Some of them don't seem entirely ridiculous. Anonymity going mainstream could likely happen due to everything that happened in 2013. Similarly, Drones got really big towards the end of 2013, seeing them get even bigger doesn't seem all that unlikely.
Your comment reminded me of this cool interactive NY Times article from 2011:
Predicting the Future of Computing
Since no supercomputer can yet predict the future, we need your help. Readers are
invited to make predictions and collaboratively edit this timeline, which is divided
into three sections: a sampling of past advances, future predictions that you can push
forward or backward in time (but not, of course, into the past), and a form for making
and voting on predictions. The most prescient prophet might receive an iPad 2 in 2050.
But if the past is any guide, this prediction will almost surely be wrong.
Seriously, none of the companies mentioned by name are particularly innovative or ahead of the curve (e.g. WeChat, which has tons of competitors with similar feature sets, user numbers, and prospects).
I can't really see any reason to mention them at all unless there's a bit of back-scratchin' going on...
[Moreover, given the generally random nature of the other "predictions" (some are just stupid, and are no way going to happen, and others are just repeating common wisdom) and I wonder if the purpose of the entire list is to push those companies....]
Faraday Zones are a neat idea! I've already got one by accident (sort of) in my home office, we extended the house and have our huge steel balcony inside our house[0] now, and it (along with huge steel struts through the house) means that wifi refuses to make it to the office.
Wonder how you'd be able to create a space like that on purpose?
I think they are getting ahead of themselves, especially with drones, and autonomous cars. Also that company "personal" that they list, I looked at the site and they run an auto-fill app for online "personal info" forms. Chrome already does that... doesn't it? I liked their "Faraday Zones" I thought that was a cool concept. Will it happen, I don't know.
WeChat / Chinese Tech giants are interesting. Does a Chinese / Non-US player stand a chance on potentially accessing the goldmine that is the American consumer data? And how will the NSA react? Or the American advertising industry?
What was that about the sky's the limit for great design, was there a prediction there? I expect predictions to at least some quantifiable component about them.
Looking at movies from the 80's and even the 90's it's kind of painful to see the perception of technology. Not because the technology is obsolete today and that in some way is hilariously funny, but because you can feel the hubris at that time as people thought of them self as being at the forefront.
Now I used to think that we the humanity grown out of that hubris. That our kids will never be able to mock us because of the old technology we once perceived as cutting edge, simply because we gotten more distanced to our self no longer perceiving our self as being on the forefront in a world that's always changing.
But right now I feel like we're back in the hubris of the 80's. We will tell our kids about the time when every one was supposed to have a 3d printer at home. The material was super expensive, the material didn't hold up to anything, and who is going to have time to manufacture stuff at home when we don't even make our own food any more? And our kids will laugh at us for ever getting so out of touch with reality.
