Hump Day Top 5 List: Recent Inventions We'll Still Use in 2020

I don't buy for a second the idea that "technological change is accelerating." (We're still driving cars, just like our grandparents, whereas their parents walked or rode horses. I mean, would it kill anyone to think historically for just one second?) Like all historical moments since about 1750, though, ours is one in which most new inventions will soon be forgotten (steam-powered automobiles, the Palm Pilot) and a few will endure, at least until 2020. My digital-heavy nominations for the latter:

1. The cell phone - its intensive and extensive spread all but ensures that we'll be using it, or its descendant, 15 years from now - and that we probably won't be using land lines at all.

2. The iPod - God only knows what it will do by 2020. Well, God and Jobs.

3. The Internet - like the telephone and railroad, its early adoption was driven by mania and idiocy, but it has now matured and begun seeping into ever more corners of society. More or less.

4. Blogging - a new medium for mass communication. And After School Snack will still be the best of the breed.

5. Hybrid cars - I think we're already on the backside of the slope away from regular old gas-powered cars. The only question is, how will Cheney's cronies make any money on hydrogen?