top 10 web predictions for 2006

Everyone else seems to be writing one of these, so here goes...

1. Web 2.0 will be usurped by Web 3.0. There will be a bloody revolution and we'll revert to the barbarity of Web 1.0 before peace is finally restored and Web 2.5 is installed as a compromise.

2. It will be a record year for Wikipedia, with thousands of bios edited to include involvement in the RFK assassination.

3. The amount of information stored within tag clouds will finally reach critical mass and they will subsequently be phased out in favor of tag maelstroms.

4. Tagging will reach an all-time high, with tags being incorporated in every conceivable way into every possible website... and my mother still won't understand how the hell to use them.

5. AJAX will be replaced with another acronym, sexing up another web development technique that's been around since the early days of Mozilla.

6. Google share prices will continue to rise and I will continue to bug my dad for not listening to me back when they were only trading at <$100. Even long before the IPO, pundits were skeptical, confident that "for Google to stay permanently ahead of other search-engine technologies is almost impossible, since it takes so little—only a bright idea by another set of geeks—to lose the lead..." (unless those geeks get hired by Google first)

7. On June 10, 2006, the last available .com will be bought and squatted.

8. The military-trained and -armed dolphins supposedly set free by hurricane Katrina, but later reported as a myth, kill five off the coast of Maryland. The New York Times sits on this story for a year before releasing it. (OK, this one wasn't about the web, but I couldn't help it)

9. Steve and I will finally hit level 60 in World of Warcraft. By this time, professional Chinese item- and gold-farmers will outnumber normal players 2 to 1. Worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, they will still be treated better than Wal-Mart's employees.

10. Zombie dogs will rise from the dead (again) and news.com.au will be there to cover it all (again), with pictures. It will make the reddit front page and accumulate a record number of points until finally being retired at #1 on the top all-time page.

Don't believe any of this? Trust me, I've got a source... (from the future)