Lately, the IT world has been humming with a variety of acronyms and buzzwords as usual. We hear about SOA and ITIL as well as "virtualization." Here virtualization generally refers to the ability to separate the computational capabilities associated with a business process from specific servers or other hardware. In effect, grid computing in which any terminal on a given grid can access the functions available.

Virtual worlds enable whole new business opportunities. Have a look at this article about second life and how successful businesses are using the medium to make real money. Note that the majority of this business usage currently centers on marketing and fashion. Other common uses of the virtual world include social clubs and advertising. Second life businesses article on CNET

I am marking this space to begin collecting my thoughts on the Age of Design. Future Shock, Network Nation, and Megatrends all predicted the information age. People would become information-empowered. The Internet connects people today and offers access to pricing, regulations, other government and public documents, as well as tools for manipulating data and producing more information.

So, how long will it take for flying cars to be commonplace?

Will they ever?

Several possibilities highlighted here including the Terrafugia concept.

If they are ever to work, they will need a technology called "synthetic vision." It allows individuals to see exactly where they are and where they are going under all conditions including complete fog. Interesting? Here is a little bit about it.

This page contains definitions for those taking the RFID adoption and integration survey as of Spring 2007.

This is an interesting competitor to Skype, etc.   Use your normal phone toplace international calls at a minimum cost!

See jajah.com 

The multi-touch screen procesing allows complex motion to be captured and interpreted. Look at the new two-finger scroll on MacBookPros and you see one application. here is another. This is a hot I/O technology to follow. it can be intuitive and accessible by average consumers, even non-computer-literate ones. Combine this technology with projectible touch-screen technology and amazing possibilities like projectible I/O interfaces on watches, etc. become possible.  Here is an example of a projectible touch-screen application: