Firefox's mobile OS for making decent, fast smartphones affordable in the developing world. I think this is going to have a big impact and it's going to be the catalyst for html5 as a serious gaming and application platform.
Ubuntu's mobile version for being the next big step in making the PC obsolete, I don't think this will have a huge commercial impact but it's got some great potential and we're going to learn a lot from it.
I don't know what it will be, but it most certainly won't be Google Glass. Until now, I've loved pretty much all of Google's projects, but I can't imagine ever wanting one until the technology is small enough to fit inside a normal pair of glasses and remain completely out of sight.
I also don't really get the whole smart-watch phenomenon. My smartphone easily replaced my wristwatch. The only time that it isn't more convenient is when I'm going for a run.
I'm cautiously optomistic about Ubuntu's shot at convergence. If they succeed, it would be amazing. I'm also pretty excited about Firefox OS, but I don't really know if it has a real shot.
No offense, but I have the opposite opinion on every point you mentioned.
Well, google glass will catalyze something interesting, but it won't be in the next year, or maybe next 5 years. But I do think that ergonomic wearable technology is a meaningful and reasonable extension of the smart phone revolution.
This is why I think the smart watch (while not great yet) is a good step forward. The ergonomics of taking my fragile and slippery phone out of a pocket to check the time or to check my message count isn't ideal. Putting that notification display on my body is better.
I have a low confidence in Ubuntu accomplishing anything given the quality of the software they have produced. Their NIH sentiments of late (MIR vs Wayland, Unity vs Gnome-shell) are troubling. Historically, Ubuntu has produced relatively little software on their own, building instead on Debian and the rest of the open source community (which is awesome!) but now they are migrating towards a desktop & mobile platform where they build all of the software in-house. Further, they require copyright assignment from contributors who want to work on their software, which has to limit willing contributors.
I think Bitcoin was considered cool circa early 2011. It can almost be considered mainstream, if not for that little fact that Fox News, et al define what is commonly known as "mainstream".
I think web apps are slightly starting to become cool again, lots of people are realising that they don't need individual platform apps when the web can reach them all.
There is many a company working on what will inevitably result in very rudimentary mind-reading machines within the next few years, and the early stages of these techs will surely be "cool" next year.
Ubuntu's mobile version for being the next big step in making the PC obsolete, I don't think this will have a huge commercial impact but it's got some great potential and we're going to learn a lot from it.