Looking forward to the year ahead – here are some of the innovations that we are getting excited about:

4G Wireless internet - we start to see life beyond 3G on the horizon. Plans are already underway to see Perth get the early benefits of peak speeds reaching 20Mbps.

Battery life – what every laptop user hopes for this year – a decent battery life. ASUS has recently come out suggesting that 12 hours of battery life will be fairly standard in laptops later this year.

Tablets – rumours are rife that Apple is planning on releasing a tablet later this year and a number of industry heavyweights like HP and Dell are predicting interest will be revived this year as they plan to release their own versions. With the success of keyboardless smartphones like the iPhone the tablet looks to be finally ready for market acceptance.

3D displays – the major theme at CES 2010 (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas was 3D TV – with the recent release of Avatar, 3D content is coming into mainstream. Expect some fancy 3D TVs and desktop displays and laptops to be introduced this year.

SuperSpeed USB – it’s been a decade since the release of the now ubiquitous USB 2.0. Expect computers to start shipping with SuperSpeed USB this year. Also known as USB 3.0, SuperSpeed USB offers 10 times the bandwidth of USB 2.0.

Super thin laptops – the Macbook Air started the “mine’s thinner than yours” craze – now Lenovo, Dell, Sony and nearly every other notable laptop manufacturer are competing in the super thin market. Expect some sexier laptop designs at the top end of the market.