Trying to keep abreast of new technologies is a feat unto itself. Especially when the technology soup has gotten a whole lot tastier. More exotic ingredients makes for a hearty dish AND people are expecting a whole lot more than just the typical menu flare.

The term Web 2.0 will slowly fade but still be part of the vocabularly for those early adopters that managed to jump in with both feet first and bravely navigate their way into the new frontier.

We’ve seen platforms like Twitter and Facebook – evolve the concept of communication and present to us a hint of what might be.

We’ve witnessed a very ambitous Search Engine enter the industry after the fact and literally take the world by its balls. It not only took “searching” to a rather simplistic art form but has managed to re-invent the way people can become more dependent on technology all at the same time providing several of their platforms as an open book for people to look into, take a part and recreate child platforms that integrate with the mothership. For those of you that aren’t quite sure of who I’m talking about, it’s Google.

We’re experiencing the non-chalant attitude that has swept over people’s mind sets in terms of their data being stored – elsewhere. No longer are people storing data on their own hard drives but have actually adapted and trust companies to host their data on servers thousands of miles away, neighboured with other’s data and it’s perfectly okay. Perfectly, okay I tell you. Five years ago this concept raised several serious security and privacy issues but fast forward five years later to now, and people welcome the idea of partly existing in a cloud.

Not only are we partly existing in a cloud (cloud computing), but we’re also partly living and working in virtual worlds.

Virtual worlds are not  new. There were virtual worlds being used for educational collaborative projects back in the mid ’90’s but the hype of Linden Lab’s, Second Life brought virtual worlds to mainstream. 2005 saw the hype, climax and then slowly grind to a dead halt or so it seemed.  Just because the media reported a few negative stories or companies bailing out, Second Life continued to thrive as people continued to exploit its technology for a greater means. Yes mainstream, Second Life still exists and its economy is far better than our real life one. Second Life technology, when open sourced back in early 2007 saw a growth of open simulators and it’s not stopping anytime soon. Let’s just say for the record that these virtual worlds are really the 3D internet that will become a vital extension to 2D internet (i.e. a website) in the near future.

The mention of just a few basic platforms that have managed to set a base foundation for the technological canvas of the future will now seem rather doldrum when I mention other platforms that will really change the face of the way society uses technology.

1. Mobile Wireless taken to the nth degree. I’m thinking operating on a whole other spectrum, away from the chains that bind us to contractual data plans where our uploads  and downloads are limited. My guess is that Google will have some hand in this … why not?

2. Location Based Services (LBS). This will take GPS to a whole other level. Finding where your spouse is  and seeing whether he/she, really is where they say they are will be peanuts compared to what’s about to happen in 2010. LBS married with real time data and innovative mobile applications will be the cats pajamas! Just saying.

3. Augmented Reality (AR). Not really sure of what exactly Augmented reality is? Mashable did a general rundown on just some of the uses of AR in marketing, alone.  Then there’s DroidSpray, an augmented reality app created by the development team of OpenIntents. A mobile app that allows people to literally “spray paint their world”. This takes the phrase “Painting the town red” to a whole other level.

I’ll stop here. But I will leave you with this thought. Imagine integrating any of the above or all of the above with any or all of the previous base technology platforms I mentioned early in the blog post. This is not a new thought. In fact, I had a conversation like this with a few friends 2 years ago. In fact, these concepts were imagined 10 years ago .. only thing was, the technology was not yet there. But now, it’s a whole other story and anyone who’s eyes are wide opened and with passion to be one of the first to take any of these technologies into the daily living activities of mainstream .. and it has to happen in 2010, will be leaving everyone else in the  dust.

So, are you one of the doers or simply one of the early adopter users?

Yes. Please. Augment my reality because frankly, the REAL has ceased to excite me and the more time I spend holding my wireless device to communicate, navigate, extrapolate and maybe even masturbate, would just make my life a whole lot easier.

NOT!