Prepare for the 'internet of things'

FACEBOOK that looks more like Flickr, and the ''internet of things'', where ovens email you when they need cleaning and socks have microchips so they can find each other: Welcome to social media and the internet in 2020, as predicted by the top boffin at Yahoo.

The web itself will move towards the so-called ''internet of things'', she predicts. Household objects just as fridges and and personal items including clothing will have a computer chip and their own web address. Home owners will be able to remotely control their appliances during on holiday, the oven will send an email when it needs cleaning and the fridge will place an order for more food when it's running low.

''My favourite desired scenario for all this auto-organisation calls for the development of sentient socks that can find each other … I want a sock drawer that resembles Noah's ark, with neatly assembled socks stacked two-by-two. Right now what I have is a lot of singletons wondering where their other half went.''

As so then as her forum speech, Dr Churchill will be demonstrating some of her projects at Yahoo. These include Zync, which allows two users messaging each other on the internet to simultaneously watch and discuss a video; and 4Cast, where users can cast a prediction about any topic and join in discussion on other users' forecasts.