The key changes: Books will be defined not by format (paper vs. electronic), but by content; publishers will focus more on building and targeting specific audiences; and the notion of how books are written will expand to include collaborations between authors and readers. As Bob Stein, founder and codirector of the Institute for the Future of the Book, puts it, "Publishers need to stop thinking they are in the business of manufacturing books and start thinking that they are fundamentally in the business of creating communities of inquiry and interest."

Imagine you're on the road and you have this sudden urge to read On The Road, but there's no bookstore near you, nor an Internet café to order a copy delivered to your destination. Well, thanks to Amazon's $359, 10.3-ounce e-reader, Kindle, you can download any book - there are currently over 150,000 e-books available on amazon.com - in under 60 seconds, and its wireless capability allows you to do so anywhere.

Less may be more, but more is always more. And when it comes to out of home marketing more could very well mean too much. Starting this year and proceeding well into the next decade, there will be an exponential increase in the number of ways and places we access the Web untethered. Brandable, rich media opportunities will flourish literally on every bus, banner or surface, really, a person faces every day.

If the first digital decade was about personalization and individual control, then prepare for a decade of mobile innovations that bring technology to new levels of involvement. Geo-location through GPS, near field communication (NFC) and the next generation of embedded sensors on handheld devices will add a new layer of passive user feedback to the media and marketing loop. This time it's not just personal: It's getting intimate. Prepare to cuddle your media.

On an average day, the newsroom of the New York Post is scored with a low hum of murmurings and phone chimes. While the creative offices bear a tidy sophistication, the newsroom is one corner of this expanding enterprise to have escaped maturity. Despite a recent renovation, its inhabitants have revamped their space into a tattered playground, with newly painted walls now covered in scuffs and scratches, the chairs seemingly hand-me-downs, and handwritten signs distinguishing property and workspace. Stereotype reeks from the desks as strongly as the remains of lunch left to spoil, with stacks of research screaming of neglect, …

Eric Haseltine is a neuroscientist, a writer for several leading science magazines, former executive vice president of Disney and most recently the U.S. associate director of national intelligence, in charge of all science and technology efforts for intelligence and counterterrorism. He now runs his own high-tech consultancy. The man knows brains.

The question I am asked the most is: "Are we ever going to get sick of celebrities?" Then, "Have we already?" Of course, the very next question is usually along the lines of, "Is it true that Madonna and Guy are getting divorced?" or "Did Brad and Angelina really get $15 million for the photos of their twins?"

"Africans are the least-served people in the world in terms of the circulation of information. This continent exhibits a mass media that is everywhere limited in terms of quantity and also, sometimes, quality," says Professor Guy Berger, who heads the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. He sees this as a major handicap to the evolution of an information society.

Okay, right. The future of media. Got it. We're gonna put on our special 4-D glasses and merrily skip around the space-time continuum, and report what we see, and what we see is expected to be unexpected. Here's an idea: Why don't I go to The Media Lab at MIT, where lots of extremely bright people are working on projects that look like the cover of Wired magazine in 20 years, and let you guys know what's happening.

What development, trend or innovation is likely to have a transformational effect on how we consume media in the near future? Broadband and the Internet are already having a transformative effect on how we consume media, and I expect that is going to continue to grow over the next few years. Today, you can view programming over the Internet in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. TV receivers are now being introduced that will allow you to view programming delivered over the Internet. Over time, the lines between the various delivery options will continue to blur.