You may remember the things that seemed impossible when you were a child: talking to somebody on the other side of the world, for free and anytime you like was probably one of them, along with a cure for AIDS, and being invisible. All of these boundaries have been broken, completely or at least in effect. Surely we will be flying, teleporting and living to our two-hundredth birthdays, within the next century! However, sometimes the simplest advances are the most amazing, not least because they are actually here, now. In this article we look at some amazing advancements in technology from 2008, specifically with regard to computer hardware, software, network performance management and information technology infrastructure.

Do you remember the science fiction movies where messages are projected onto walls, or even into the middles of rooms like in Star Wars? Well, the first steps to that technology have been unveiled by Microsoft at the CEO Summit in Washington recently. Microsoft has developed laser technology that can turn any surface into a touchscreen, and allow you to interact with a central computer, even on the internet. This information technology infrastructure means you could be having chat conversations on the kitchen bench while cooking, or reading emails in the shower, before long. We aim higher than even Bill Gates comment that we should "Think about the whiteboard in your office becoming intelligent".

Not likely to be hailed as a genius breakthrough by consumers, but perhaps the savior of the music industry, is a new digital fingerprinting technology being developed primarily by LTU technologies. Long has law enforcement and information technology consultants thrown their hands up in helplessness at the problems of piracy of music and video content, saying there is juts no way to control it. However, digital fingerprinting could save the music and video industries millions of dollars every year. Key identifiers in a file are pattern matched against a central database - if a pattern is copyrighted, it can't be uploaded. This information technology infrastructure also has the potential to do wonders for network performance management, as traffic levels drop.

Sometimes the most amazing advancements are also the ones that you didn't realize weren't yet possible. Ordinary people have heard of wireless technology, and immediately assumed they could be surfing the internet from their laptop while skydiving, travelling the countryside, or out in deep dark forests.

The reality is a lot more sober - however, there has recently been an amazing new development in wireless information technology infrastructure that allows delivery of audio and video content to passengers on the Singapore Flyer, the world's tallest observation deck. It was previously impossible to get data reliably through such a tall, large and dense structure, which was also continuously moving. However, an IT consulting firm has developed solutions which allow just that. Laptops while skydiving are one step closer, at least!

New wireless sensor technology might also help track both computational loads on large mainframes, and the heat distribution of your house. Microsoft has developed very cheap wireless sensors that can be used to collect and transmit data, as well as controlling environments. For about $3 a sensor, in the future you could have an automatically, perfectly climate controlled home. No more chilly hallways and dank corners!

While we aren't teleporting or outliving turtles yet, it seems that it certainly won't be long.