Every year, IBM takes a stab at telling the future by examining what they’re working on in their 5in5 series. This year’s list was surprisingly bland compared to past ones as they explored technologies that many would agree aren’t necessarily 5 years away; in two cases, we should see these technologies enter our daily lives within 1 or 2 years. It’s not an insult of what they’re trying to do – they’re the scientists and we’re just bloggers. It’s just that their predictions are a bit conservative. Energy Applying kinetic energy solutions to our lives is something that makes complete sense other than…

When people make predictions about future technologies that come true, they are seen as visionaries. When people miss terribly with their predictions, they have infographics that live forever telling of how wrong they were. Such has been the case for many futurists over the past century and a third. It’s often easy to make a bold prediction when it is supposed to come true in the distant future, but some predictions were proven to be exceptionally wrong looking a couple of years ahead. Bill Gates, for example, said spam would be solved in 2 years. That was 2004. We’re still waiting and hoping for…

The Wall Street Journal called him “the restless genius.” Forbes said he was “the ultimate thinking machine.” by Forbes magazine. Inc. Magazine proclaimed him the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison.” Author. Inventor. Futurist. Freak? If you don’t know Ray Kurzweil, you should definitely read up on his Wikipedia page. Then, check out this graphic by our friends at GrasshopperGroup. When you’re done with that, scroll down and watch the Ted video under the graphic.. At that point, you should be giving yourself a pep talk about how you can be as geeky cool as this guy. …

The past year in technology was among the more surprising ones we’ve had. Even the most astute, insightful tech observers would have had trouble predicting some of the things that happened this year. The iPad and Kinect have become the fastest selling electronic devices in history. Android exploded at a rate few could have seen coming. Facebook and Twitter kept up their blistering expansion rates, while Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7… is actually good. But what about this coming year? What events and happenings will not only define 2011, but also cause tech-heads to look back in a year from now…