It was a science fiction dream when the futuristic Jetsons family spoke to each other on video phone 50 years ago.

And nine years ago, when Tom Cruise sorted through data and vision in the air on The Minority Report, it seemed farfetched.

But today it's all possible - or almost possible, and in 2012 technology holds even more futuristic surprises that will become reality, and the pressure is on for companies to deliver.

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Seamus Byrne is editor of technology website CNet and knows better than most that “there's more and more pressure on all the companies to bring out something exciting, and new, and innovative.”

“They’re always trying to do their best to not have people going ‘oh it’s just another product’. They want to amaze people and that’s a struggle,” Byrne said.

But do we really all expect the ‘wow factor’ every time a new product comes out?

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“People feel like we have to be constantly amazed by what’s going on in technology. It’s not enough to just give people a small update anymore,” he said.

So what are the big name items predicted to hit the stores in 2012?

Rollable screens are one release that’s getting close to reality.

“There’s technology called quantum dot technology - the ability to print a screen on a rollable piece of plastic. This can be used on anything from a small screen - whether that’s mobile phone size; through to laptop size, so the screen just rolls away; and right through to giant wall-size screens. You could completely roll it into a little scroll and throw in your pocket, and only roll it out when you need it.”

Holographic TV may also make it out in the coming year.

“A team in Japan has been able to work out how to make these images in a completely open space by using lasers. One great idea for holographic TV that’d wors well is perhaps projecting a live scene that’s going on somewhere else,” Byrne said.

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When it comes to mobile phones, one company has taken something old and updated it for the future.

“Samsung is talking about a phone coming out with a new style. It’s larger than a standard phone, which means they’re aiming for a notebook feel to it, so you’ll be comfortable having the pen out, so you can draw pictures and take handwritten notes.”

Byrne believes this Samsung phone, to be released in the new year, is ahead of the iPhone.

The iPhone 5 and iPad 3 will be eagerly anticipated, but Apple is keeping their designs top secret.

When it comes to the future of gaming, Microsoft's XBOX Kinect has opened up a whole new world of technology.

David McLean is Director of Consumer at Microsoft and says “most of the great ideas that are coming with Kinect are coming from people outside of Mircosoft. We’re seeing a whole bunch of new applications in entertainment, in healthcare, education and they’re coming from different places all around the globe.”

Chris Vik has used Kinect along with musical programs to track human movement, so he can play music mid-air without any instruments involved.

“Someone told me about the Kinect, and I started testing it and using it, and realised that it was really powerful in terms of how you could articulate sounds and make music happen,” Vik said.

“I’ve written the piece of software that gets the data from Kinect, and that data is the positions of my hands, and my limbs, and other bits of my body, and then I’m using a third program which makes the music happen, so that’s able to go to live.”

His creation has become so successful he's decided to market it in 2012.

Physiotherapists will start to use Kinect for exercises, and it will make surgery faster for doctors.

“Rather than having to leave the surgery scrub up, scrub down, they can use gestures to look at xrays,” McLean said.

Virtual dressing rooms in clothes stores will become popular, and it will be a great addition to classrooms. In 2012 Kinect may be used for home automation - with the lift of a hand, or a command word, lights and heating will turn on or off.

“It’s removed the barrier in effect. What it’s basically done is say anything you can do with your voice, with your hands, with gestures, you can now just do with technology,” McLean said.

“Technology is now able to identify you, establish you’re in the environment, and interact with you more than ever before.”

But Byrne reminds us not to get too far ahead in our predictions.

“These devices can maybe talk to the car, maybe talk to the house - but all those devices are still maybe not that smart. Once they can talk to each other, that's when we establish true science fiction,” he concluded.