There's one thing about technology that's certain. If you look away for a moment, something will change. Some changes are easy to predict: Google will release a new product this month that will be the talk of the industry. OK, some predictions are too easy.

The harder predictions are figuring out the trends in technology, products and services -- and the impact those changes will have on our lives, jobs and businesses.

Instead of taking out our own crystal balls to predict what will happen in the next 12 months, we asked seven technology executives who have shown success in seeing where the industry will go. Even though these experts have different visions of the near-term future, it's not out of the realm of possibility that all of their predictions will be correct.

Choice is good -- especially if it's also good looking

Prognosticator: Michael Linton, chief marketing officer of Best Buy

Credentials: Under his marketing reign, Best Buy has distanced itself from competing electronics retailers by understanding the needs of the consumer.

Linton's take: The Best Buy executive suggests that 2006 will be characterized by six major trends in consumer electronics: portability, connectivity, aesthetics, customization, multichannels and convergence. The outgrowth of all of these characteristics is more choice.

Today's cell phones aren't just cell phones; they're custom devices that meet an individual's needs. Get them with or without cameras. Add music capabilities and even videos. Want a special ring tone? Simply download it -- or create it yourself.

Mr. Linton believes the ability to customize your own solution will be extended by the continued emergence of rapid manufacturing and the continued development of services. He points to DVD players and home theatre as examples. Only a few years ago, it cost several hundred dollars for a DVD player. Now, you can often find one for less than $50 -- or you can pay a lot more and get a huge assortment of features, including built in VHS tape players and the ability to record. Similarly, you can pay thousands of dollars to get a high fidelity home theatre to enhance your experience. It's up to you, the consumer.

Against this background of choices, services and customization, Mr. Linton reminds us that in 2006, aesthetics will play an increasingly important part of the selection process. If that MP3 player or laptop doesn't look as good as it works, you probably won't buy it.

I'll see you there -- after I pick up the wine

Prognosticator: Ben Gottesman, technology editor at PC Magazine

Credentials: In various roles at Ziff-Davis, he has covered emerging technologies -- both before they came to public light and after.

Gottesman's take: With the impending release of Windows Vista expected in late 2006, the tech editor expects Microsoft to provide users with a more visually appealing computing environment that is more secure and attuned to the fact that our lives revolve around finding data and being online. But he expects the greater impact of the new operating system will come after this year because not everybody will convert immediately.

He also says the industry has changed how it reacts to new operating systems. (Windows Vista is the first totally new operating system from Microsoft since Windows XP was launched five years ago.) In 1995, the industry slowed down its product announcements to wait for the release of Windows 95. But the industry no longer waits. Since applications can be delivered through a browser from remote servers, there is no longer the need to ride Microsoft's coattail to launch a successful product.

Like Mr. Linton, Mr. Gottesman sees new portability on the horizon. "One of the things that fascinates me is GPS," for global positioning service, "in cell phones -- especially in location-based services, where you'll get some real power."

The key is that you no longer have to spend two to three thousand dollars for a GPS in your car, he said. You can get one on your cell phone, which opens up new possibilities. If you're house hunting, for example, it allows you to visit a neighborhood, open your cell phone and see every house for sale in that neighborhood that meets your buying criteria. Since you're already voice-enabled, it allows you to contact the agent immediately to see the house.

Similarly, Mr. Gottesman outlines a service in which you can rendezvous with a friend using cell phone GPS. Let's say I have found a great restaurant -- you have your GPS-enabled cell phone and I have mine, so I beam you directions, then we can track one another on the way there. That way, if I stop to pick up a bottle of wine en route, you'll know, and can plan your arrival accordingly.

It's still unclear whether these advanced GPS services will be available only on new phones or also as retrofits for existing models.

The race to the finish is still on, but it's being run on two lanes

Prognosticator: Jack Gold, principal, J. Gold Associates, a Northborough, Mass.-based tech consulting firm.

Credentials: After years working as a product marketing executive at Digital Equipment Corp., he joined the Meta Group as a consultant, where he helped large corporations sort out how technologies would affect their organizations and their customers.

Gold's take: This will be the year of multiple cores on a chip -- or systems that do two activities simultaneously. To most people, that may mean that a computer can become twice as fast because it's like two computers in one.

To Mr. Gold, it changes the fundamental way we will use a computer. Driven by the upcoming release of Windows Vista and high-end systems that already have hit the market, including Intel Pentium D and AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors, computers will no longer have a one-to-one relationship with people. They'll become one-to-many.

On the simple level, it means your anti-virus software can run on one core while you use the other core to work on a spreadsheet or paper document -- without being slowed by the anti-virus software that you have come to despise.

On the more complex level, it allows computers to have multiple personalities that support a user moving from system to system with all his data and programs intact. So John can easily replace Mary as the primary user by bringing his virtual computer with him on a portable disk and plugging it in.

"Already," says Mr. Gold, "business people are carrying their data with them on thumb drives that plug into any computer's USB port. With some additional intelligence on the thumb drive and more capacity, both of which are on the way, you'll have more than your data on it. You'll have a portable computing environment."

The U.S. catches up with the world

Prognosticator: Alan Meckler, chairman and CEO, Jupitermedia Corp., a Darien, Conn.-based provider of information, images, graphics and research to the technology and creative industries.

Credentials: Mr. Meckler created Internet World, which became the world's largest Internet exposition and conference before selling his company for more than $270 million. He also created Internet.com and other Web properties that are highly ranked by tech industry users.

Meckler's take: Sometimes you have to look at things a bit differently. While most U.S. citizens think of the United States as being technologically superior, Mr. Meckler points out that it's actually far behind other countries in providing broadband access to computer users. He points to the increasing speed of Internet lines into homes, using Verizon's recent move to provide speeds of up to 30 mbps, or megabits per second, to home users. "In Korea, that's standard," says Mr. Meckler. "Here, we consider 11 to be top end."

While many people are still in awe about connection speeds at 5 to 10 mbps, which is in the range of cable modems, Mr. Meckler thinks faster speeds will start to catch on -- and that once it becomes pervasive, the faster connections will accelerate the convergence of media that we've seen during the past year. He expects speeds hovering at 30 mbps to be the standard within five years.

Until then, there will be a continuing march to watch media in greater ways on the Net, using smart phones and portable devices. This induces a "creative destruction" to the value of traditional media companies.

Of course, we already have seen the broadcast networks more aggressively offer their content for download, iPod and cell phone use. But Mr. Meckler suggests that the networks have to consider getting a piece of the new high speed content market, too, or face continued opposition from new companies built to create content for the Web. Over the next 12 months, he expects larger movie studios and TV networks to create Web divisions and buy Web companies. Otherwise, he says, "another Google will arise to become the new Warner Brothers" -- and it will probably be a company we haven't heard of today.

And you thought privacy is an issue today

Prognosticator: Jim Sterne, consultant and founder, Target Marketing, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Internet marketing consulting firm.

Credentials: For more than a decade, he has continuously created or identified trends in customer service and one-to-one marketing.

Sterne's take: The battle between technology and privacy is about to get bigger. In order to build better Web sites with more customer-centricity, companies need to learn more about the people that visit. As a marketer, Mr. Sterne is thrilled -- but admits that the public is scared of it.

He points to London, where the government is wiring together traffic cams to figure out where cars go daily. For terrorism avoidance and security, this is great. It allows the authorities to find out who is hanging out with whom. But what happens if the government is taken over by monsters. Then it can put us all in jail.

The trend toward ever increasing data collection is everywhere. TiVO is striking deals with such Internet companies as Yahoo! to better understand how individuals behave. Google's database is getting larger by the millisecond. According to Mr. Sterne, this is the year somebody might really scream. Don't be surprised, he says, if Congress creates legislation to throttle the data collection.

Is that you ... or your evil twin?

Prognosticator: Kevin Coleman, founder of Technolytics, a McMurray executive think tank specializing in technology, security and business performance issues.

Credentials: The former chief strategist for Netscape now provides management and security consulting to corporations

Coleman's take: Everything is full of intrigue. As a government recognized security consultant, he knows how terrorists can play havoc on technology, business and the economy -- and how technology can change the way the terrorists act.

He points to the continuing advances in biotechnology as a trend and issue to watch in 2006 and beyond. According to Mr. Coleman, we have reached a threshold that will start to allow scientists to more rapidly affect change -- and we might not like some of it.

Genetically altered cells will affect many things, from cheating in the Olympics to identity theft.

In the former, it may mean growing muscle cells that are more resilient than normal muscle cells, or even genetically altering an athlete's heart to give him an advantage in competition. (If you think steroid cheating is tough to find, this is would be much tougher.)

In the latter, it could allow terrorists to totally duplicate a person and then steal their identity to conduct their illicit activities. Something out of the movies? Yes -- last year. This year, think again.

Mr. Coleman also expects the rate of computer viruses to greatly surpass the rate that the industry is able to fix them. Although we've already seen indications of this in previous years, he expects there to be a quantum leap in the number that are able to beat the security guards.

Local companies ride the wave

Prognosticator: Frank Demmler, director of entrepreneurial services at the state-supported tech support agency Innovation Works in Hazelwood

Credentials: As consultant and professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, he has been involved with a number of emerging technologies and growth companies.

Demmler's take: While security takes a front seat nationally, Mr. Demmler suggests that Pittsburgh boasts several companies that could be part of the growth. Among his companies to watch are Bid Armor, which is focused on data protection, and Hob Nob, a local firm focused on institutions of higher education that allows people to join an existing computer network without jeopardizing its security.

He also thinks that Pittsburgh companies, aided by ground level development from CMU, will be able to take advantage of the impending Web 2.0, which is getting a lot of buzz on the West Coast but remains roughly undefined. It would represent the sort of second generation of the World Wide Web that weaves together several technologies to make the Web not only faster and easier to use but more integrated than ever into our everyday lives.