Let’s file this one under “How to spin science.”  Earlier this month IBM released a list of “five innovations that will change our lives over the next five years” courtesy of emerging technologies being developed in the IBM Labs.  The list includes “smart energy” technologies that will make it easier to manage your carbon footprint, intelligent traffic systems to keep traffic moving and curb pollution and the use of 3D avatars for everything from shopping to medical procedures.

When reporting on IBM’s list, however, Computerworld issued an article with the attention-grabbing headline “IBM Dishes Five Predictions for Future.”  To be perfectly fair, the title is much sexier than IBM’s story and its marketers could learn a little something about how to write a press release.  So what’s my gripe? It has to do with the fact that as far as I can tell, IBM is in no way trying to predict the future; they simply released a (somewhat mundane) list of emerging technologies that have been reported on in various forms more times than I count. But headlines claiming to predict the future get attention, especially if they include the name of a Fortune 500 company.  

OK, enough grousing, here’s The List (click here for a list of fact sheets that explain each of these in more detail):

It will be easy for you to be green and save money doing it: A range of “smart energy” technologies will make it easier to manage your carbon footprint and control your appliances via your cell phone or web browser. Intelligent energy grids will also enable utilities to provide you with the option to use green energy sources, like solar and wind, to fuel your home.

The way you drive will be completely different:  In the next five years, a coming wave of connectivity between cars and the road is going to change the way you drive, help keep you safe, and even keep you out of traffic jams.

You are what you eat, so you will know what you eat:  Advancements in computer software and wireless radio sensor technologies will give you access to much more detailed information about the food you are buying and eating, from the climate and soil the food was grown in, to the pesticides and pollution it was exposed to, to the energy consumed to create the product, to the temperature and air quality of the shipping containers it traveled through on the way to your dinner table.

Your cell phone will be your wallet, your ticket broker, your concierge, your bank, your shopping buddy, and more:  In the next five years, your mobile phone will be a trusted guide to shopping, banking, touring a new city, and more. New technology will allow you to snap a picture of someone wearing an outfit you want and will automatically search the web to find the designer and the nearest shops that carry that outfit, as well as see what that outfit would look like on your personal avatar right on your phone.

Doctors will get enhanced “super-senses” to better diagnose and treat you: In the next five years, your doctor will be able to see, hear and understand your medical records in entirely new ways. In effect, doctor’s will gain superpowers - technologies will allow them to gain x-ray like vision to view medical images; super sensitive hearing to find tiniest audio clue in your heart beat; and ways to organize information in the same way they treat a patient.

Here’s a reason to love Mondays.

Before you check email, before youclick onthe news, before you even THINK aboutlooking atyour crackberry, geta very large latte and watch thisbreaktakingly beautiful video ofmachinma masterRob Wright (aka Robbie Dingo) recreating Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” in Second Life.?

“Watch the World(s)” is not only magical, captivating and visually stunning,it’s mindblowing - especially afterthe caffefine kicks in and you realize that what Dingo is really doing is terraforming the future.

Happy Monday.

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Call me inherently optimistic (ormaybe just naive) but I have a thing againstlocks. I don’t lock my house, my car or even my luggagewhen I travel. And needlessto say, I don’t lock my internet connection. I’m one of those people who believe that internet access is a common good and that sharing my wifi connection is just a neighborly thing to do.

And I’m not alone. The city of Magala in Andalucia (Spain)is poised to become theworld’s first wifi city, thanks to FON Technology SL, a wifi start-up company that allows users to share their broadband access with their neighbors. ?

The idea is a simple one: FON’s La Fonera “social routers” let broadband users in homes and small businesses split their internet connection, creating a secure network as well as a public one. FON users, called “Foneras”can choose how much of their broadband capacity is dedicated to their own use and how much is available to the public. Anyone who uses the router to share access at home can use other La Fonera routers when they are away from home. Other people, called “aliens,” can pay $3 per day for access. (for a more detailed description of FON’s business model, check out Bruno Giussani’s Business Week article).

FON isn’t as much a technology as it is a social movement: the company describes itself as a community of people making WiFi universal and free.That community is heavily backed by investors such as Google and Skype, who in March poured an additional $13 million in funding into the company which will help FON realize its goal of one million hotspots by 2010.