IBM Sees Breathing Batteries, Holographic Calls By 2015

By 2015, you could see the 3-D image of a person calling you and you can plan in advance your shortest and less traffic-congested route to the office.

Not enough? Even breathing batteries, laptops powered by kinetic energy could also be on your way over the next five years, according to the latest technology predictions of International Business Machines (IBM).

Armonk, New York-based computer giant has released its annual Next Five in Five list of five innovations that is expected to hit the ground by 2015. The predictions are based on survey conducted with over 3,000 researchers at IBM's Almaden research lab.

People could be able to interact with far-away friends in 3D and even conduct video conferencing through holographic cameras that fit into cellphones allowing video chat, IBM researchers said.

The technology giant also expects today's lithium-ion batteries could be replaced by batteries using energy-dense metals that only need to interact with the air to recharge and those kind of batteries could last 10 times longer than the current battery technology.

If successful, the result will be a lightweight, powerful and rechargeable battery capable of powering everything from electric cars to consumer devices. IBM said.

In addition, IBM noted that Adaptive traffic systems could personalize your commute, predict traffic congestions and other issues by computer programs that forecast traffic jams, thereby allowing a person to reach his destination with minimum interruptions on road.

IBM says citizens could collect real-time data about their environment with the help of sensors in cars, phones or wallets and that information can then be used by professional scientists for research, according to a video posted by the company on YouTube, .

IBM researchers also predict future homes could be powered by heat generated by computer servers as scientists will find ways to better recycle heat and energy from data centers to heat buildings in the winter and power air conditioning in the summer.

Up to 50 percent of the energy consumed by a modern data center goes toward air cooling, IBM said. Most of the heat is then wasted because it is just dumped into the atmosphere.

New technologies, such as novel on-chip water-cooling systems developed by IBM, the thermal energy from a cluster of computer processors can be efficiently recycled to provide hot water for an office or houses, IBM added.

IBM released its first list of predictions in 2006 and all predictions have not come true. In 2006, IBM scientists said instantaneous speech translation would become the norm, but that is yet to happen.

However, a 2007 prediction that mobile phones will act as a wallet, ticket booker, bank and shopping assistant have come true, driven by a surge in smartphone applications. Today, consumers can pay utility bills, buy movie tickets, perform financial transactions and do shopping, all with their phones.

IBM, the world’s largest provider of computer services, is one of the few big corporations investing in long-range research projects and has invested $5.8 billion in research and development last year, accounting for 6.1 percent of revenue, according to the company financials.

Separately, IBM said its 'racetrack' memory technology, which could enable a handheld device like an MP3 player to store about 3,500 movies or 500,000 songs, is a step closer to commercial viability.