The next big thing in consumer gadgetry will come when someone figures out how easy it is to turn an iPhone into a hearing-aid. Just add a user-friendly equalizer to the touch-screen and incorporate some simple electronics to shape the output waveforms. In fact this is all so obvious, I'm surprised that it wasn't the 'next big thing' a few years back.

The "Next Big Thing" will most likely be something no-one sees coming. Previous attempts to predict the future have been foiled by unexpected advancements.

I'd say some kind of i-phone-ish palm computer