Years ago, the things we used to communicate today were only science fiction. Today, you can purchase a smartphone and make calls, surf the Web, play games, run applications, and accomplish more than most speculative fiction authors dared to dream. What will happen next? Smartphones seem to be in the first category. Products like the Apple iPhone and Google's Android have pushed the smartphone out of the world of gadget geeks and into the mass market. The 4G network allows for faster data transfer speeds than other networks. The Internet will continue to play an increasing role in communication. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow users to communicate with networks of people. This may lead to changes in everything from entertainment to politics. Using the Web as a communication tool, people with aspirations may be able to find an audience more easily than ever before. So far we've looked at some fairly mundane advances in communication. But how long is this the distant future?