Silicon Valley holds top 10 tech trends event

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- Silicon Valley's annual Top 10 Tech Trends for 2011 were released Wednesday night and as usual, there were some that hit the mark and others according to high tech experts that really missed it.

Technology's top trendsetters and predictors hashed it out Wednesday night to establish this year's top 10 trends to watch. A third-party research and development firm formed the list.

"We want to be really provocative this year," said Curt Carlson from SRI International.

The predictions include: developing more artificial intelligence like 3-D virtual reality animation, countries like India and China surpassing Silicon Valley when it comes to new innovation, and robots becoming a part of our lives.

"There will be robots that are basically embedded in the different places you go to help you do things. So it's not just the stick figure robot that most people think about," said Carlson.

In other words, think of the character "Rosie" in "The Jetsons."

"The next big thing is going to be consumer robots," said Paul Saffo, a panelist. He agrees with some of the predictions, but not all. "There was one on the list I'm still scratching my head about and that's the idea that we'd fight cyber security with simple applications."

The experts were not shy. At this Churchill Club event, the audience also has a voice. With the press of a button they can give an idea a green light or red.

"I am on board," said Nanci Solomon from Xulu Entertainment.

Since the room was filled with investors and entrepreneurs, event organizers hope they'll take at least one idea from the list and run with it, and one day take it to market.

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silicon valley, technology, lisa amin gulezian

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