In preparation for this article, I briefly reviewed the opinions of others in terms of their outlook for new inventions, innovations and technology. Here are my humble opinion of what’s hot and what’s not.

In no particular order, the following are what I see as the trends for new products and innovation in 2013.

• Blurring of features available in smartphones, PCs and tablets. As inventors strive to make smarter and lighter PCs, tablets and phones, adding on more functionalities will mean more choices for consumers, and will also confuse them more. With all the available optional accessories, soon the consumers (if not already) will wise up and re-think what devices should they actually carry?
• Software application will move to the cloud. It’s already happening and will happen in a bigger way in the years to come as software development tools make it easier to develop applications for the cloud. This will inevitably force marketers to re-think its sales strategy, pricing and market.
• Decision, decision, decision. Tools that make human intelligence redundant, or even obsolete, will continue to flood the market. Already, the need to memorize phone numbers, social security numbers, birthdays, addresses and all, are already relegated to online address books, online calendars and online anything. Soon, technology will replace the need for humans to make decision.
• Smart technology? As IBM’s aptly named “Smarter Planet” project, a slew of many large and not-so-large projects will proliferate. Human intelligence will become a thing of the past, as technology replaces the human being in high level decision task. Will science fiction finally become reality?
• Collaboration and Competition. Tomorrow’s companies will compete intensively and collaborate equally aggressively. On the marketing front, they will publicly challenge each other on price, positioning and promotion, but on the technology end, collaboration will continue in research and innovation, as cost need to be shared and lifecycles reduces. Today’s consumers demand quicker turnaround and novel products in shorter time.

You will certainly have your own list which may differ from mine. Perhaps this article will encourage many to share their own thoughts, and together we create a craigslist of what’s hot and what’s not.