FTFA - "There are 7 billion people inhabiting the world today. In five years there will be 5.6 billion mobile devices sold - which means 80% of the current global population would each have a mobile device"

Yeah....I don't think that's exactly right. Computationally speaking? Sure. Reality speaking? Not so much.

And we will all have flying cars too !

IBM. They're still in business?

chiett: And we will all have flying cars too !

Flying cars, while technologically speaking are possible, would never be approved for sale to the public. Seriously, can you imagine the chaos if that was done?

/insert Debbie Downer pic here

gopher321: chiett: And we will all have flying cars too !

Flying cars, while technologically speaking are possible, would never be approved for sale to the public. Seriously, can you imagine the chaos if that was done?

/insert Debbie Downer pic here

You're right about the flying car and the chaos it would cause, the people I see on the streets of NYC can barely talk on a cellphone and walk at the same time.

The 'Mind reading is no longer science fiction' part was pretty interesting. I could see some good things from this one.

King Keepo: spam

Not only that, but I think out of all the "up and coming" in this article, I'll believe I can control my computer using just my mind before I'll believe SPAM is done away with. Too much money tied up in there, and there will always, always be people stupid enough to click on the "Click here to be removed from our mailing list" links.

Brontes: make me some tea: IBM. They're still in business?

IBM is an American treasure. They are a company that other American companies should model themselves after. They plan longterm and don't sacrifice important things like R&D for short term gains of stock price. They don't hire risky CEOs; they promote internally. Their current CEO worked up through the ranks starting as engineer. They understand IP is the cornerstone of actual wealth creation.

Wish more medical/tech companies were like IBM....

/was kidding

Since they got out of the PC business I haven't seen much of them lately.

Brontes: make me some tea: IBM. They're still in business?

IBM is an American treasure. They are a company that other American companies should model themselves after. They plan longterm and don't sacrifice important things like R&D for short term gains of stock price. They don't hire risky CEOs; they promote internally. Their current CEO worked up through the ranks starting as engineer. They understand IP is the cornerstone of actual wealth creation.

Wish more medical/tech companies were like IBM....

Exactly. People who snark "IBM is still around?" are probably only aware of brands like Google, Twitter, Facebook who make huge risks to push the latest and greatest thing that you can/must start using today even though we haven't really tested it, and barely know what its for.

John Dewey: FTFA - "There are 7 billion people inhabiting the world today. In five years there will be 5.6 billion mobile devices sold - which means 80% of the current global population would each have a mobile device"

Yeah....I don't think that's exactly right. Computationally speaking? Sure. Reality speaking? Not so much.

Also, you figure I'm one guy and I own a netbook, a smartphone, and a Kindle, so...yeah. Those sales figures are going to be heavily skewed towards the developed world, with multiple devices per person there.

Gordon Bennett: 2. Identity theft will at last be possible with a sharp knife and a strong stomach. Hooray!

No. Wrong. Heat signatures. Stop watching Minority Report and Demolition Man. Those movies are very, very old. Just stop.

something something donkey porn, etc.

No arguments here.

And when you get old, they lay you off before you can retire.

IBM, for all it's awesome innovation, does not have a good reputation for taking care of it's workers...

/this is a 20 year reputation too. :\

All true and more.

I gotta be honest, the whole thing about IBM innovation and their CEOs caring and being engineers and whatnot is mostly BS. Maybe they are good globally, but in the US the annual job of IBM employees is to get rid of as many US workers as possible, and it seems the longer term goal is to get rid of as many workers as possible, period. I don't think it's a sustainable goal.

Yes most of their corporate heads all used to work there. But Lou Gerstner was hired from Nabisco. And those that are 'organically grown' through the company have to do it through a lot of politicking and railroading of their employees. Executives at the top, like probably most huge corporations, are generally a-holes.

I used to work at IBM, and I have plenty of friends who still work there. They do invest in a lot of R&D, but it is not in-house R&D. They generally 'innovate' by buying out other companies for the IP rights and then laying off most of those workers or outsource to China or India. Then they use their relationships and contracts with other big corporations and governments to sell huge projects that make them a lot of money, but they probably do a half-ass job of it because the software is all piecemeal and complex and doesn't integrate very well.

A lot of people I know from IBM have left for other software companies. The young talent I worked with there largely moved on to work at other software companies. I think that long term losing talent will hurt their business rather than help it, but the train hasn't derailed yet, so who knows? They have been cost cutting and buying back stock but their revenues have not been that great. I think what they are really doing is slowly shrinking their business while using excess cash to buy back stock, thus increasing their stock price. We'll see if this is a good long term strategy.