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Nanotechnology-one of the most talked about, yet least-understood technologies of the 21st century-will become increasingly mainstream in 2005. It is already quietly revolutionizing a wide range of products-from computer hard drives and sun-block cream to car tires-and will soon become a cornerstone of every manufacturing industry. Potential uses will include using nano-spheres to deliver a drug directly to its intended target; employing nano-scale manufacturing processes to make smaller and faster processors and storage devices; and using nano-scale properties to make stain resistant, crease-free fabrics, and garments that resist bacteria.

Coming up, wireless USB
Wi-Fi liberated your notebook from a tangle of cords, and now Wireless USB is poised to free your camcorder. Soon you will be able simply to point your camcorder at your PC and stream video to it-wirelessly. Wireless USB is based on ultrawide-band radio technology, which operates in the 3.1 to 10.6 GHz slice of the radio spectrum; its success depends on the throughput it can achieve at various ranges. Unlike Bluetooth, a short-range technology with lower data-transfer rates, wireless USB is designed to do the heavy lifting required to transmit multiple video data streams throughout a home. The first products will start shipping around the end of 2005 or the beginning of 2006 and will be add-in cards for existing USB gadgets.

The new face of interface
By 2008, the corporate desktop will move beyond the traditional keyboard, mouse, monitor, design to encompass new interface devices better suited to rich collaboration and digital media. Advanced peripherals (cameras, array microphones, headsets, multiple monitors) will support new human/machine interaction models, feature improved conferencing and communications, and usher in a more proactive computing capabilities, enabling the computer to become a true personal assistant.

High-definition DVD
As consumers move to high-definition plasma and LCD televisions, ordinary DVDs that pack a paltry 4.7 GB just don't cut it. Fortunately, the companies that brought us the DVD are now putting the finishing touches on specifications for high-definition discs, with up to ten times the capacity of today's DVDs-potentially 50 GB per disc. The drives will use blue lasers rather than red ones to burn discs. The blue lasers have a wavelength of 405 nanometers; red ones, 650. The shorter-wavelength laser can focus on a tighter spot on the disc and thus squeeze more data onto each DVD. (Most drives will also have red lasers to read today's DVDs.)

Self-writing software
Today's apps are so complex that even seasoned programmers have trouble putting them together. But help is on the way. Charles Simonyi-the Hungarian-born engineer who built the first WYSIWYG word processor at Xerox PARC and later oversaw the development of Excel and Word as one of the first employees at Microsoft-aims to give almost everyone the means to build elaborate apps. You simply tell your computer what you intend to build, and the computer does the rest.

Let's say you have an idea for an app but very little programming experience. Today, you're forced to write up a detailed description of what you want, add a few diagrams, and hand your plan to a team of developers, who do their best to build an app that matches your specs. But they can't meet your needs without a great deal of back-and-forth. With intentional programming, developers create a set of meta tools that let you build an app on your own. You input your initial descriptions and diagrams, and these tools create an app without further help from your development team. So, trained programmers are still part of the process, but everyone has the power to make their own changes.

Nupur Chaturvedi