Tech to change lives in 2010

Heading into 2010, regardless of what happens with the economy, technology will continue to evolve at a rapid speed, changing how people communicate, shop, receive information, pay bills and perform a variety of daily routines, writes the Monterey Herald.

Each year, Technology Review, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, publishes the emerging technologies with the potential to change lives around the world.

Some of this year's choices include the Intelligent Software Assistant, a powerful software that acts as a personal aide, a do engine rather than a search engine, which will help users complete tasks rather than just collect information. Meanwhile, a new medical technology called the $100 Genome has the potential to cut DNA sequencing costs dramatically - an entire human genome can be read in eight hours for $100 or less.

A full-fledged 3D television turf war is brewing in the US, as manufacturers unveil sets capable of 3D and cable programmers rush to create new channels for them, says The New York Times.

Many people are sceptical that consumers will suddenly pull their LCD and plasma televisions off the wall. Beginning at around $2 000, the 3D sets will, at first, cost more than even the current crop of high-end flat-screens, and buyers will need special glasses to watch in 3D.

But programmers and technology companies are betting that consumers are almost ready to fall in love with television in the third dimension. In part, it could be the 'Avatar' effect: with 3D films gaining traction at the box office - James Cameron's Avatar surpassed the staggering $1 billion mark last weekend - companies are now determined to bring an equivalent experience to the living room.

A team of British researchers is set to begin a trial programme by planting nanotechnology-based artificial arteries into humans, according to Computerworld.

Scientists at London's Royal Free Hospital received a grant of more than $800 000 to move the artificial artery project from the laboratory to human trials within the next year, according to the hospital. The artificial arteries are made of a polymer material combined with nanomaterials.

The hospital said the materials can closely mimic natural vessels by pulsing along with the beating of the patient's heart. "As well as this, the new graft material is strong, flexible, resistant to blood clotting and doesn't break down, which is a major breakthrough," said George Hamilton, a team leader and professor of vascular surgery at the Royal Free Hospital.