I agree that ECommerce is not a fad and that the dot com crash has more to do with a market that got way ahead of itself. I do believe that ECommerce has continued to increase year over year and there are estimates that by 2008, 10% of all retail business transactions will be online.
http://www.forrester.com/ER/Press/Re...C823%2C00.html
As for future gadgets, I would predict that wireless water quality monitors will be more popular (wireless thermometers, PH meters, etc.). I think protein skimming is here to stay for a long time though. I haven't come across any new technologies yet that could remove nutrients out of the water like a skimmer can, and the aeration it provides is critical. I've seen how useless a powerfilter is for oxygenation in my Eclipse 6. It would be difficult for me to keep the same kind of tank that I have at home now without a skimmer.
I don't really see a whole lot of new innovation coming out. Maybe synthetic salt mixes will improve. I think we're hitting a plateau. However, I see the hobby as a whole will become less expensive and I see more hobbiests will be getting in as a result. I see more fish will be aquacultured such as clowns and gobies but many others such as tangs, batfish, angels, etc will continue to be problematic to breed and raise in captivity (like they've been trying for decades to breed and raise Tuna without significant success).