[Dimitris Manis]: Every year, the American High-Technology Company IBM examines new technological products and distinguishes five innovative ideas that it believes will change the world in the next five years. In the company’s annual list, named 5 in 5, new mobile applications, 3D photography, transportation systems, and new energy technologies have been included in the past. This year, IBM’s list includes smart devices that will expand the ways in which our senses receive stimuli. For example, imagine shopping for clothes online and by touching your computer screen, you can feel the quality of the fabric. This kind of technology will be available in the next five years, says IBM Vice President Bernie Meyerson. [Bernie Meyerson]: We are talking about redesigning how computers operate but also how they are used. [Dimitris Manis]: Smart devices will soon be able to pick up sounds from our environment and highlight those that interest us. For example, an advanced voice recognition system will be able to inform parents why their baby is crying. [Bernie Meyerson]: If your baby is hungry, or sick, or feels alone. These pieces of information are impossible to have today, but with an advanced system, this will be possible. [DimitrisManis]: Smart devices will also have the ability to smell. If someone sneezes in front of their computer or on their mobile phone, microscopic sensors will be able to analyze the saliva. [Bernie Meyerson]: Your computer or phone will send you warnings saying, “You might not feel sick, but you have been infected by a virus. Go to your doctor immediately.” [Dimitris Manis]: IBM researchers are also developing a system that will give computers a sense of taste. This system will help chefs create new recipes. It will analyze ingredients and combine them in a way that creates popular flavors and smells. It will even help us understand which flavors we like. [Bernie Meyerson]: It will suggest food that satisfies your taste, inform you about the calories, the fatty margin, or cholesterol, and will combine the best possible taste with the best health outcome. [Dimitris Manis]: What is impressive in IBM’s list, says Mark Maloof, professor of computer science at Georgetown University, are the huge capabilities that these high-technology microscopic devices acquire. [Mark Maloof]: What impresses me is how such complex mechanisms, for example for smell or taste, can be fitted into a microscopic device such as a mobile phone. [Dimitris Manis]: The achievements in the field of computer technology over the next five years, Professor Maloof claims, will make what today seems like science fiction a part of daily life. Dimitris Manis, Voice of America, Washington.