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2007 Predictions
Jan. 5th, 2007 11:46 pmI have some predictions for the coming year. Based mainly on intuition and gut instinct, rather than things like, oh, facts. I'll try to see if I was right about any of them at year's end.
1. Google will move its focus from searching to advertising. Lack of attention will cause a lapse in the searches' quality. It will found a separate entity for the original web search, while the majority of the company is kept to work on further developing its advertising business.
2. Apple will open up the source for iTunes, which is followed by various hacks to allow it to work on other music players. Sales will not be noticeably affected.
3. One way or another, America will begin to withdraw from Iraq.
4. President Bush is forced by pressure to make significant changes in his administration. His approval rating sinks and stays to less than nine percent.
5. The now-Democratic Congress will turn out more liberal than people thought. They'll push minimum wage, emission regulation and other such bills, though against heavy resistance.
5.a. FOX News will blame all the world's troubles on this. Many, many, many times.
6. A high-profile celebrity, such as Bono, will donate his entire fortune to his pet charity/cause. They then disappear to do serious work on said cause, instead of grandstanding and lecturing why people should donate.
7. Al Gore will launch a surprise, late-entry campaign for President. (Thousands, nay, millions rejoice.)
8. Microsoft will unveil a hidden project so innovative that hardcore Mac and Linux users flock to it. But only the richest ones - it will be prohibitively expensive.
9. Email will be declared formally dead, due to oversaturation of spam and viruses.
9.a. This will be accompanied by an increase in instant-messaging applications.
10. Antarctica will lose at least a tenth of its ice mass via violent melting and fracturing. Similar incidents will occur in Greenland and other frozen areas of the north.
11. A powerful hurricane, more powerful than any observed in all history, will rampage along the East coast of the U.S. As a result, incredibly strict pollution controls and other anti-global-warming measures are put in place.
12. Newt Gingrich and Ralph Nader finally give up.
13. Mass censorship of "objectionable" materials occurs in both the US and UK. Websites are pressured with (bogus) legal threats to take down material, which results in the shutdown of a majority of these sites.
14. Net neutrality fails. There is little fanfare to accompany this, due largely to not many people caring. Soon, however, sites seem to disappear due to inactivity or controversial content.
15. Re-emergence of Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles are observed. Worldwide interest in Art begins to increase.
16. Wikipedia implodes from internal squabbling. It becomes incredibly unstable and of incredibly dubious trustworthiness.
1. Google will move its focus from searching to advertising. Lack of attention will cause a lapse in the searches' quality. It will found a separate entity for the original web search, while the majority of the company is kept to work on further developing its advertising business.
2. Apple will open up the source for iTunes, which is followed by various hacks to allow it to work on other music players. Sales will not be noticeably affected.
3. One way or another, America will begin to withdraw from Iraq.
4. President Bush is forced by pressure to make significant changes in his administration. His approval rating sinks and stays to less than nine percent.
5. The now-Democratic Congress will turn out more liberal than people thought. They'll push minimum wage, emission regulation and other such bills, though against heavy resistance.
5.a. FOX News will blame all the world's troubles on this. Many, many, many times.
6. A high-profile celebrity, such as Bono, will donate his entire fortune to his pet charity/cause. They then disappear to do serious work on said cause, instead of grandstanding and lecturing why people should donate.
7. Al Gore will launch a surprise, late-entry campaign for President. (Thousands, nay, millions rejoice.)
8. Microsoft will unveil a hidden project so innovative that hardcore Mac and Linux users flock to it. But only the richest ones - it will be prohibitively expensive.
9. Email will be declared formally dead, due to oversaturation of spam and viruses.
9.a. This will be accompanied by an increase in instant-messaging applications.
10. Antarctica will lose at least a tenth of its ice mass via violent melting and fracturing. Similar incidents will occur in Greenland and other frozen areas of the north.
11. A powerful hurricane, more powerful than any observed in all history, will rampage along the East coast of the U.S. As a result, incredibly strict pollution controls and other anti-global-warming measures are put in place.
12. Newt Gingrich and Ralph Nader finally give up.
13. Mass censorship of "objectionable" materials occurs in both the US and UK. Websites are pressured with (bogus) legal threats to take down material, which results in the shutdown of a majority of these sites.
14. Net neutrality fails. There is little fanfare to accompany this, due largely to not many people caring. Soon, however, sites seem to disappear due to inactivity or controversial content.
15. Re-emergence of Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles are observed. Worldwide interest in Art begins to increase.
16. Wikipedia implodes from internal squabbling. It becomes incredibly unstable and of incredibly dubious trustworthiness.
