I love gadgets, but certainly don’t consider myself a geek. My "geekiness" ended when I bought my first real stereo and could finally stop wiring leftover Radio Shack speakers to an aged hand-me-down hi-fi from my grandparents.

While I am not totally inept, I leave the uber-tech stuff to my two boys, who are far more into that kind of stuff than I. I pride myself on the tiny bits of knowledge that outdo them.

For instance, I am currently rocking an iPad2, a product that perplexes them. I researched and waited and waited and waited some more, having decided I would not settle for such a device that did not have a proper camera for video chatting. Being a to-the-death Apple fan, I had to wait a bit longer than most, but I finally got my baby – a 32 gig Wi-Fi unit – on March 22.

I think tablets like the iPad and others will be the next wave. We will move past the perceived need for hard-core computing power at home to a hybrid where tablets and smartphones handle most of our true personal computing needs. In the home, laptops and desktops will slowly fade away (except for the power users), and the workplace will see tablets and laptops sharing space and tasks.

Any number of tech companies are working on this transition, and while the future (as with any product) lies in the hands of consumers, the ultimate coolness of the product will rule.

One of the areas receiving a ton of R&D attention is in displays. So-called “e-ink” displays – such as the one on the Amazon Kindle – offer “crisp, paper-like viewing in most lighting conditions while using very little power,” according to geek.com. The main problems with e-ink displays are that they are only black-and-white, are not flexible, and are too slow to handle animation.

Enter more complex options, like the AeroBee currently being developed by Bridgestone Corp. (there had to be a tire attachment somewhere, right?).

Bridgestone’s AeroBee has a resolution of 800×600, it can do full color, it allows for drawing directly on the screen with a stylus, and it is thin and flexible. Like a sheet of paper.

“AeroBee uses black-and-white electrified powder that moves through air using transparent electrodes and acts a lot like a liquid. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes the black powder particles move either to the front or back of the display giving a black or white area on the screen. This is also what allows for stylus input as the powder can be moved to track the input as it happens over specific points,” says geek.com.

“Bridgestone has achieved this while retaining an ultra-low power solution. As a bonus, 4,096 colors can be displayed by adding color filters and the screen technology allows the display to remain flexible. The size of the e-reader can also be both large and small, with the video above showing screens as big as 13.1 inches.”

It’s still very early in the development of e-paper, but Bridgestone apparently has a clear lead.

What does the future for something like this hold? How about lightweight, live digital signage for your store? Paper-thin video promos that you can send to customers? Live action restaurant menus where the chef not only talks to you, but shows how a dish is prepared?

Or my favorite idea: wallpaper that doubles as a TV screen. How cool would that be?