http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/beyond_the_schlock_of_the_new_eight_strategies_for_design_and_foresight_by_kevin_mccullagh_10912.asp
Thoughts on predicting the future: Kevin Mcculloch gives some sound advice for trying to predict trends in design and technology. The article for me can be summed up by the heading, "Be an informed contrarian." Cautiously optimistic is the way to go, then.
It seems to me that anyone attempting to cash in on what's currently popular is already 2 years too late. Things go in cycles: what's popular now won't be in 5 years, but may well fall back in fashion in 10-15. Human nature is such that the immediate past is reviled while distant memories are given the instant soft focus retouching of nostalgia.
