Coming soon to a desktop near you are these four next hottest tech toys.

1. Image recognition software: As more and more limited English speakers plug into the internet, language search tools must either adapt or be replaced by visual search tools, such as those used at the online shopping site Like.com. This site allows shoppers to search the product database by first capturing an image of a product either on Like.com's site or any other site, and then searching for that item or a reasonable facsimile instantly. Want the same shoes your favorite actress wore on Oscar night? Capture the image and then search for the same pair or a look-alike. Such image recognition capabilities will have an enormous impact on online retailing for both business and personal use.

2. Desktop search engines: Ever been working on a report and needed a piece of information in an e-mail attachment? Usually this means logging out of the document in order to access the e-mail. Not anymore. Pretty soon all data on the computer will be available for searching through a central search engine located on a toolbar in the browser. Both Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s Desktop Search and Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)'s X1 search tool are available for personal use and may soon be upgraded for business users.