Within the next few years, active screens are going to be mounted on the walls of most households. We'll use them for entertainment, we'll use them for information, but most of all, we'll use them to communicate without words.

Many households will have those 30-inch to 60-inch plasma displays -- screens that are dropping in price and turning up on the walls of more and more family rooms. While today's screens are great for watching television and DVDs, I expect that in the not-too-distant future, many will be showing family photos and even video feeds from romantic locations when they are not otherwise occupied. Why look at a blank screen when you can gaze at a lifetime's worth of snapshots of your children or shots of your upcoming vacation destination in Bali?