For the last few months, the buzz has been growing louder about how 3D technology will revolutionise televisions and computer screens in 2010. And, naturally, while executives in both industries are happy to gush about Avatar, they have been less chatty about a far more obvious driver of in-home 3D technology: porn. Yet things started to shift into focus in January when, rather deliciously, the high-profile Computer Electronics Show was held in Las Vegas at the same time as the annual AVN Adult Entertainment Expo.

There has been a flurry of activity surrounding 3D home entertainment, despite the relative lack of content, the higher cost of 3D production, the fact that viewers will need to wear special glasses, and that millions of people have just bought huge HDTV sets. Dozens of 3D TVs and Blu-ray players go on sale this year; broadcasters ESPN, Discovery and Sky have announced plans for 3D channels; and Hollywood is promising new and classic films in 3D. Meanwhile, computer games are being upgraded to include 3D imagery.

The media was pretty breathless too over at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, where 3D’s role in porn was being appreciated.

One bustling stand, Bad Girls in 3D, offered a $3,999 (€2,865) package, comprising a computer hooked up to a 60-inch (152cm) Panasonic TV and a pair of 3D glasses. Users can navigate to a website and stream the 15 or so movies that are currently available for $20 (€14) a month.

According to Bad Girls’ improbably named producer Lance Johnson: “2010 and beyond will be all about 3D.” With the adult entertainment business behind it, this looks inevitable. The industry has driven the adoption of every significant new entertainment delivery system – most notably it helped VHS squish Betamax in the videotape format wars in the 1980s – and sex propelled the internet revolution.

Ironically, it is the explosion of free amateur porn online that is forcing the adult entertainment industry to be more innovative. Take robotic design, another big trend for 2010. Debuting at AVN was Roxxxy, a lingerie-clad, life-size robotic girlfriend, who has fl esh-like synthetic skin and can talk about football. And, reportedly, a porn-related firm will spearhead the big-money IPO comeback this year as social net/porn site network FriendFinder flirts with flotation.

Agriculture: The Only Way Is Up

The concept of vertical farming has been gathering momentum as the global agriculture industry gets to grips with a changing climate. One rising star is Texas-based Valcent, whose VertiCrop system was recently trialled in the UK, at Paignton Zoo near Devon, where it raised 11,000 heads of lettuce in less than four weeks. Stacked 3m high in racks, the crops rotate while bathing in a combination of water, air, sunlight, heat, and nutrients. The crops don’t need pesticides, or even soil, and use 90% less water than field crops.

Valcent’s managing director, Chris Bradford, says future models could fit in a warehouse, use artificial light and run on renewable energy. The company has been working with Philips to create a bespoke hybrid lighting system, which harnesses and channels heat-free natural daylight and uses the latest LED horticultural lighting technology. Valcent’s technology has already caught the attention of investors in the water-starved Middle East and in high-density areas such as Singapore.

Speaking at a sustainability conference in Dubai in January, Bradford said: “In the coming decades we face the challenge of feeding a world population that is growing annually at about 1.3% and projected to double its present level of 6.5 billion by 2063. We clearly need to invest in research and infrastructure solutions that provide food to regions vulnerable to food deficits”.

Automotive: Driving Force

Brazil’s growing importance as an automotive market is zooming into focus as Fiat, Volkswagen and Ford look to offset falling sales elsewhere in the world.

According to Anfavea, the automotive industry body, Brazil is the fifth largest car market in the world, and its position is likely to improve in the future. Sales in the domestic auto sector rose by 11% in 2009, to 3.14 million units, despite the onset of the economic downturn. Fiat, which sold 736,969 cars in Brazil in 2009, plans to spend almost R$1.8bn (€700m) this year in the country; VW has said it will invest R$6.2bn (€2.4bn) in Brazil over the period to 2014, having made 686,408 deliveries over the course of 2009; while Ford, which shifted 304,000 vehicles in Brazil last year, will spend $R4bn (€1.5bn) to expand its operations there between 2011 and 2015.

A new Boston Consulting Group report predicts that Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC nations), will account for 30% of world auto sales in 2014, and provide opportunities for R&D, sourcing and manufacturing. Brazil, the most mature and stable of the BRIC countries, is likely to remain the second-largest BRIC market behind China, whose percentage is forecast to rise from 53% in 2008 to 61% in 2014. Analyst CSM Worldwide predicts that sales and production levels in Brazil will rise from three million last year to 4.5 million by 2016.

Science: NASA’s New Roving Eye

The countdown has begun. On 15 September 2011, NASA will launch Curiosity to replace the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. While their role was scientific exploration, Curiosity’s mission is to find out if Mars once sustained life and if it could support a future colony.

Curiosity, the size of a Mini Cooper, is larger than the early rovers, and will carry more than 100kg of instrumentation – up to 10 times more than at present. It will use nuclear power instead of solar to provide more thrust and a longer mission period.

“Curiosity is a bridge to the next phase of Mars exploration and robotics for the space programme,” chief scientist at NASA James Garvin told CNBC Business. “It will be the ultimate explorer of what happens in the Mars atmosphere and how it dissipates, the solar winds, and whether Mars was life-bearing.”

Although Curiosity will cost €1.65bn, it is less controversial than White House plans to let private firms build and operate spacecraft. Web entrepreneur Elon Musk’s start-up, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., could gain from the proposed policy shift, but large NASA contractors, such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, are also likely to compete for the anticipated government seed money.