Looking back and peering into the future

I've been surfing around this morning, checking out various lists of top stories in technology for this year and predictions for next year.  

Technology Review includes municipal Wi-Fi, silicon photonics, social machines (social media/Web 2.0), search (vertical, blog, local, books, tags, etc.) and feeds.  

On ZDNet was have a list of the Top 10 stories based on what readers clicked on--lots of interest in Windows and Paris Hilton.

• Employees to be billed for personal Net use?
• IBM slows light, readies it for networking
• Paris Hilton's cell phone hacked?
• Critical Windows patch may wreak PC havoc
• Outsourcing flops blamed on tunnel vision
• Spying on the spyware makers
• Microsoft's nightmare inches closer to reality
• It's Windows vs. Windows as Microsoft battles piracy
• Microsoft: Legit Windows or no updates
• Microsoft to add 'black box' to Windows

The top searches on Google News are reflective of what interests real people:

1. Janet Jackson
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. tsunami
4. xbox 360
5. Brad Pitt
6. Michael Jackson
7. American Idol
8. Britney Spears
9. Angelina Jolie
10. Harry Potter

Wired News has the Best Tech Moments of 2005 and the Worst Tech Moments of 2005.

ITWorld (IDG) has a good top 10 tech story roundup:

• Oracle buys Siebel: M&A market stays hot
• The bet that failed: HP fires Fiorina
• Sony dumps Idei, elevates Stringer
• Google, supernova
• Web 2.0: Software as a service is real
• The play for the digital home: Microsoft launches Xbox 360
• The giant challenged: AMD sues Intel
• The hits just keep on coming: iPod keeps Apple in business
• PR nightmare of the year: Sony's rootkit fiasco
• AOL in play: a sign for Time Warner, and the times

Missing are eBay acquiring Skpye for $2.6 billion and Apple hooking up with Intel,  but then it's not a top 10.

Rob Hof of BusinessWeek has his own set of humorous predictions for 2006. Here's a sample:

Google’s stock price will fall after its profit growth plummets to 80%, prompting a spate of hand-wringing magazine cover stories on “what’s gone wrong” at Google.

Apple will release the iPod Pico, but it will fizzle when nobody can actually see it.

Attempting to capitalize on the popularity of ultra-simple services such as 37Signals’ Backpack, a startup called 0Things will release a service that does absolutely nothing. Following a positive writeup on the TechCrunch blog, it will be a smash hit before selling out three months later to Google for a rumored $60 million, after which people will decide it sucks.

The San Jose Mercury News has its list of top 10 technology trends for 2006:

• WiFi networks
• Cell phones do everything
• Internet phone calls zoom become more popular now that major Web companies are making it easier.
• The office moves to the Web Documents, e-mail and spreadsheets move off your desktop computer to the Web.
• Stem-cell research advances despite legal challenges
• Biotechs target flu vaccines
• Even small start-ups go global
• Video comes to the blog
• On-demand video everywhere 
• Clean technologies

Also check out some of the predicitons by ZDNet bloggers here (Russell Shaw), here (Tom Foremski), here (Richard MacManus), here (Dana Gardner), here (Steve Gillmor) and here (Roland Piquepaille).

Also, Alex Barnett is collating 2006 tech predictions on his blog...