For those looking for what's next in tech, Gartner's hype cycle chart is a fascinating source.
The latest chart interestingly places consumer generated media alongside public virtual worlds in its "Trough of Disillusionment". While we all know Second Life is no longer what it once was, but CGM seems still to have something of a pulse.
On the same chart, Gartner tells us somewhat surprisingly that e-book readers and microblogging are heading straight for the trough. Of course, this is often just a holding pen before these ideas emerge with momentum out into the Slope of Enlightenment.
Just emerging, according to Gartner, are brain-computer interfaces and human augmentation, which assumes one day we will all become the robots we fear.
