Controlling a device with your mind.Powering your home with the energy of your own activities.These are two of the developmentsthat experts at IBM think will become realitywithin the next five years.The technology company has releasedits latest "5 in 5" report.The experts think people will soon be ableto control many electronic devices simplyby using their minds.'Scientists at IBM and other companies are researching ways to do thisin a field of science known as bioinformatics.They say people will soon have a wayto just think about calling or e-mailing someonein order to make it happen.Bernie Meyerson is IBM's vice president of innovation.BERNIE MEYERSON: " simple ability to command a systemto do something for you without actually doing or saying anything,literally thinking and having something happenas a result that's accurate.Something with really deep capability so that a person,for instance, a quadriplegic, a paraplegiccan actually utilize brainwaves to make things happenand basically run their own lives independently."Another prediction is a way for people to power their homesand offices using energy from activities like walking or running.Bernie Meyerson says this is known as micro-electronic generation.BERNIE MEYERSON: "For instance, you can have somebodyin the third world who has access to a phoneor a smartphone but doesn't have access to the power grid,which is a very common thing,and literally in a shoe has something that recovers energyfrom walking and can charge the battery to enablethat person to actually become connected with the rest of the world."Another prediction: passwords could soon become a thing of the past.IBM says developments in biometric technologycould soon make passwords unnecessary.Some of the most common biometrics usedto identify people are fingerprints,face and voice recognition, and iris scans.The iris is the colored part of the eye.Bernie Meyerson says this technologywill soon be more widely used by money machines and other devices.BERNIE MEYERSON: "Imagine that things recognize you.You walk up to an ATM . takes one look, says, Yep, you're you."Another prediction from the expertsat International Business Machines:better technology to prevent unwanted e-mail.BERNIE MEYERSON: "The device, as you act upon it,as you eliminate mail, you don't read it,you just look at it and kill it,after a while it learns your habitsand works for you as as your assistantby eliminating stuff you never wanted anyway."The fifth prediction on IBM's 5 in 5 listis an end to the "digital divide"between those who have technology and those who do not.BERNIE MEYERSON: "Think about the digital divide today:the haves and the have-nots,people who are and are not connected.We anticipate within five years,better than eighty percent coverage of the world's populationsby cellular to smartphones.At that point, imagine having, for instance,the ability to speak openly with anybody anywhere,anytime and any language -- real time translation.Literally, the old 'Star Trek' idea of the universal translatorcoming to be, and how the world would changeif there were that kind of communication and openness."And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report.What are your predictions for the next five years?Share them at 51voa.com. I'm Steve Ember.