JUST SIT BACK AND LET YOUR COMPUTER DO IT.

Within the first 20 years of the new century, mail carriers' loads will become a little lighter, appliances will communicate with one another, and personal computer monitors may be replaced with holographic, three-dimensional images, says Brandon Dixon, assistant professor of computer science, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He predicts that magazines in mailboxes may become just a memory. "Instead, you would just plug in your electronic book and download the current issue of Newsweek. Then you could unplug it, take it with you, and read it."

What if you miss the rustle of the pages? That's not a problem. Some of the electronic books may actually have pages. "I think we'll find computers embedded into things that you would not expect ... like paper. You would actually have what looks somewhat like a typical book, but you would be able to change what's on the pages themselves.

"I envision a point where all the major appliances in our houses will be connected to one another and to a computer." If one catches on fire, it might send an emergency e-mail message to the...