Together, they point to a world in which connected, intelligent devices, particularly mobile ones, are involved in our daily lives, not just in our business endeavors. What follows is a summary of a part of Johnston’s far-ranging presentation “Tech Update 2013.”

1. Rapid growth of big data
“Pretty much all industries are affected.” Big data is the technology buzz phrase for the explosion of data and the techniques need to mine them, including an ability to use the volume of data to produce greater detail from analysis than has previously been possible. Johnston noted that analysis of big data is a key in the controversy over the government’s analysis of telephone communication. However, he said the only thing that is new is the uproar – Johnston said a few years ago he discussed that cell phone communication has been monitored by the government since at least 2003.

2. Cloud computing and advanced cloud services
“We are seeing corporate America starting to buy into and employ cloud technologies.”Cloud computing represents a major shift in how organizations obtain and maintain software, hardware, and computing capacity.

 3. On demand services
“We are trying to buy things on demand as we need them.” Johnston says that the list of “as a service” products and services such as hardware, software, platform and infrastructure as a service are contributing to an “IT as a service” mentality. That change enables companies to cut costs and IT departments to be more focused on business and business processes and less on “wrench turning.”

4. Virtualization of storage, desktops, applications, and networking
“All of you should be running virtual services at this point.” Johnston says the virtualization of processing power will enable mobile devices to access super-computer capabilities and apply it to processes such as purchasing and logistics. However, there is still a shortage of skilled workers to use implement some of the applications involved in virtualization.

5. Consumerization of IT increases
“Companies have stopped fighting consumerization.” Businesses have recognized consumerization is a beneficial trend and have stopped fighting it. Johnston notes he does not say consumerization – the bring-your-own-device phenomenon in particular – is cheaper, but that it is more convenient.

6. Gamification of training and education
“Some will companies will develop software that game technologies that work on existing hardware systems such as Xbox and PlayStation” Gamification includes providing story lines that have a narrative, rewards and mechanisms such as points, rewards, leaderboards and avatars. These can make training more productive for a generation raised on games.

7. Social business
“We think social networking is going to be long term.” Social software will develop features to enhance relationships, collaboration, networking and social validation. Social search will also be used by marketers and researcher to analyze daily tweets and other social network conversations to providing real-time analysis of many key consumer metrics

8. Smartphones and tablets become our primary personal computers
“We see virtualization running on smart phone so we can have a business phone and personal phone on same device.” An enterprise mobility strategy becomes mandatory for all size organizations as mobile devices and services explode.

9. 3D printing (additive manufacturing)
“My second-favorite 3D printer as at the University of Chicago, which is printing skin for burn victims.” Three-D printing enables companies to manufacturing quickly, locally and with far fewer costs. Johnston says while these devices were originally designed print prototypes, they are increasingly being used to print final products such as jewelry, iPhone cases, shoes, car dashboards, parts for jet engines and prosthetic limbs.

10. Intelligent electronic agents
“The next big revolution in maps is internal maps for stores.” These agents include tools like Apple’s Siri. Retailers will soon have a Siri-like sales assistant, and maintenance workers will have a Siri-like assistant.

11. Digital identity management
“We are going to start seeing some new generation biometric technology in our phones.” He cites the likely use face, fingerprint and retinal ID techniques. This next generation of biometrics will be integrated into smartphones and tablets.

12. Visual communications
“Virtual conferencing is back with a vengeance.” Johnston predicts visual communications will be integrated with current video conferencing systems and that big-room systems are coming back as well. Products such as Skype and FaceTime take videoconferencing to another level.

13. Enhanced location awareness
Geo-spatial visualization combines geographic information systems (GIS) with location-aware data, radio frequency identification (RFID ), and other location-aware sensors. Early enterprise applications include logistics and supply chain management.

14. Mobile banking
“The United States is quite backwards in its banking system. I think with mobile banking will finally take off.” Smartphones are already being used as eWallets in some countries, Johnston says. Banks are also seeing non-bank competitors such as Google Wallet and Apple with its iOS 6 Passbook move into the market.

15. Smart TV using apps
“Streaming from Netflix, Google or an Amazon is pretty dog gone easy to do today. It will be easier with the new Smart TV.” Smart TV is the beginning of a major shift in home TV viewing. Tools include the highly anticipated Apple iTV.

16. Multiple app stores
“It’s changing the way we are buying apps.” App stores will grow rapidly for all For all smartphone, tablet, and television operating systems. There will be an increasing focus on Business App Stores within companies to distribute apps for sales support, maintenance, purchasing and logistics,

17. 3D Displays for phones and tablets
“3D on phones and tablets will be the breakthrough that will drive wide-scale consumer acceptance of 3D computing.” Johnston says this trend has already started with hand-held gaming systems.

18. eReading and interactive multimedia eTextbooks
“We are past the tipping point.” Interactive eTextbooks will finally take off thanks to easy-to-use software such as Apple’s iBook Author and other tools, New apps incorporate cut, copy, paste, print and multimedia capabilities.

19. Advanced automation and robotics
“One of my favorite advances in robotics this year is from the Rumba folks. It’s a self-cleaning window robot.” Robots will gain a better ability to work with humans owing to better sensors, artificial intelligence, and Siri-like voice communications. The technology is also being enhanced by exponential advances in processing power, storage and bandwidth.

20. Machine-to-machine communications
“We are going to see chips and micro sensors - both wired and wireless - talking with each other on a regular basis.” By 2020, more than one billion machines will be communicating with each other and performing tasks and making decisions based on predefined guidelines using artificial intelligence.