If you think the internet's busy now, just wait until next year. Gartner estimates there will be 6.4 billion connected devices in 2016, up 30 percent from this year.

Consumers expect to hear knocks on their door from delivery services well into the holiday week and for no cost at all, according to Deloitte's 30th annual holiday survey of consumer spending intentions and trends. In fact, free shipping is the top priority for shoppers when it comes to retail policies, with 72 percent of responding consumers planning to take full advantage of the perk. Nearly 9 in 10 shoppers (87 percent) prioritized free shipping over fast shipping (13 percent) when purchasing gifts shopping online.

The potential of artificial intelligence and advanced robotics to perform tasks once reserved for humans is no longer reserved for spectacular demonstrations by the likes of IBM's Watson, Rethink Robotics' Baxter, DeepMind, or Google's driverless car.

In 2016, the U.S. will learn if renewable energy can survive without government support. The most significant tax credit for solar power will expire at the end of 2016, and the biggest one for wind already has.

President Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline could come with a heavy side of tank cars. Canadian energy companies need about a dozen crude-laden trains each day to replace the volume of oil that could have been transported through KXL.

For leaders in large corporations, business today often feels like being on a steep treadmill with the speed control set to max.