What is the next great technology that will prove to be a good investment?

Answer 1

RFID - Radio Frequency IDentification.
These 'tags' are, and have been for years, used to track animals. For example, an eagles migration path. Intel, P&G, and Wal-Mart have been working on an inventory system using RFID tags for ten years now; though, I recently read - this weekend, read an article that indicated they are further from a successful implentation than they would like but it IS coming.
This technology is also being used for health care information in the HC industry as well as in the world livestock industry.
DISCLAIMER:
Two companies I am invested in are:
DOC - Digital Angel Corp
ADSX - Applied Digital Sciences (owns DOC)
The above mentioned are not, as of yet, heavily invested in the market to provide Wal-Mart and it's suppliers with RFID technology.

Answer 2

Although ethanol gets alot of press in the alternative energy category, I think synfuels (specifically coal-based) will play the largest part in moving America away from a dependence on foreign oil. Two companies in this field are Sasol (ticker: SSL) and Headwaters (HW). Sasol is a South African country that basically kept that country running when embargoes on oil were in place during the apartheid. Headwaters is an American company that has several interesting clean energy/alternative fuels operations and tests in place. If you want to do more reading on Headwaters, a research report (free) is located at http://www.valuestockreports.com/hw.htm

Answer 3

Cellulosic Ethanol