As we move into the new year and indeed the new decade, thoughts turn to what new technological advances will be big news going forward. Last year brought us Twitter and an explosion in the popularity of social networking, but what will make headlines in 2010?

Here, we present our top three technological advances to keep an eye on this year.

1) Touchscreen. Pioneered in the mass market by the iPhone, touchscreen is set to be huge this year. Two new releases in particular will drive things forward: namely, the Googlephone – officially called the Nexus One – and the new Microsoft touchscreen tablet PC, a collaborative effort with HP which it unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The former is a direct competitor to the iPhone and with the weight of Google behind it is expected to do big things. The latter is probably the more exciting development, bridging the gap between touchscreen phones and laptops. Indeed, it almost resembles a giant smartphone. The Windows 7-powered tablet PC will go on sale later this year. Definitely one to watch.

2) ADSL Bonding. This may not sound like the most exciting of advances but in superfast internet terms, bonded ADSL is big news. For years, businesses who were being hampered by congested web connections had to plump for a leased line solution, the cost of which almost offset the benefits gained by its installation. Now, they can choose bonded ADSL, which replicates many of the good things about leased lines at just a fraction of the cost. How? By bonding separate ADSL connections together to form one new high speed line, businesses are able to spread their bandwidth across the fatter pipe and make use of faster-than-ever web speeds. Better still, up to around 16 lines can be joined with ADSL bonding, making for some astronomical top speeds. Bonded ADSL will be bigger than ever in 2010.

3) 3D. If you’ve been to the cinema in the past six month you can’t have failed to have noticed the arrival of 3D films en masse. The technology is set to advance even further in 2010, with more and more films being released in glorious realisticolour. Tim Burton’s take on Alice In Wonderland ought to be an awesome exercise in 3D filmmaking, perhaps even more so than current critics’ fave Avatar. Furthermore, Sony have just announced plans to beam live music concerts into people’s homes in 3D, giving you the chance to touch – or so it seems – your favourite pop stars from the comfort of your sofa. 3D could be the biggest widespread commercial tech advancement of the year.

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