Here's to a future if we aren't all blown to smithereens by the Millennium Bomb. PC Magazine's June issue describes a cheaper, faster world in its look into the not-so-distant future.

Not surprisingly the magazine predicts personal computers will become faster.

Other predictions not so mindboggling are: Network computers will become more pervasive, hidden in TVs, telephones, refrigerators to allow users to get to data or features easier and faster.

TVs will converge with the PCs for multimedia use.

Three-dimensional graphics on the computer.

Hand-held devices will use less power, cost less money, have more features, and be wireless.

Computers will be used to help control home security, lighting and energy use from a central location.

Laptop battery life will increase slowly as engineers coax better efficiencies out of them.

Floppy disks and CD-ROMs are on their way out as other high capacity storage drives take over, including Sony's 200 megabyte HiFD, expected to come on market this year.

With multimedia, you'll get better sound out of your computer.

Operating systems, that is Windows, will get easier to use as the behind the scenes DOS boot goes away. The new operating systems will get larger, allowing more applications.

Computers will be able to look and listen.

Software agents -- to grab stuff off the Internet automatically -- will become more widespread.

The number of computer viruses will continue to grow. However IBM has developed a blueprint for an automated system identifying viruses, creating antidotes and distributing those to infected computers.

Interestingly there's scant mention of the impact of voice over the Internet on the telecommunications industry. Perhaps the magazine considers the trend too current for mention in its look into the future.

About the only mindboggling items mentioned were those being created by the MIT Media Laboratory. In the works there are smart clothes (wearable computers), adjustable chairs and machines that read sign language.

The item I found the most interesting was Joseph Jacobsen's electronic ink.

It's a polymer that can be spread on any surface and which can be set to display any desired text using an electronic field. Thus you can have entire books on one surface or "page''.

"Essentially, the ink consists of particles that are black on one side and white on the other,'' the magazine states. "To form a letter or a number, an electric field beneath the polymer simply flips certain particles to black and others to white. The text remains intact once you remove the electric field, but you can erase or reset it at any time.'' This is a great breakthrough. Many have searched for an alternative to printing pages and pages of data and then distributing all those weighty tomes to individual users.

The Internet is one method, but computer readers are simply not portable enough. My standard has always been the newspaper. Portability, ease of access, and the ability to discard easily once finished are my standards. I and some media friends once discussed our predictions on what the newspaper of tomorrow could look like.

My idea was of a thin sheet of reusable material that when folded could be stored in a wallet. The reader simply inserts a tiny chip omputer into a holder in the material when it was unfurled and reads the day's news just like a newspaper. To move to another page he presses a highlighted number system on the screen. The chip is purchased from a vendor for the price of a newspaper.

Got any other fantasies you'd like to share about the world of technology? Send your thoughts to the E-mail address below and you could be the next guru.

The Internet domain name game has reached another key watershed as everyone tries to digest what the US government is attempting to do. Last Friday the Clinton administration announced it would seek to get out of regulating how domain names are handed out and hand over the task to a non-profit body funded by the private sector. About 100,000 new Internet sites are created every hour.

The US government wants to exit its supervision of the system on September 30,2000. At issue is the protection of domain name holders and trademark owners worldwide.

Domains, signified by the ".com'' or ".org'' at the end of Internet addresses help to signify what type of site the address refers to, and extends the range of names available into the millions.

Future's getting faster The Clinton plan has the backing of the Internet Council of Registrars (CORE), an organisation with representatives from 23 countries. CORE wants to extend the range of domain names to include ".firm'', ".shop'', ".web'', ".arts'', ".rec'', ".info'' and ".nom''.

One of the key decisions by the US government was to not dictate how the private panel will be set up. Virginia-based Network Solutions Inc. currently supervises the domain name system for the US Department of Commerce. Its contract ends September 30.

Want to put a bid in on some heavy machinery? Internet auctions are all the rage as entrepreneurs look to find the most lucrative ways to make a buck out of the superhighway.

What's being billed as the "first Internet auction of industrial machinery'' will take place at www.nlainc.com on June 17.

On the day buyers get to submit bids for surplus manufacturing equipment from 25 companies. Here's your chance to pick up some machining centres, forming equipment and toolrooms. Bidders must first register then inspect equipment through photographs and specs on line. Buyers can then place bids and view all other bids.

Try out Tony Harriott's E-mail newsletter HITS, a weekly summary of information technology news. Most items have an Internet address you can use to connect to the full story. Mr. Harriott is a locally-based IT consultant.

To subscribe send an E-mail to th yiname.com with the word "Subscribe'' in the body of the message.

I made a booboo last week that's best labeled a slip of the mind. Thanks to Mark Griffin for pointing out the mistake. I incorrectly ascribed the wave article paradox to the atom. The wave article paradox of course refers to the nature of light. "Tattle is what it becomes when not properly researched,'' Mark told me in an E-mail. Ouch! But he's right.

Tech Tattle focuses on technology issues. You can contact Ahmed at 295-5881 ext. 248, or 238-3854, or techtattle ygazette.newsmedia.bm.