Here's an updated list of what will be hot and what will not.

Back 8 months ago, I thought it would be interesting for me to put forward my view of what would be hot and not. This is what I said at the time:

	e-book reader	While Amazon and Barnes & Noble have experienced good sales with their products this past year, NOOKColor is actually an Android tablet under the hood. They will be expanding upon the apps which can be loaded onto it. Similarly, there are rumors that Amazon is hiring developers to turn their ebook reader into a more robust device. Future tablets are going to be sleek, sexy, and light, so ebook readers will have lots of competition.
	DVD	Streaming is the way of the future.
	Newspapers, magazines	These are not gadgets but are being threatened by hi-tech. Some thought iPad would save them, but actually, sales are already down for these online magazines/newspapers.

8 months later, this article also mentions gadgets on the verge of extinction: http://gizmodo.com/5731594/12-technologies-on-the-verge-of-extinction

#1	Pre-recorded Physical Media (ie, such as DVDs)
#3	eBook readers

Anyway, for items to look for:

	3D	A lot of people don’t seem that excited about 3D yet, but it will be that you don’t have a digital camera anymore without 3D… Then a digital photo frame… Then digital video. Of course, support of these devices will grow when they eliminate the need for the 3D glasses, which will already make good progess these year (on smaller screens).
	Android	Android will be ubiquitous. Imagine your digital photo frame/digital clock device next to your bed waking you up gently with the song of your choice (or random song from your music library), automatically recording your slept debt, and announcing your schedule for the day. Then as you plop in front of the TV, you can use your Android phone as a remote… But wait, no need for a remote. Your GoogleTV device allows voice activation. You get a call on your home phone, but it is a known telemarketer. The app on your home phone automatically diverts the call where Google Voice plays the fake “You have reached a number which has been disconnected.” You receive another call, but you’re running late, so you don’t answer. Since the caller called your Google voice number, it is ringing your house phone and cell phone simultaneously. You still decide not to answer because you know you will get delayed. You get into your car where your built-in navigation device will tell you traffic delays as it gives you direction to the place you looked up in Google maps the night before on your computer. While driving, it reads aloud your phone messages. Much of this technology is already available on Android. It’s just a matter of making more devices which utilize Android technology.
	Phones which also serve as computers	Most people don’t need high-powered computers. Most of the use of their computers is for browsing, e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, etc. Phones are getting more and more powerful. Soon, if you travel, you won’t need to take a notebook computer with you on business trips… Just your phone and a notebook docking station. This is similar to the Motorola Atrix showed at this year’s CES. See pics below. Unfortunately, I think Microsoft would be in the best position to implement this strategy, though.

From the back, you can see where the phone is inserted:

This is not unlike the IBM MetaPad concept from several years ago which was sort of like a small brick for the computer:

which could then be used with a small screen for a handheld computer:

or inserted into a notebook shell for a notebook computer:

or plugged into a desktop.

See more progress on: get the latest gadgets whether they are practical or not