Virtual Animals with Digital Minds
The OpenWorm project is an effort to digitize the brain of a nematode worm. What this means is that human minds will someday be uploaded and digitized forever. This is a long way off, but animals are going to be the precursor to this.
Interplanetary Internet
If people begin to colonize planets like Mars, the importance of the Internet demands that people be connected. Human colonies would also help families stay connected to one another. This seems like a far-fetched idea, but it may happen one day.