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Yep, it’s that time of the year. Predictions everywhere. Let me start with a list I understand. Well, it might have to do with the fact it mentions blogs…

Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research peers into his crystal ball for Computerworld:

2. PDAs will become passe. Disconnected ones, that is. Over time, the real action will be moving core PDA functionality, centered on personal information management, to other devices such as cell phones. This will cause major IT headaches, since few cell phones are controlled by IT these days.

So, Tomi Ahonen was right about the mobile winning the battle of the most ubiquitous gadget. Which is good news for us since Tomi also thinks (mo)blogging is the future.

3. More people will lose their jobs over their weblogs. It’s happened already, and it will happen again. If you’re posting about your job or employer without consent, you’re taking a lot of risk with your future.

And more people will gain jobs over their weblogs. But essentially right, there are legal issues as well as cultural that will make it likely that some blogger may loose a job. This is why we set up the Big Blog Company, so businesses do not have to fear blogs but embrace them. In which case, you’d better change from pyjamas into something more suitable… And guidelines. Guidelines help. And treating your employees as intelligent agents and explaining to them why writing about some things may not be a good idea.

4. But more corporations will create official blogs. Corporations have seen the weblog light, and blogs will become common for business use. Unfortunately, far too many of these efforts will just be marketing fluff disguised as weblogs.

I like this prediction. A lot. Have corporations seen the weblog light? Certainly not in the UK, but we are working on it. But I too expect to see more faux, marketing fluff blogs with ‘jumped on the bandwagon (that we don’t really understand or care to understand)’ written all over them…

6. Wi-Fi will be ubiquitous, but not in the workplace. Wi-Fi is readily available in public places such as coffee shops, airports and hotels. IT shops, however, will slow deployments a bit over fears of security. End users will take matters into their own hands, so expect to see lots of ad hoc networks springing up.

Good news, more wi-fi everywhere enables me to leave the house, which has got to have a positive influence on my well-being. Also, good for meeting people in a cafe and being able to show them the blogging marvel live over a cup of coffee. Priceless.

7. VoIP will be a mainstream technology for business users. Voice over IP is perhaps the hottest technology in the telecommunications industry today. VoIP-based services will grow even more as a mainstream technology for business use. Expect a lot of competition for the trillions of minutes and billions of dollars’ worth of voice calls that business users make each year.

Marvellous. Where would we be without Skype...?

Oh, and there is some stuff about Longhorn, Moore’s law and Linux.