Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette Click illlustration for larger image.

If your daily routine involves ordering a latte at your neighborhood coffee shop and settling in there with your laptop to work, you soon may need to arrive earlier to secure your favorite table.

That's because there will be more people like you scrambling for a seat at such "de facto offices" in 2007, say a pair of New York-based trend spotters who also expect people to start setting some boundaries between their hyperconnected careers and personal lives this year.

"We are emotionally overloaded. Work is creeping into all aspects of life, but we're not necessarily doing a better job," said Marian Salzman, co-author of "Next Now," a new book in which she and Ira Matathia lay out their forecasts on a range of topics including politics, religion, pop culture and business. The authors aren't new to forecasting. Among their previous efforts is the 2003 book "Buzz: Harness the Power of Influence and Create Demand," in which they studied the rise of the buzzword, "metrosexual," which refers to an urban male who is fastidious about grooming and style.

Ms. Salzman is an executive vice president and chief marketing officer of advertising giant J. Walter Thompson; Mr. Matathia is a brand consultant who previously worked for several major ad agencies. Their latest book was published Dec. 26 by Palgrave Macmillan.

Coffee bars will be more populated by workers, they predict, because they are among the "in-between spaces" where telecommuters can work and hold meetings away from home.

"We're looking for spaces where we're not sitting at home but where we can embrace other people even if we're alone together in that space," said Ms. Salzman. "It's a way of getting out of the home offices. We need to walk out of the front door to go to work."

In fact, trying to slow down and separate home and work -- even though many of us can tap into the office 24/7 as a result of portable computers and cell phones -- could be a trend all its own, she said.

"It's a move toward unwiring and unplugging. Yes, people are proudly saying they don't carry a BlackBerry. It's risky because maybe you're out of the game, but maybe that's better. I think people are making peace with how much is too much."

Take the country inn near Ms. Salzman's home in Connecticut. It is too remote for cell phone coverage, she said, so the inn's owners are marketing that as a perk. "They've turned it into a positive. People feel it will be a lot more special ... because people communicate unnecessarily when they have downtime."

Not surprisingly, "Next Now" forecasts that the number of telecommuters will rise this year not only because companies can save on overhead costs of real estate but because people aren't as willing to engage in the "supercommutes" that require traveling an hour or more each way to work.

"There's a real guilt about driving too far" because of gas prices and environmental concerns, she said. "Let's say I live in Connecticut and take a job in Philadelphia. I can't supercommute every day, so I'll do a mix and match of going to the office one day a week and telecommuting the rest of the time. A few years ago, companies would have looked askance at that."

For those who still trek regularly to the office, Ms. Salzman predicts they'll notice colleagues becoming a bit more territorial about their work space as they crave more privacy. That's because increasing numbers of organizations have converted to cubicles and open-air environments from traditional walls and corner offices, so, "You've really been stripped of all those power cues," Ms. Salzman said.

"I have the biggest job I've ever had, and I'm in a cubicle. And I share it with an intern. So there's lots of sharing, but I put my name on my stapler. And I'm hyperterritorial for fear someone will steal my pens."