By Greg Lane -- What's new and what's hot -- Business Break: Mobile Moves, Second Life, Breakthrough for Skype, Web 2.0, The sun setting on DRM?, Power from footsteps -- New business & IPO -- Trends in Japan -- Eco fashion: Tokyo teen fashion Mecca, Shibuya, is having an unusual bohemian moment. Take a stroll through the trendy Shibuya 109 fashion building and you’ll see many a boutique offering ’60s-inspired flower-print dresses with flowing skirts and sleeves and fringed suede boots and vests.

NostradamusBy Greg Lane -- Predicting the future is not really about looking forward. Without a crystal ball, the best we can do is study what has passed and use that knowledge and experience to anticipate what might happen in the future. While a neatly linear chart of sales can be estimated with the use of a ruler and a dotted line, predicting future events and trends is akin to attempting to predict the final destination of a speeding car by staring intently out the rear window. Adding to the difficulty of making any predictions about the year ahead is the truly unpredictable—the threat of earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption and typhoons to which Japan is eternally prone.