Posted 04/08/09 at 06:24:51 PM by Andy Salisbury

Your laptop is pretty cool by today’s standards, but designer Hao Hua has something entirely different in mind for the future. That machine of the present that features an archaic hinge has served humanity well, but he plans to fit all that inside a fancy tube, making an already easy to carry machine, even easier.

The D-Roll (short for “digital roll”) concept allows anyone carrying one of these portable babies around with them to sling it under their arm, much like a purse. And, when you need some quick computing power, your screen will come out on one side and the keyboard will slide out the other.

While this is only a concept for what the portable computer of the future may look like (for some reason, the idea of carrying a murse just doesn’t sit right with me), it is an interesting look. Who knows, it might not be far off!

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Posted 02/26/09 at 01:35:11 PM by David Murphy

It almost seems like common sense, but 37signals' Jason Fried had some specific words for those in attendance at this year's Future of Web Apps conference in Miami, Florida: the future is not free.

Continuing on, his point is that companies need to turn away from the business model of pump-and-dumping free applications to a gleeful audience.  Open-source and free software might be an excellent means for attracting attention and eyeballs to a product, but now is not the time to pack alternate revenue strategies around these concepts.  Advertising and other extraneous revenue add-ons are a distraction, argues Fried.  It's time to shift back to a meat-and-potatoes business model, and that involves selling a product that contains enough quality to make an audience want to pay for it, even given the current economic difficulties.

That said, there's still room for free in some capacity--read on to find out where Fried thinks free applications can exist!

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Posted 11/25/08 at 03:30:24 PM by David Murphy

Does open-source software do more to hurt the industry or help?  You might guess the latter: we certainly did.  But as it turns out, open-source software can actually be the bane of smaller software developers.  After all, what does one do when one's primary meal-ticket gets taken over by the open-source community?  For most developers, that's a lights-out proposition.  But is this a reflection of where software development is expected to head in the future?  Will it be a free for all?

We explore the changing face of software development after the jump!

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Posted 08/18/08 at 11:24:00 AM by Paul Lilly

Four years is an eternity in the computer world, but it doesn't take a crystal ball to predict that Linux will continue making headway against Microsoft's close-source Windows OS. Between Vista needing gimmicks to convert the skeptics (Mojave), to increasingly user-friendly versions of Ubuntu, Microsoft may find itself in a grudge match with the open-source community by 2012. But what can we expect out of a Linux distro in 48 months? InformationWeek attempts to answer that question with a mix of bold predictions and some much needed feature enhancements. Let's take a look at some of the highlights.

Three Basic Usage Modes

Linux has traditionally been free for most users, but in-store boxed copies complete with a price tag have started popping up, and IW says this trend will "at least gain nominal momentum." Free to use variants won't be disappearing anytime soon, and IW sees free distributions that contain no components with patent encumbrances or other issues picking up steam.

Linux Gear

While Linux hardware is already present in a plethora of devices, look for it to become a brand name four years down the road, pushed in large part by the continued popularity of the Netbook market.

Bye-Bye Command Line!

One of the biggest roadblocks preventing Linux from marching into the mainstream market is ease-of-use. The days of typing in commands died with DOS, but on a Linux distro, even some basic configurations might require the user to fire up the Terminal. Of course, there are legions of Linux-ites that prefer it this way, the same ones who not so affectionately refer to Ubuntu as Noobuntu.

Catch all the predictions here, then tell us your Linux predictions below!

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Posted 08/08/08 at 04:27:02 PM by Paul Lilly

The surface of the earth was once thought to be flat, and just as it was eventually proven to be round, will technophiles make the same discovery when it comes to surface computing? It's far too early to tell what the future of surface computing has in store, but don't be surprised if years from now your PC looks more like a globe than a flat screen.

Giving a glimpse of such a future, Microsoft showed off its spherical Surface computer during the company's annual Research Faculty Summit in Redmond. Attendees got a chance to play with the prototype that relies on an infrared system to detect hands, fingers, and objects.

"It's really an exploration of ideas," explained Hrvoje Benko, the Microsoft researcher spearheading the project.

Getting touch technology to work on a curved surface was no easy task, but Microsoft researches came up with advanced algorithms to translate images originally intended for a flat PC screen and display them correctly on the rounded globe. So far applications for the Sphere include a picture and video browser, interactive globe visualization, finger painting, and an omni-directional video conferencing application with 360 degrees of panoramic video.

Catch the YouTube video here, which also includes a version of a Pong like you've never seen before.

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Posted 08/02/08 at 04:23:24 PM by Justin Kerr

Intel just passed its 40^th anniversary and the nostalgic occasion had CTO Justin Rattner musing about the future of technology.  He foresees new breakthroughs in medical technologies, specifically with regards to nanoscale chips capable of moving through our bodies. Additionally, he predicts more realistic robotic intelligence, and a blurring of reality between humans and machines. Chuckle if you may, but in his 35 years at Intel, Rattner has witnessed some pretty amazing advances in technology, many of which Intel was at the forefront of. When the microprocessors first debuted in 1971 they contained about 2,300 transistors. It has since ballooned to over 820 million and the personal computer has become ubiquitous in our everyday lives.  If Moore’s law holds true, and we have no reason to think otherwise, the future may indeed be a very different reality from what we understand today. According to Rattner, “In the next 40 years, computer chips will extend beyond our computers and phones, as people want to become more entrenched in virtual worlds and computers learn to react to our motions and thoughts.”  

So what do you think the future holds? Hit the jump and let us know!

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Posted 07/02/08 at 11:46:31 AM by Chris Moody

The folks at Purdue University who are working to bring us miniaturized refrigeration are also working on Quantum computing. They have created a new, hybrid molecule in which its quantum state can be intentionally manipulated, useful in the building of quantum computers. Quantum computers could harness the strange behaviors found in quantum physics to create computers that would carry information using quantum bits, or qubits. Got a headache yet?

They go on to say that quantum computers also could take advantage of the strange behaviors of quantum mechanics perhaps like two quantum computers could communicate instantaneously across any distance imaginable, or maybe the binary bits we are used to dealing with could exist in their usual on or off state, but also a both on and off state. Okay I need aspirin now.

We don’t have to worry about seeing a quantum PC anytime soon. They say this new discovery won’t bring quantum computers even 10 years closer.

Who knew? Purdue doesn’t just bring chicken to mind anymore. They are working hard on building the future PC enthusiast's dream machine.

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Posted 06/12/07 at 07:18:35 PM by Tom Halfhill

Multicore repeats single-core's drawbacks; could power-efficient manycore designs be the future?

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