The year is already 1/12 over!  How did that happen?   I’m a little late to the game with my tech predictions for this year but I figured better late than never.   Last year I batted around a .400.  Let see if this year is any better.  Here are my predictions for the coming year:

Photo: Matt Dunham/AP

There will be a large-scale botnet attack

Hackers have recently been mounting large-scale attacks on major corporations by using botnets.  Here’s how it works:   A botnet is a network of computers that are infected by a virus.  Hackers use this virus to take control of all the infected computers’ computing power and attack a specific target.

Hacktivist groups like Anonymous have recently made headlines by using botnets to attack organizations that criticized and withdrew support of Wikileaks.  Just a few days ago they were in the news again, threatening Egypt’s government for blocking internet access to protestors.  With more and more computers becoming infected, the botnets are growing exponentially in computing power.  I think we’ll see some major attacks this year, possibly to financial or government organizations.

Twitter will release a do-it-yourself ad service

This past year we finally saw an effort by Twitter to make some revenue.  Analysts say that their ad services may make as much as $250 million revenue by 2012.  Their challenge is going to be proving that these promoted tweets are actually effective, since Facebook offers the same service with a bigger user base.  Twitter has enough of a niche market that if they introduce something similar to Facebook and Google’s do it yourself ad services, they could start to be competitive.

Myspace will be bought, possibly by a recording company

Myspace is hurting badly.  It recently laid off about 50% of its workforce and continues to struggle to find a niche in the Facebook-dominated social space.  One thing that Myspace seems to have over Facebook is a good interface for sharing music.  Myspace continues to be a site for musicians looking to share their music and they still have recognition.  With some rebranding and significant downsizing, they must be useful to someone!

From tonymadrid on Flickr

iPhone on Verizon will crush Android sales

The iPhone is coming to Verizon in February and analysts predict anywhere from 12 to 25 million will sell in 2011.  That does not bode well for Android, which was able to compete with the iPhone in market share partially because of AT&T’s exclusivity deal with Apple. However, HTC and Motorola have some pretty nifty new Android phones coming out mid-year that will definitely be competitive, so we’ll have to wait and see!

Android Honeycomb will be beautiful, but iPad 2 will come out in the summer and dominate tablet sales

CES 2011 was a blizzard of tablets.  It seemed almost every single maker had their own tablet to announce.  Google will be showing off its new tablet operating system, Android Honeycomb, at a press event on February 2^nd.

This is the operating system that many of the tablets at CES will be running and I can’t wait to see what it looks like.  We haven’t heard anything about iPad 2 yet, but the first generation has been out for so long with little to no competition that even with all the shiny new Android tablets hitting the market soon, I think iPad sales will continue to dominate in 2011.

Net neutrality will make front page headlines

Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers should put no restrictions on the type of content we receive and the methods in which we receive it.  Proponents for net neutrality argue that telecom companies are trying to enact a tiered model where the consumer would have to pay a different amount to access different data.

This model is ultimately harmful to the consumer because telecom companies would be able to remove competition to their services by controlling the flow of content and creating artificial scarcity.  This issue hasn’t had much effect on the mainstream media yet, but I think we’ll be reading a lot more about it this year, especially with the recent Comcast-NBC deal.

Yahoo will continue to lay off workers

I had this prediction written in early January and then it came true.  Yahoo announced more layoffs this month and I predict we’ll see more of that in 2011.  I also wouldn’t be surprised if Carol Bartz is out of there by December.

What do you think we’ll see if 2011? Angry Birds on gaming consoles? Apple shutting down it’s Ping service? Share your predictions in the comments below!

In case you weren’t sure, this week marked the beginning of a New Year. You know what that means: a 2010 Year-in-Review from every blog, newspaper, magazine, and random mailing list you still receive and don’t know why. So to add to the pile, I’m taking a look back at my 2010 predictions to see how well I did (I wasn’t terrible!)

Prediction #1: Twitter will remain unpopular among college age students.

Verdict: Kind of.

It’s hard to say whether this prediction is right or wrong as Twitter does not often release usage statistics, but PEW Internet recently released an interesting study on social media usage by demographic. While the younger age group (15-24) still makes up a majority of social media users, the fastest growing group is the over 74 year cohort. This neither proves nor disproves my prediction, but it is still an interesting statistic!

Prediction #2: Twitter will be bought.

Verdict: False.

Okay, so Twitter wasn’t bought. BUT, I did say that they would not monetize. Given that they have not released any information regarding their profits (and given that they probably would have if they were actually making a profit), I’m going to postpone this prediction to 2011.

Prediction #3: LinkedIn profile expansion among college age students.

Verdict: False.

It seems that most college students still don’t understand the power of networking sites like LinkedIn. The usage demographic remains heavily skewed towards the older male demographic with fewer than 4% of users in the 18-24 age group. Hopefully my E-Book about Networking for New Grads will help that.

Prediction #4: People will actually start to care about Facebook privacy.

Verdict: True.

This summer, Facebook’s privacy debacle made headlines on almost all major newspapers. It’s agreed by basically all journalists that Facebook screwed up royally. Whether anyone actually cared about it? I hope so!

Prediction #5: Explosion in sales of E-book Readers and 3D TVs.

Verdict: Half true.

Did you get a Kindle for Christmas? The Kindle has dominated the Amazon Best Seller’s list for the entire year. Gartner group reported in December that electronic book readers would reach 6.6 million by the end of 2010, which is a 79% increase from 2009.  If only I’d stopped there.  Due to a serious lack of content, 3D TV sales this holiday were dismal at best.  Guess no one wants to wear funky glasses in their living room.

Prediction #6: More cross-over between social platforms.

Verdict: True.

You can login to almost any website now using Facebook Connect and Twitter now allows you to look for friends by connecting your LinkedIn profile. The Facebook and Twitter APIs also allow lots of social media newcomers like bookmarking site Diigo to send updates straight to Facebook and Twitter.

Prediction #7: Pressure from baby boomers to improve Facebook usability.

Verdict: Kind of.

This is a hard prediction to measure and I don’t think there can be a definite answer. What we do know is that baby boomers are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook, so Facebook is making more of an effort to cater to this age group. I recently set up my aunt on Facebook and saw that they have a great new “Welcome to Facebook” page, something I would not have seen when I joined the site back in 2006. If they keep adding features like this to improve usability, I think baby boomers will continue to flock.

Prediction #8: Google Wave will be an epic fail.

Verdict. SO true.

You may ask, “What is Google Wave?” Exactly. Google announced this August that they would no longer be developing their Google Wave product.  From one of the most buzzed about products in 2009 to a discontinued service in 2010, this definitely qualifies an epic fail.

Prediction #9: Backlash towards telegraphic communication.

Verdict: False.

Guess I was wrong. People don’t seem to have a problem with twitter’s 140 character limit. Is social media making us dumber?

Prediction #10: Service that combines personal recommendations with personal networks.

Verdict: True.

Facebook has been doing this all over the place. With their Facebook Connect and API, websites can creepily steal utilize information on your facebook profile to offer recommendations based on what your friends like.

Well there you have it. With four and a half true, three false, and two kind of, I’d say that’s a pretty good showing for 2010. Check back soon to see a new set of predictions for 2011.

Happy 2010! After four months abroad in Spain, I am back in the United States, settling back into Chipotle burritos, big SUVs, free tap water at restaurants, and going to bed at midnight instead of 6am. And it’s great. Although it’s not great that I haven’t written since December, but it’s a new year! So here are 10 new thoughts on the emerging trends of 2010.

4. People will actually start to care about Facebook privacy.

You’ve heard of the horror stories of students getting fired from their jobs for saying bad things about their bosses on Facebook.

In 2010, students will be more aware of their online reputation, increase their privacy settings across the board and cut back on the incriminating keg-stand photos.

And there you have my predictions for 2010! Do you agree? Disagree? Have predictions of your own? Leave a comment and let me know.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any money lost due to gambling these claims. Unless you win.