The Pub Discussion Board

Greetings

I agree!  I have an Acer Aspire netbook that is just much handier than a "real" laptop.  I think that's the direction, blurring the line begin a bigger cell phone and smaller laptop.  Maybe a tablet like the Fujitsu...

Over the longer term maybe next big thing is vat grown organs for transplants. Kevin Kelly insists we'll find a new intelligence.  So aside from tech, what do you think will be a game changer?

WarLord

Let's not forget the coming of the nanobots, which will affect just about every industry.  Imagine never having to worry about cholesterol blocking your arteries, because you have a set of nanos in you to keep those pathways clean...  Or having them build computers on a scale smaller than humans can deal with...

Eric

What can go wrong with Nanotech really freaks me out.

What can happen if the nano programing crashes, develops a virus or is hacked?  The same things can happen with neural or bio implants.

Imagine Windoze 3000 crashing in your brain.

In terms of gaming and entertainment, I'd love to see personal VR and VR Feedback systems made more consumer friendly. Where a 'holodeck' would be one of the ultimate realizations of this, a combination of mobile personal computer, force feedback suit, and a more complete and compact visualization device would make for that much more of a gaming system.

In all likelihood it'd debut as military simulation equipment and evolve from there, probably merging with the public as both an educational tool and a gaming system at about the same time.

The suit i know is already in development as are all the other main components, so this is actually something that should be out in at most 30 years if not sooner.


As for something else I'd like to see be developed, a more efficient and secure means of storing information. We at the moment use magnetic writing and reading, and while its alright for what we have now, the law that states computing power will double once every 'x' number of monts (i'm not a computer specialist so i dont know it all that well) would demand that eventually the transmit and transfer of data would need to increase in speed where as size of the circuit will have to decrease to obtain the necessary capacity. We're now dealing in Terabytes where just ten years ago the Megabyte was the standard of storage. How long before we're into Tetrabytes?

~Tim

Working in the cell phone industry for the past 7 years and going from the phones such as the Nokia 3595 to the Apple iPhone 3G...well, if that's the kind of shit we're headed for, I think somehow I'd like to hide myself in a bunker and throw away the key. On the other hand, maybe I'd like to hang around with the rest of the world and be fucked over by the continuing changes, just as a larf. As I've seen first hand, the more and more complicated phones are getting, the worse off they are. Sure, they have all the great gizmos and gadgets every businessman and woman and geeky kid inside you could want, but when the shit won't load until next Christmas or it constantly freezes or OH! You have soooo many dropped calls, despite what our fucking commercials say (so sorry for ya', maybe you should have gotten a landline phone) , I just despise the idiots on the other end of the phone and wish they had some common sense about these things and wonder where I should start digging the hole for said bunker, how much provisions I could buy with my meager paycheck, who would I want to take with me, and so on...

So in light of technologies greatness, I on the other hand, deal with the crap from the other hole. It's smelly and grainy and there are a couple of peanuts thrown in there. It sure doesn't smell like daisies all the time. ALRIGHT DAMNIT! WHO INVENTED SMELL-A-PHONE???WTF??!!!

Neitherspace wrote:

i still think the iphone would be a gret system on a better network he one it's on is shit

You don't have to tell me twice! So many calls a day and I can't tell the people that there really is an issue because we're not allowed to until Apple releases it as a known issue. The fuckers. Everyone knows, for fucks sake! *slaps head with iPhone in hand* Oops. There goes 500.00 down the drain! (And for the record, I do NOT own an iPhone).

Let's be precise:  it's not a "mac phone".  It's an iMac with a telephony focus.  Hell, the phone isn't even the first thing they advertise about the damn thing anymore.

Eric

"The next time his computer breaks, tell him to give it to you to play with, and send him out to buy an iMac.  It's a computer especially built for idio....er, mommies and daddies." - Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie, "Welcome to the Internet Help Desk"

The new Microsoft Table Top Technology looks cool and promising.  Now only if it works as advertised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ze2HI2iqm4

I also saw something a while ago about a type of smart fabric: a flexible circuitry that can be imbedded in fabric ie. clothing.  Imagine your jacket having a built in cellphone and organizer.

Hey guys,

The Table Top computer.  They say it uses camera's but not in the way I think you are thinking.  It is just for very course imaging and would be able to compensate for a stain left on the surface.  I think the better way to look at it would be a type of giant touch screen.  Those are popping up all over the place without significant problems.

There are three major types of touch screens:

The first is the type you find in tablet PCs with a pen.  Those have behind the LCD display a thin board that transmits a low level magnetic field that the pen interfaces with both for power and interaction using the buttons on it.

Second type is pressure.  You have a micro thin layer over top of the display and when you press your finger down on it it breaks a series of infrared lasers places around the perimeter of the screen and it uses those X Y cordinates to tell where you are touching.

The third uses your own bodies subtle electrical currents and can tell when you touch somewhere.  I remember back in the 80s we had a TV that used such sensors to let you pick which channel you wanted to use.  You also see this in some elevator floor selectors.

They all have advantages and disadvantages:

The first is good if you want to be able to rest your hand on the screen and use the pen like you would a standard pen with paper.  Of course you loose the pen and then you are stuck until you replace it.

The second from what I recall has problems with tracking movement.  It works great for tapping a a spot to enter a number or make a selection.  However if you want to drag and drop it doesn't seem to work.  (I'm a bit fuzzy on this one I will admit)

The third the biggest draw back is if you are wearing gloves or even if you have really dry skin it doesn't pickup very well if at all.

From seeing the video I'm guessing they have worked out a combination of the second and third types of interface and then tossed in bluetooth and credit card chip reader technology.  So when they showed placing the camera on the table and the images are automatically downloaded without the bluetooth it will never happen.  Same thing for the credit or debit card.

So in conclusion to this likely overly drawn out ramble that probably most of you don't really care about I can totally see that it could and would work as advertised.

From Microsoft themselves, exactly how Surface Computing works:

How does Microsoft Surface work?

Microsoft wrote:

Microsoft Surface uses cameras to sense objects, hand gestures and touch. This user input is then processed and displayed using rear projection. Specifically:

    * Microsoft Surface uses a rear projection system which displays an image onto the underside of a thin diffuser.
    * Objects such as fingers are visible through the diffuser by series of infrared–sensitive cameras, positioned underneath the display.
    * An image processing system processes the camera images to detect fingers, custom tags and other objects such as paint brushes when touching the display.
    * The objects recognized with this system are reported to applications running in the computer so that they can react to object shapes, 2D tags, movement and touch.

LAoW wrote:

I can't tell the people that there really is an issue because we're not allowed to until Apple releases it as a known issue.

Forgive me. As I sit here...I forgot. There WAS an update you could download to the 3G iPhone which was supposed to clear up those annoying dropped calls. Which meant iPhone knew about it and that's all we were allowed to say. But that's okay...I want the power. Soon, I will move up in the ranks and for those who call in, I will no longer be the first to answer your calls, but the last. And I will have more power to fuck your shit up than you could imagine. Oh wait. I will have more power to fuck up the entire east coast!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! POWER! Too bad it would only be your voicemail I could fuck with. But I suppose that would be annoying enough since it would go down for days. But no. I would not intentionally do that, since I would lose my power and perhaps my job. But it has happened. That's right bitches. Tech support. I can feel the power beneath my fingers now. Mmmmm...and it feels so damn good. I only must be patient a little while longer.

And with the power of my fingers, combined with the power of the computer, combined with the power of the networks and so on down the line...I control you. Because without your damn cell phones, some of you would be nothing. Perhaps none of you specifically on this website, but damnit millions of Americans out there. It's nice, ain't it? Want a job?

Last edited by LAoW (2009-01-17 17:47:06)

Eric Storm wrote:

Congratulations, LAoW.


Glad my cell phone is with Tmobile.

First off, thank you Eric. But I don't have the position yet. Once my FMLA kicked in, I went onto a verbal write up and I have to wait until that rolls off. But then, I will control the world! Oh wait. The east coast. Yeah...

Did I mention I had people on the inside at T-Mobile, too? And it's the people really high up??? The ones who can fuck your shit up even worse? Like cancel your entire account and wipe it from the system? Talk about mean. But they keep screaming over and over something about this thing about paying bills and keeping a roof over their heads...I dunno. It's all a little confusing. I'm just joking. But I do know the peeps at TMo, too since I did work there and Issac has wanted to fuck my brains out the entire time since! LOL  Now that he knows we're seperated, he won't leave me alone! ARGH! Damn cell phones! See what trouble they cause! This is what the future will look like, I tell you! Millions of people on fucking psycho meds because people fucking keep calling and won't shut the fuck up because cell phones will be implanted in your head, man! The phones will keep ringing and ringing because something will go haywire when you're near your alarm clock and every minute that ticks by, the phone will ring! FUCK!!! NO WAY! I'M GONNA GO FIND A GUN!

(shit, I need to write more stuff like this when I've had only a few hours' sleep. I'm fucking hilarious!)