Only Control!

That IBM would actually indicate a "Future" where Literally.."Everything" we do..is "Watched"..again.."For Science"(!?!?!)..is..All One Requires To "Predict" Their Actions and Agenda!

[ectoendomezo]

12:41 PM on 12/25/2010

"Their final prediction harnesses the power of ordinary citizens to assist scientists in their studies. People are "walking sensors" whose cars, wallets, phones, and other devices have the power to gather huge amounts of data just by wandering around the streets. Sensors pick up information about a person's environment automatically. That information could then be given to scientists who will use it to better understand the world."

Allow me to Re-Phrase that Last "Prediction":

"IBM Predicts That Within 5 Years RFIDS or Radio Frequency ID chips will be Mandatory for All Citizens Because Garsh..We Just Can't Make A Real Profit Without Total Information On Everything You Do..So..You Have To 'Help Scientists'..Or Else!"

Or..Another Way to Put it:

"IBM Predicts that Within 5 Years Total Corporate Authoritarianism Will be In Place As Every Citizen Is Tracked and Monitored By Law!"

Or..even more Concise:

"IBM Predicts Corporate Fascism By 2016"!

That "Last Prediction"..is So..Incredibly Terrifying..and worse..the..Psychotically Causal Indifference to the..Equally Psychotic Use of the Rationale of..(?!?!?!) "Science Needs To Know Everything You Do To Better Understand The World"..is.Beyond Surreal.

Thats Corporate Surveillance Taken To Its Ultimate Pinnacle!

I Truly..Do Not Care..If "Grandma" Isn't In 3-d When She Calls! Whats More..I not only "Refuse" to allow myself to be "Monitored"..uhh.."For Science" (Again !?!?!?)..But I'll Physically Destroy Every Effort to Do So!

[allseeing]

09:16 AM on 12/25/2010

Computer screens as we know them will disappear and be holagram screens, thinair..

[Alien Nation]

04:55 PM on 12/25/2010

Yeh and in 1997 some guy I went to school with told me by the year 2010 we would only get email and the US postal service would require everyone to have an email address.

Keep dreaming boys. The hover cars, hover boards, round homes, and sell tieing shoes are all on their way!

[allseeing]

09:10 AM on 12/25/2010

I'll stick with Roy Rodgers, and Donna Reed.

You can have this other stuff.

[Wayne Caswell]

05:28 AM on 12/25/2010

It's not just about what's technically possible but also about politics, business models and evolving consumer attitudes. One thing's for sure - the future ain't what it used to be.