E-mail has just about replaced letters and faxes. What do you think will replace e-mail in the future?

Psychic power

hah i wanted to say the same thing. Next thing: Telepathy. w00t

Mind meld.

Betazoids use telepathy all the time. Sometimes it's a real pain, especially for Counselor Deanna Troi when she can't shut out her mother's thoughts.

I think the message being sent directly to your brain via an iphone implant or something rather than manually checking a phone for messages will become the norm within a decade or two. Technologically it can't be that far off.

voice activated IBM Watson email.

I think rather then the method of transmission/reception the question is about the new form of communication.

E-Mail and fax still use text but the style, wording, etc has changed dramatically, with messages getting shorter, less formal, etc.

Right now I would say that tweeting, blogging will replace e-mail in the short-term future.

Fax? Do people still use that thing? So 20th century! Implants email next system.

Keep the birdfeed handy because the way things are going I think the Pidgeon will make a return!

Problem with Implants is that you need a new surgery to upgrade from iPlant 4 to iPlant 5, etc.

:D :D

Letters and faxes perhaps?

It's a "global" world. Faxes, etc., won't every disappear.

Im still faxing my monthly report sheet that has the stamps on it to head office. I predict robotic pigions for sensitive material that cant be detected by radar.

For some, Twitter and Facebook is replacing normal email. If you're above a certain age this will feel odd, but it's very real to people below age 23 or so.

The only thing better than email is if there was a gadget where letters simply materialized in your hand. Email is fast but it still has to be checked, opened, etc.

The future will be Spic-mail, sound pictures. Reading will become something of the past, pictures will replace it. Ironically, that's what we used in the past.

pony express

Telepathy but it'd be intrusive. I'd like to have my e-mails read to me, to rest my eyes.

Messaging through Facebook is already fast replacing personal emails. Probably down the line it'll be the interface that changes with more integrated apps.

smoke signaling

Braille. That way, people will no longer need their eyes to read their correspondence.

RR

I'd like to have my e-mails read to me, to rest my eyes

surely there must be something out there. It'd be nice it there was a specific software for that. Of course privacy will always be an issue. While I listen to my e-mails I can do other things too.

Holograms?

The obvious answer is cell phone texting, which is addictive as heroin, from the looks of the tens of thousands of zombies I see whenever I walk through a major rail station.

post climate change, messages in a bottle.

1) personal secretary / stenographer

i see a phone or application coming soon talk to your phone and the phone will dictate/ write what you are talking about.

like a personal secretary / stenographer totally automated

2) plus a personal translator

someone talking to you in a foreign language and your phone will translate the text on your phone's touch screen or select a ladies voice or males voice to your ear piece and you can actually hear the translation 2 1/2 second delay

what was the little fish that went in your ears in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Owls.

When we're all locked up in dungeons 24/7 while the robots rule the world, there'll be no need to worry about any such thing as contacting other human beings ;)

personally i like a real letter, that you can open up and read it,,,, futurewise...hmm is there a future for our planet?? I agree with the hologram idea,,,,star wars good stuff

I prefer strip-o-gram.

All thoughts will be transmitted telepathically - after being cleared and archived by the proper authorities, of course.

Social networking will continue to replace e-mail as the primary means of communication. E-mail is integrating more with social networking and even mediums like Facebook, Twitter and Goggle me will replace e-mail. People increasingly want to use mobile devices for collaboration to share content, information and experiences with their communities. Social paradigns are converging with e-mail, instant messaging, voIP and present new collaboration styles. E-mail in the cloud via services offered by Microsoft, IBM and Goggle will also increase. Wireless e-mail and services will be interchangeable and probably become commoditized. That will in turn drive standardization and hopefully price reductions on service bundels from mobile carriers.

The next big communication medium will be human messagers, because no technology will be left after the coming WWIII :)

Secret messages passed on paper then eaten by the receiver. For obvious reasons.