Im hoping for big breakthroughs in quantum computing. On the interface side i think its going to get more touch orientated.

I think they'll possibly be contained in headphones of some description, with a voice-activated operation (Voice recognition is advancing quickly) and viewed by deflecting images into the nearest shop window/any reflective surface! You could be passing a shiny car and view your emails...!! I'm patenting this by the way!! It's MY idea :-)

Only looks?  Unless there is a major breakthrough in technology, I don't think PCs and Laptops will change that much visually 10 years from now.

I agree with Heather that there will probably be some developments of user interfaces. I do think voice recognition will always need to work with some other interfaces (you can't really dictate emails on the train!) My observation over the last 10 years is that we haven't really moved on a great deal with the devices (bigger/smaller, faster/slower!) but what has happened is the existing technologies get better integrated. If you look at the latest televisions, they now include web functions (YouTube etc) and some allow you to dock applets on the screen, just like Windows. Laptops have screens with the resolution to watch Blue ray movies and HD content. I think we should expect further cross-pollination of the technologies and interfaces and how we experience applications will change. The only thing that will hold it all back is our ability to use it and this also is something that has advanced massively in the last 10 years - just look at your mobile phone. 10 years ago the Nokia 6210 was cutting edge with it's 1" mono screen and complex menus. Now we use gestures on phones which are full colour screens and media devices.

Look what hasn't changed. As Mike says, the physical shape of computers hasn't changed much (the basic laptop shape has stayed the same for about 20 years now). We still use a qwerty keyboard (which appeared in 1878!). Though huge screens are possible, nine to twenty inches still seems to be about the optimum for our eyes, so that hasn't changed (though I am sure the underlying screen technology will : 70's green CRT screens : 80's small colour CRT : 90's large colour CRT : 00's medium LCD and large plasma : 10's OLED, 3D, and maybe direct eye projection?)

To look forward, look back! When you realise how far we've come you realise that the future will be exciting, but the same really!

We are going in circles since over 20 years.

Circle 1 - From Mainframe+Terminal computing to internet cloud and virtual computing

Circle 2 - Small Notebooks with 13" Monitor to Big Notebooks with 20" (Desktop replacement) and now we are going back to small netbook with 13" Monitor.

There is no real innovation and revolution since over 20 years by now.. We are moving sideways but not forward.

Just one, hmm... maybe 2 words: "Minority report"

I'm convinced that that in 10 years we will all have a TV with Multi-touch support and a screen with multi-level desktops (thanks to 3D technology) and all this using Web OSs and Cloud services (to allow you to retrieve all your apps and data wherever you are)

I bet that NFC (Near Field Communication) will play a huge role like it's already the case with some cars that recognize you and set up your seat while you approach it I personally would love to see my house and/or my home PC to open my session just because it recognize me :) 

Difficult to judge whether we're moving sideways are forward.

Heather, I'm a witness for your patent, call me if needed. ;-)

Thanks Mohamed and Paul for your detailed answer.

Nick, sorry, what's quantum computing?

Thank you Sophie - :-)

And the problem with directing everything through/via/within the TV is that you don't want to have to take the 52" screen down off the wall each time you go on holiday - it won't fit in the aircraft allowance.....:-)

Everyone sitting comfrotably  - then i shall begin.

Quantum computer technology involves the use of the quantum particle as a replacement for the bit of today's computers.

unlike today's computers that uses the basic bit which has only two states (1 or 0), a quantum computer will store information as quantum bits which can hold more than two values. This ability of qubits to exist in more than two states means that a quantum computer has the capability of performing more than a million simultaneous computations at one time (todays machines can only do one ata time) and the potential to be a lot faster and a lot more powerful than today's supercomputers.

If you want to really bend you brain then you can read up on Quantum Theory, Superposition and Entanglement (Bill bryson's  "a breif history of everything" has a nice chapter that explains it quite well)

Please ignore the typos :)

@Nick : I'd recommend the Bill Bryson book for anyone non-technical.

@Nick : I meant to mention... since the operation I never sit comfortably! ;-)

Ha ha  - was that the reduction?

Thanks Nick for the explanation!

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