h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The book, the phone will all be gone. For most people the computer will look crazy-old-fashioned.

The techno-leader will be in Uganda or Kashmir carrying either a four page ebook reader about either the size of a cigarette case/packet of cards or an A5 novel - but on both cases only 7mm thick.

The inside cover has a keyboard and will face a crisp dynamic screen for either typed input, finger drawing or portrait oriented telephone conversations. Pages 3 and 4 will be e-ink and use virtually no battery to run and they will be used for reading, maps - the sort of information that you really need to concentrate on.

At home it will drive your television and you can use the keyboard or page with the touch sensitive screen to control things. The television will be able to negotiate between multiple controllers as they will all be cooperating/interchangeable.

The users of these devices, and there will be billions, will live in what are now known as the emerging economies. They won't have seen a book nor a computer. They will have leap-frogged over these rubbish tools to a truly on-demand solution. Many will still be poor but they will have access to fully dynamic content: email, blogs, chats, Q&A, maps, very local news-papers/magazines, market reports (often local and agricultural) as well as Murdochian content such as movies, novels, television and, only for the still profitable but dying western hegemony, syndicated journalistic content.

Most content will be carefully tailored for the devices and online The quality of the information is what you will pay for - slightly out of date will be very cheap and up-to-the minute accurately predictive content with integrated comments from colleagues will be much more expensive.