The Consumer Electronics Association recently picked the top five technologies poised to shake up the home-gadget market in the year
ahead.

1. Media servers containing a hard disk drive for storing digital media
will allow distribution of those files to other devices located
throughout the home. More than half of U.S. households will have home
networks by 2008, the Association believes.



2. Advanced portable entertainment devices will include more
sophisticated types of cell phones, personal digital assistants, and
digital memo recorders. Portable DVD players and installed mobile video
are available for consumers who want to take their digital video
content with them wherever they go.



3. Smart appliances are making life in the kitchen a breeze. Examples
include refrigerators that can monitor the shelf life of their contents
and ovens that can download recipes via the Internet and then execute
them.



4. Innovative online and portable games will be an integral part of the
growing gaming trend. Traditional console games will remain popular,
however, and sales are expected to increase once manufacturers
introduce next-generation consoles.



5. Telematics will create smarter cars thanks to technology enabling
electronics embedded in a vehicle to connect wirelessly to external
sources. Telematics will enable an off-board navigation system so that
satellite information can be beamed directly to the car instead of
being scripted from a CD or DVD.



More here.