Fabulous Products of the Future

Jan. 24, 2008 — -- What does the future hold? Just ask trend expert Jane Buckingham, author of "The Modern Girl's Guide to Life," who joined "Good Morning America" to show off these brilliant new wares.

The Future of Beauty

Blo & Glo Hair Dryer

Click this link to see what it looks like:

BLO & GO is the revolutionary styling tool providing a salon blown-out look at home. With the flick of a lever, simply grip BLO & GO to your mirror or almost any flat surface. BLO & GO frees up your hands from holding the dryer, allowing two hands to style your hair. It holds most size blow dryers, is lightweight, flexible, portable and easy to use!

The Future of Food

Health Boosters in your Food

Choxi + chocolate with flavanol by UK chocolatier Prestate

Antioxidant-packed chocolates – just two squares of this dark chocolate reportedly provide consumers with enough cancer fighting antioxidants for a whole day.

Dove's Beautiful Smooth Milk Chocolate

Boasts Vitamins C and E, Biotin and Zinc, specifically targeted to promote beautiful looking skin.

BORBA Skin Balance Confections Gummi Boosters

The revolutionary gummi boosters contain a cultivated bio-vitamin complex which helps the skin regenerate its natural support system, increase the amount of internal active vitamins and minerals, while removing toxins and improving clarity of the epidermis.

Dr. Brandt Antioxidant Water Boosters

Gives you all the benefits of drinking green tea in your regular water. One dropper = 15 cups of green tea.

The Future at Home

Simmons Natural Care by Danny Seo Mattress

The mattress contains layers of soft and supportive latex made from the milk sap of the rubber tree. The bed utilizes a support base foam that is enhanced with soy. In addition to its remarkable comfort and support benefits, latex is naturally anti-microbial, hypoallergenic and resistant to dust mites, mold and mildew.

The Future of Fashion

Customize Your Clothes and Accessories

Design your own pursue on the Freddy & Ma website. Start by choosing your favorite basic cut, then pick the fabric, design and hardware. Next thing you know your perfect purse will arrive in the mail.

In her new book Buckingham looks at what the next 10 years will look like, based on interviews with leaders in various fields.

"What's Next: The Experts' Guide" looks at everything from sports and entertainment to science and education, with a focus on up-and-coming and newsmaking industries.

In each area renowned contributors offer their individual insight into what the future might hold, including actress Felicity Huffman, computer scientist Steve Ward, political campaign adviser Joe Trippi, architect Greg Lynn, Latina magazine founder Christy Haubegger, NFL star Shaun Alexander and many more.

Read an excerpt from Chapter One below:

Shaun Alexander on Sports

Shaun Alexander is the star running back for the Seattle Seahawks. He is the only player in NFL history to record 15 or more touchdowns in five consecutive seasons and is one of only two players to record 10 or more rushing touchdowns in five consecutive seasons. In 2006, he received two ESPY awards—NFL Player of the Year and Record-Breaking Performance. In 2005, he was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player and led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Married with three young daughters, he received a marketing degree from the University of Alabama and has significant involvement in charity and foundation work. Because of his perspective, talent, and leadership, we thought Alexander would be a great person to tell us about the future of sports.

An International Unifier

The power of sports lies in its ability to bring together large groups of people from societies all over the world. Overall, we'll be looking more and more at international stars as heroes and hold athletes from different countries in the same light as homegrown U.S. athletes. Currently, athletes like Ichiro Suzuki and Yao Ming are helping to further bridge this gap and blur the international lines of competition. As we have more global influences, and more commonalities, sports will become a greater unifier. Sports bridge language barriers, age barriers, and cultural barriers, and will continue to do this even more so in the coming years as people look for ways to connect with countries around the world.

We've already seen this with the growth of soccer. And I think that with the hype and popularity surrounding David Beckham and the Galaxy, the trend in soccer will continue to increase greatly in the States, and American teams will continue to improve. I also think the LA sports market will continue to expand and add more professional teams. And it wouldn't surprise me if American football became an Olympic sport as well.

On a more local level, I think that leagues will change in that they will have much stricter guidelines in terms of regulations and punishments on players and officials gambling. We'll want our sports to be more wholesome and clean—just about the game.

Branding Tomorrow's Athlete

I also think we'll see a rise in the popularity of professional women's sports, both to watch and to participate in. This is going to see a lot of growth. It's great to see young women really participating in sports at younger ages and to see great role models on a professional level. I think 10 years from now, there will be an even stronger clear professional path for women in sports.

As for professional athletes, talent alone will not be enough to make athletes successful on the highest level in sport. Fans will want more. They'll want athletes to dominate their sport but also be well-rounded, well-spoken people. The wild bad-boy athlete model is phasing out, as fans want to relate to their athletes. Athletes will need to be smarter, more educated, and think more like business owners. They'll need to think of themselves as brands. Athletes will better understand the economics and business of the game. The athletes of the future will have to be better behaved, more like role models, and more in charge of their future. Today's fans expect it, and future athletes will know that to be successful, their performance off the playing field will be almost as important as on.

A Changing Sports Experience

It's really important to recognize that the Internet will have a big impact on sports. Athlete and league websites will play an increasing role in the sports fan life. Whether it's game highlights or an athlete talking with fans, people will be able to access sports when they want with the convenience of the Web and mobile devices. We'll have to find ways to keep fans watching in real time. This, I believe, is one of the most important factors in sports now and in the next 10 years. It's changing how fans relate to the game and the athletes, and how they experience sports. While it's great that more people have more information and more contact, it would be a shame if fewer people wanted to come out to experience the real thing—especially because technology in stadiums is also increasing and games are becoming greater entertainment spectacles. Going to a game is a family entertainment experience now.

But one of the things I really hope we see in the future is getting our kids more interested in sports. I think it's critical to find cool and innovative ways to keep kids interested and participating in sports. Things like active video games that keep kids moving while they play will continue to grow. If we can find a way to make watching sports an interactive experience, this would lead to an increase in participation. With rising obesity rates and so many other problems out there, we need to make sure that sports are a really important part of our kids' healthy futures.