Holy crap, Nick, is this a gag? Seriously -- Second Life plods along, the WSJ goes free, and AOL's future is still uncertain? Way to go out on a limb there, pal.

Oh good, ignore the 22 long shots. I know I will when they all prove false by February.

A nice collection of reasonable predictions. I agree in many cases that some of these state the obvious. So will Facebook adopt OpenSocial? Will Google repackage Jaiku to compete against Twitter? Will Facebook continue to grow, or will it begin to falter like Digg and other once-overly-popular sites?

The last one is pretty disgusting.

@nerdbrain - don't worry, it will only be a mild turtleneck incident.

Um, Nick, I think you filed your GigaOm assignment to Valleywag by mistake.

Real Steve Jobs revealed to have actually died in 2005.

Exactly. 24 to go!

prediction: Nick Douglas does *not* get hired by Psychic Friends Network, but Dionne Warwick becomes Valleywag sponsor.

Hrm, the style of this looks familiar.

#26 Scoble goes back for seconds.

I forgot, props to Rex for inventing annual lists of predictions. Thanks, Rex!

@NerdBrain: Where have you been the last decade? When Jobs had cancer, it was all "could Apple survive," then he got older, it was all "could Apple survive," and until he looks like Bill Gates it'll still be "could Apple survive."

AOL is gonna start an ammunition/organics/liquor (with an obvious acronym) delivery service. but that's just my opinion

What gives? A lot of this stuff has already been insinuated by reports (e.g., iPhone 3G by AT&T CEO)! NYTs reaction? Predictable? :)

Seriously, AOL?

"Yet AOL is spun off and reframes itself. At the end of 2008, a new line of holiday, fashion, lay-off t-shirts are unveiled." Not sure they deserve a top-10 spot. Demise so predictable!

@Nick Douglas: I knew that was coming. And yet... fuck it, nevermind.

26. Valleywag champions new forms of journalism, leading with its new 50 word synopsis of other people's content. Several Valleywag writers successfully recruited by Cliff Notes.

@hookedonredbull: 5 word version: "Wish I was a wag."

@rex: Bring it, Mister Coulda-been-BoingBoing! I'm guzzling nog and whisky and I'm ready for a throwdown!

@Paul Boutin: That's some stone cold hate, Boutin. Truly, the nastiest thing anyone has ever said about Douglas.

Here's my prediction: Gigaom readership will continue to plummet as ad sales soar, becoming the next eWeek... the tech publication everyone thinks they should get but no one can actually stand to to read.

It will be 3 years before everyone figures, like Boutin, out that's because it's not actually worth reading. Sadly, however, those eyeglasses of Boutin's will never catch on.

Editorial change at Valleywag.com.

predictions 2009 - The country tires of the last round of famous-for-being-fatmouth bloggers, and gossip (nee 'tech') blogger Michael Arrington's TechCrunch TV show gets cancelled.

Net Neutrality takes another hit from a telco-friendly Congressional bill.

And so the sound was heard of millions of users (including myself) yelling out "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" in a sound to put even Darth Vader to shame.

2008 will be the ...... "Year of Looksmart"

:)

>Facebook stays independent and private, strikes a meaningful deal that legitimizes its business plan, and buys a startup.

Riiight. And pigs will fly.

Hey, wait.. I thought Yahoo was doing fine.. That's what our management keeps telling us, anyway!

:/

I would gladly take all these bad predictions coming true (most notably #21), in exchange for #24 coming true as well.

My ("predictions", maybe better a humble "personal comments")for 2008.
1. Semantic Web / Search 2.0 / Collaborative Search.
Yes, this tool will definitively grow, the path is clear. But I don't know whether the 2008 will be the "mainstream" year yet. Maybe, maybe not. 50%/50%. I still see some delays in getting the "wow effect" operating model. For sure we at Xoost will continue to work hard on this direction and improve our platform continuously, also thanks to the feedback of our users.
2. Twitter. A sure hit also in 2008. When I first used it (abt 6 months ago) I said: what's this weird mix between chat/myaspacecomments, why r people using it, where's the value? But then, a tried it again, started to play with it and now..I'm completely addicted..!! I think the key is the "Kiss" factor for them: Keep It Simple.. great!
3. Facebook. 2007 was no doubt the FB year. I agree they may lose some ground in 2008, I hear many comments of people complaining abt the pollution on the site/useless apps, wasting time on FB...But they will not go out of business in 2008. Absolutely not. Those guys are proven smart. They will continue to take the lead in terms of innovative ideas in the online social networks business. If they will buy Twitter they make a great shot.
4. Google. They amaze me. Never saw such a fast & furious (and winning) "brand extension" strategy before in business. I think in 2008 they will focus on taking the lead in the Mobile market. Fight with Nokia/MS/Apple/and more..is hard, but still a solid 66% probability they will make it. Google guys love challenges, the like to explore always new frontiers, not being afraid of anything: that's their great value.
5. Yahoo!. A few words on my beloved Yahoo! I started on the web with Yahoo, I loved (and still love this company) but my question is: where do you wanna go? do you still have a mission? Why don't you consolidate all your web 2.0 units into a powerful one? Will this decline continue also in 2008? really hope not. Please, invent something. Buy Twitter.
6. Amazon. Bezos did a fantastic job in 2007, sure. He is leveraging well the core assets of Amazon and driving the company more and more on the tech side of the equation. A repeat winner.
7. Microsoft. still there, big.

!!! Wishing you a very Happy New year 2008, full of INNOVATION, wherever it will come from !!!