2005 - Trends

So here comes 2005, finally! And its good fun to read out the general trends of what will be hot and not so hot from fashion magazine, tech magazines, car magazines... etc.

So hell, if the magazines can do it, so can my blog. Here are my predictions for 2005 (actually, some can go down as predictions and some can go down as "hope"). But consider all for entertainment only!

1. The IT boom in India will not see an exponential growth. A steady rise for sure, but not in leaps and bounds.
2. Politics will become more corrupt.
3. Microsoft will not open source any major project.
4. The blogging scene will decrease. Not many people will actively blog as they used to, but what they have blogged will be an amazing repository of reference on various topics.
5. My Dad will finally leave a comment on my blog.
6. It will be the year for Smartphone development. I dont know what it will do, and what will be developed, too hard to pedict. But it is the banner year for sure.
7. The healthcare industry will profit and be a major source of jobs.
8. Bird will disagree with more than one thing I say.
9. We will be lured into buying hardware since it comes bundled with some amazing software.
10. Indian call centers will have people speaking in perfect American accents, such that you wont be able to figure out if you have been linked to one in USA or India.
11. China will focus more on the English language. Few more years and I am sure they will take up a huge chunk of India's share in the IT dept.
12. Digital cameras will be in big time! Regular photo studios will develop off memory sticks rather than photo film. Cell phones will move to another level, and India will have much more stringent cyber laws (Thank you DPS - RK Puram).
13. Apoorva shall shed about 15 pounds and visit Seattle/Redmond in 2005! Also, Apoorva shall try out different hairstyles out of which one would be going bald.
14. The iPod shall have stiff competition. But eventually we will have one format of digital media distribution so in the end it wont matter.
15. Scoble will continue posting!
16. Hindi cinema will have some screenplays like the ones seen in Pulp Fiction or Wicker Park. Unfortunaltely, the concept will not go down well with the masses and will be a failure.... unless its a romantic movie with Shahrukh Khan!! Ayesha Takia will be the new face to watch out for and Farro will finally make a widescreen splash.
17. I will start writing a screenplay myself and come close to buying myself a cute little puppy for company.
18. Devices will be connected but independent at the same time. Just as Josh Ledgard puts in, "Devices will start talking to one another in meaningful ways. You’ll still want to have a separate phone, media player, camera, and GPS device; but when you take a picture your camera will use your phone to record a podcast style annotation, post the pic to your private MSN space with the annotation, a map of where you were, and what song you where listening to at the time. Then the picture will be automatically uploaded to your portable media player and synch with your media library as you pull into your garage. Yes, I know all this is possible now, but it will start to be more mainstream."
19. Irfan pathan will emerge as India's superstar bowler.
20. More malls and Multiplexes across India. Also, more traffic and more new car models.
21. The Delhi Metro which spans about 4.2 km right now will expand and provide much required relief to the people in the capital. Watching this scenario, other cities will be prompted into taking similiar steps.
22. Cricket shall be allowed yet again in Nandanvan.

Anymore predictions? Just add them to the comments.