I’m going to stick to my guns for my first two predictions. I really believe that in 2008:

1. Google will allow cross-product searching
2. Adsense for Podcasts will become a reality

2008 Prediction #3: Facebook will join Open Social

Conspicuously left out of the Open Social launch, all of Facebook’s competitors including MySpace, Bebo, and Friendster have joined hands with Google to create an open platform for widget development. 2008 will see both sides reach a mutual agreement as they both realize having an open platform is the best way to grow.

2008 Prediction #4: The Basic PC will take the world by storm

2008 will see the rise of the cheap PC optimized to run web-apps, and be dirt cheap. The rise of machines like the OLPC and the Asus Eee PC will sound the death knell for their portable high end cousins - the UMPC.

2008 Prediction #5: One of the new Web 2.0 financial management sites will be hacked

Mint, Wesabe and Geezeo have made quite a lot waves this year because of their financial management tools. The information (which may include bank and credit card info) stored on these web services make it a particularly lucrative target for hackers, and I predict at least one of them to be compromised by the end of the year.