THE stage is dark other than a backlit silhouette of the Apple logo. CEO Steve Jobs prowls along underneath it.

"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.

Today we're introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls." Cheering. "The second is a revolutionary mobile phone."

More raucous cheering. "The third is a breakthrough Internet communications device."

Dramatic pause. "An iPod, a phone and an internet communicator. These are not three separate devices, this is one device. And we're calling it iPhone." Hysterical cheering from the crowd. "Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone."

You have to admire the showmanship. There isn't another company in the world that could launch a product and have people react like it was a religious experience.

And amid all the foofaraw and promotional razzmatazz, Jobs managed to hide the fact that the iPhone isn't really revolutionary at all. All the bells and whistles that the iPhone contains have existed on other smartphones before - event planner, contacts book, internet browser, camera and music player. The true selling point here was design rather than technology.

Jonathan Ive was the brains behind the design of the iMac and iPod and he has once again worked his minimalist magic.

The interface is aimed at being very user friendly, with the emphasis on simplicity to such a degree that there is only one button on the iPhone. Indeed the only legacy of the iPhone on future handsets may turn out to be the decision to do away with the keypad, replacing it instead with a touch screen.

Also launched at Macworld was Apple TV, a box that wirelessly connects your television to your computer (or computers), allowing you to watch downloaded programming in the comfort of your sitting room. Again though, despite the presentation, this hardly counts as revolutionary. Various wireless digital receivers are already on the market and the manner in which nothing seems to exist until Apple says it does has started to grate on the nerves of many in the technology industry.

Diffusion Group analyst Michael Greeson claims that Apple TV has been over-hyped by the media: "In what world do these people live? Are they completely oblivious to the fact that internet-enabled DVRs and set-top boxes, not to mention digital media adapters, have been around for a couple of years? Are they aware that the latest generation of game consoles (including Microsoft's Xbox) do pretty much the same thing as Apple TV?"

The Truth The truth is we're a lot more interested in cool gadgets than handy gadgets, and not just since MP3 players and mobile phones became status symbols. As David Edgerton points out in his book, The Shock of the Old, the role of fun in the history of technology is vastly underrated - radios sold faster than washing machines and televisions faster than freezers.

He points out that we should learn to distinguish between technology that is used for generations and headlinegrabbing inventions that rarely stand the test of time. For example, Concorde may once have garnered all the attention, but our dreams of travelling around the world on a sonic boom have disappeared and the more conventional Boeing 737 is the most common mode of air transport.

Likewise, many of today's supposed revolutions, like the iPhone, are simply evolutions, marketed to disguise the fact that they were created standing on the shoulders of giants.

Edgerton goes further, suggesting that the most significant technologies of modern times can be reduced to flight (1903), nuclear power (1945), contraception (1955) and the internet (1969). Like nostalgia, technology ain't what it used to be.

The Future Equally, for all Jobs's claims of the Apple TV box bringing the internet into the living room, it's more likely a tacit acknowledgement of how firmly entrenched the television is at the centre of most homes, with Jobs recognising that while the gap is currently insurmountable they can at the very least start trying to build bridges.

"There have been interesting developments but the amount of people watching TV is still staggering, that's not significantly changed, " points out Dr Colum Kenny, Professor of Communications in DCU.

"Television hasn't changed that much in recent years.

Fragmentation is the main thing.

Technological developments like digital allowed more channels to be transmitted and opened up niche markets. Families are unlikely to go back to watching TV together again with all the sets in the house, but television as a whole is still very significant.

What has changed is the way we consume our media, it's now on a much more individualistic basis.

A little TV, a bit of radio, some internet or video games. What's shattered is the public sphere, the idea that everyone is watching."

The pattern The pattern of the last 40 years, of refining inventions by making them smaller, faster and easier to use, looks set to continue.

Deloitte have published a report on expected trends in technology, media and communications for the year ahead, and they highlight an expected rise in portable devices that can access the internet.

Tom Cassin, Head of the Deloitte TMT Group in Ireland, points out, "There is likely to be a move towards technologies not reliant on a PC. Even with iPods you still have to have access to a PC to download music.

"Telecom technology and media are converging into one thing, and that's the hot topic really, convergence. People are looking for more mobility and, at the same time, ease of use and simplicity to attract users of any age."

Not a bad idea, given that over half of all consumer electronic devices returned to retailers are not actually broken, they are just too complicated to use. And Apple TV and other items of its ilk may have to wait some time to fully grab the public's attention.

"Most people would get to Xtravision faster than they'd download a film. Going forward, you could get to the stage where they have a portable DVD player with download capabilities, demands for VOD [Video On Demand] is increasing, but it is still completely constrained by download speeds."

The vast majority of these developments are likely to be embraced with open arms, technophobes appear to have almost died out since it became obvious that the Y2K bug wasn't going to herald the apocalypse.

Real innovation though, as opposed to natty gadgets, often has a trickier path into the public consciousness.

"All great truths begin as blasphemies, " wrote George Bernard Shaw, and that sentiment has been taken on by Irish engineering company Steorn. They are currently at the centre of a debate after claiming that they have found a way to create free - and totally clean - energy using magnetic fields.

This has met with fierce opposition from scientists, as the claims flatly contradict the laws of physics, specifically the first law of thermodynamics, which says energy cannot be created or destroyed, only change form.

But Steorn are sticking to their guns and have invited, or perhaps challenged, a jury from several of the world's leading academic and scientific institutions to come and test their claims in an effort to get validation for their technology.

The testing process is currently underway and the only caveat Steorn put on the jury was that they have to publish their results after testing.

Should the Dublin-based company's claims prove to be science fact and not fiction, the technology could be used to solve the world's energy problems, and you'd never have to recharge your mobile or put petrol in your car again. As innovations go, that would put meshing an internet communicator, iPod and phone together firmly in its place.

ON THE HORIZON Web 2.0 Well, it's actually here already, but expect it to expand and for its influence to grow.

Driven by user-generated content, it's all about people showcasing their own lives and opinions, and typified by sites such as MySpace, Bebo, Del. icio. us, YouTube, Blogger and Digg. At this rate, Andy Warhol's 15-minute prediction will have been a gross overestimation.

Smart homes Run by a central computer they only open their doors when they recognise your signal. Lights go off in empty rooms to conserve energy, the fridge tells you if food is out of date and the mirror tells you what the weather is like outside.

There are a few in Co Wicklow, where the ability to switch on the cooker, draw the curtains, turn up the heating and open the electric gate at the touch of a remote button were the big selling point but they are not yet the norm. Thirty thousand are expected to be built in South Korea within the next year.

Nanotechnology With machines now being built that are the size of molecules, the medical profession in particular is excited by what this could mean. Developments will also include water purification systems, energy systems, food production and communication technologies. And, of course, various military applications.