Computer and Internet Technology Development

1. Computer and Internet Technology Development and its Impact on Other Technologies

2. Nature of Computer technology and Internet technology has changed a lot in the past 10 years and will change a lot in the next 10 years • Most of you in 1991 had not even heard of Internet, World-Wide Web, Networks, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Windows NT, Linux • These are all now part of Computer Technology and Internet technology

3. What will we be talking about in 2011? • What new Computer and Internet Technology is being developed that will be commonplace in a few years? • Some things seem promising, but may become equivalent of Betamax and 8-track tapes • Look at some areas of Computer and Internet Technology development

4. Networking Technology Power-Line Networking Way to connect computers in home or office using electrical wiring

5. Power-Line Networking • More convenient than phone lines • Connect computer to network through the outlet that provides power • Data travels through electrical wiring • Requires no new wiring and adds no cost to electric bill • Power-line networking is inexpensive method for connecting computers in different places in home or office

6. Wireless Networking • Creates network by sending infrared or radio signals between computers • Better than Power-line networking; some computers are not “plugged in” to electrical outlet • Laptop with wireless network card is completely portable throughout home or office • IrDA (Infrared Direct Access) is standard for devices to communicate using infrared light pulses

7. Wireless Networking • Infrared devices must be in direct line of sight with each other (like TV remote… which uses same infrared technology) • Infrared is almost always “one to one” technology • Radio signals better because no line of sight requirement and ability to broadcast to multiple recipients

8. Bluetooth • Bluetooth is new standard being developed by a group of electronics manufacturers • Will allow any sort of electronic equipment to communicate with each other • Can be used among computers, keyboard, mouse, printer, headphone, cell phone • Bluetooth-like radio communications should take place of wires or infrared signals for connecting devices

9. Bluetooth • Very small radio module to be built into each device • Wireless: No need for cables or cords to any device

10. Bluetooth • Inexpensive: Should add only about $5-10 to price of product • Simple: Devices find one another and strike up conversation without any work on your part • Why is it called Bluetooth? • Harald Bluetooth was king of Denmark around the turn of the last millenium • He united Denmark and part of Norway into a single kingdom

11. Airborne Internet • Satellite Internet access already commonplace • Satellites orbit at several hundreds of miles above Earth • Imagine airplane-like device at approximately 60,000 feet • Aircraft will be undisturbed by inclement weather and will be flying well above commercial air traffic

12. Airborne Internet

13. Airborne Internet • All satellite benefits without some of the problems • Consumers would get connections comparable to Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) • High-speed wireless Internet connection by placing aircraft in fixed pattern over city • Could be lightweight planes (possibly unmanned) or blimps

14. Airborne Internet • Airborne Internet will function much like satellite-based Internet access, but without time delay • Cost advantage over satellites – aircraft can be deployed easily – do not have to be launched into space • Airborne Internet could even complement satellite and ground-based networks, not replace them

15. Impact and Opportunity? • Impact: Possibility of constant connection to network anywhere, any time • Benefit: Ease of connecting all computers and related devices • Challenges: How to make most efficient use of the computing power, software, and tools always available How to build the most useful software and tools

16. Internet Technology Application Service Provider (ASP) • Access over the Internet to applications and services that would otherwise have to be located on one’s own personal computer • Email, text editor, financial modeling software, Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, simulation software,…..

17. Storage Service Provider (SSP) • Centralized data storage, which will increase efficiency and ease of access to information, as well as synchronization of information among users and machines • Wherever you are, that is your computer!

18. The Next Generation Internet About 120 universities and 25 corporate sponsors are working on better Internet infrastructure “Internet 2”

19. The Next Generation Internet • Larger bandwidth • Faster speeds • Better reliability • Better security • Better compression techniques (smaller files to be transmitted) • Caching – leaving copies around closer to the point of need • All developments will eventually become part of standard internet

20. Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Today’s Internet uses Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) – approximately 20 years old Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) (also called IPng) will eventually replace IPv4

21. Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) • IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as limited number of available IPv4 addresses • IPv6 goes from 32 to 128 bits per address • If whole Earth was a beach, more than enough IP addresses for every grain of sand ... hope that will be enough • IPv6 also routes messages better, auto-configures for missing computers, and includes security components for encryption and authentication

22. Decision Support Systems, Expert Systems • If Internet becomes repository of all knowledge, how best to use it? Decision Support Systems (DSS) access data, sophisticated analytical models, user-friendly interfaces

23. Decision Support Systems, Expert Systems • Can make repetitive, routine decisions with known algorithms • Can provide alternatives and possible outcomes for more elaborate decisions • Expert Systems (ES) capture decision-making rules used by experts • Interaction with human user and available data evolved toward decision • Neural networks can imitate DSS and ES and learn to make decisions

24. Impact and Opportunity? • Impact: Internet will provide fast access to enormous amount of information and tools for using that information • Benefit: Immediate access for all kinds of information in a variety of formats (text, sound, image, video) • Ability to make decisions based on “all” available information… not just subset • Decision tools that represent best wisdom of all experts • Challenge: How to sift through enormous quantity of information and tools available to decide what to use in any given situation

25. Consumer Computer Technology Plastic Displays • Researchers have recently made breakthroughs in developing displays out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) • Thin, flexible, rugged plastic that you can bend, roll up, fold, or form into practically any shape

26. Plastic Displays • Mass production of plastic displays is approximately five years away • Applications could include notebook and desktop displays, hand-held appliances • Also, wearable displays sewn into clothing, and paper thin electronic books and newspapers

27. Electronic Digital Paper • Developed at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), electronic paper is new kind of display • Somewhere between paper and conventional computer screen

28. Electronic Digital Paper • Like paper, it is thin, lightweight, and flexible • Like computer display, it is dynamic and rewritable • Wide range of potential applications, including: • Electronic paper newspapers offering breaking news, incoming sports scores, and up to the minute stock quotes, even as paper is being read • Electronic paper magazines that continually update with breaking information and make use of animated images or movie pictures • Electronic paper textbooks, which could be updated as technology changes

29. Electronic Digital Paper • Electronic paper utilizes new display technology called gyricon • A gyricon sheet is thin layer of transparent plastic in which millions of small beads, like toner particles, are randomly dispersed • Beads are bichromal, with hemispheres of contrasting color • Under influence of voltage applied to surface of sheet, beads rotate to present one colored side or the other to the viewer • Image will persist until new voltage patterns are applied to create new images

30. Power Paper • Computers and other electronic devices becoming thinner and thinner • Soon laptop computer could be as thin as a sheet of paper • Power supplies must slim down as well • Power Paper, an Israel-based company, has developed paper-thin battery technology

31. Power Paper • Power electronic devices, games, greeting cards, smart cards, luggage tags, medical devices • Imagine smart tickets to sporting events to avoid counterfeiting and give directions to seat • Could be very useful in computerized clothing and wearable computers • Power Paper cell will be one-half millimeter thick, and will generate 1.5 volts

32. Printable Computers Researchers developing ink-based, plastic processor

33. Printable Computers • Printable computer components not designed to replace silicon (about 100 times slower) • Plastic offers some benefits over silicon • Silicon is rigid, while plastic chips are flexible • Will lead to simple computers to give intelligence to everyday objects • Could be integrated into clothes, food labels, simple appliances, toys

34. Wearable Computers • Obvious applications like hearing aids with sound enhancement software • “Glasses” with multi-informational display about what is being seen, where you are • Wrist computers, PDAs, cell phones • Next step is computerized clothing • Including computers in standard clothing items like shoes, pants, shirts, jackets, belts…even underwear

35. Wearable Computers Uses include…. • Health related – monitor blood pressure, pulse rate, blood sugar, useful for life threatening conditions that need continual monitoring • Navigation – directions, maps, airline information, restaurant and hotel information • Safety and security – connections to police, fire, medical, auto towing and repair • Entertainment – music, news, video, sporting events

36. Wearable Computers • Some of these devices already making their way into consumer market • Working to integrate computers and related devices directly into clothing, so that they are virtually invisible • Interaction via sensors, all fabric keypads, speakers, voice recognition receivers, thin light-emitting diode (LED) monitors, flat screen (plastic) displays, holographic projectors • Another step in making computers and devices portable without having to carry and manipulate plethora of gadgets

37. Computers in Every Imaginable Item • Appliances – Home security, heating/air conditioning, refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, lighting system, entertainment systems, washer, dryer, garage door opener, “watering” systems • Vehicles – cars, bicycles, lawn mowers, snow blowers, chain saws

38. Voice Recognition • Many of above will operate via voice commands • Next 3-5 years will bring major advances in speech recognition • Voice is converted into phonemes (basic elements of speech) • English language has approximately 50 phonemes

39. Voice Recognition • Phonemes compared to dictionary of words stored via phonemes • Words then translated into computer commands like “Display nearest gas station?” • Limited vocabulary systems and systems trained to particular person’s speech will be very fast and precise • Voice recognition requires tremendous storage and processing power – no problem

40. Impact and Opportunity? • Impact: Every conceivable device can have computer embedded in it • Benefit: Any mundane activity (like monitoring supply of food in refrigerator) or complex activity (like amplifying only specific sound frequencies in hearing aid) can be done by computer • Challenge: How to design most useful cadre of consumer computers to aid without overwhelming us humans

41. Computer Processors and Storage Technology • Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) has potential to store more data, access data faster, use less power than current memory technologies • Could eliminate computer “boot up” sequence • Today’s memory Dynamic RAM (DRAM) needs to be supplied with constant current to store bits of data Magnetic Ram

42. Magnetic Ram • If current turned off, everything has to be stored again • In MRAM, small amount of electricity needed only to switch polarity (1 or 0) of each memory cell on the chip…not to maintain that value

43. Holographic Storage Technologies CDs, DVDs, and magnetic storage all store bits of information on the surface of a recording medium To increase storage capabilities, new optical storage method, called holographic memory, will go beneath the surface and use volume of recording medium for storage Could offer more storage in same space

44. Extreme-Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) Chips • Current silicon technology used to make microprocessors will begin to reach its limit around 2005 • Other technologies necessary to cram more transistors onto silicon to create more powerful chips • Extreme-ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) – way to extend life of silicon at least until the end of the decade

45. Extreme-Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) Chips • Using extreme-ultraviolet light to carve transistors in silicon wafers will lead to microprocessors as much as 100 times faster than today’s most powerful chips • Memory chips with similar increases in storage capacity

46. DNA Computers • Microprocessors made of silicon will eventually reach their limits of speed and miniaturization • Chip makers need new material to produce faster computing speeds • Millions of natural supercomputers exist in living organisms • DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules have potential to perform calculations many times faster than the world’s most powerful human-built supercomputers

47. DNA Computers • DNA might one day be integrated on a computer chip to create a so-called biochip that will push computers even faster • DNA molecules have already been harnessed to perform complex mathematical problems • Large supply of DNA makes it a cheap resource • DNA’s key advantage is that it will make computers smaller, while holding more data, than any computer that has come before

48. DNA Computers • One pound of DNA has the capacity to store more information than all electronic computers ever built • Teardrop-sized DNA computer will be more powerful than world’s current most powerful supercomputer • Unlike conventional “linear” computers, DNA computers perform calculations in parallel

49. Impact and Opportunity? • Impact: Computers will be smaller, faster, quicker with enormous amounts of storage capacity • Benefit: Any imaginable task can be programmed to be executed in “real time” (like monitoring aspects of nuclear reactor) • Challenge: What is the most cost-effective use of these technologies? How can we keep the “smaller, faster, quicker” development going?

50. Some “Far Out” Potential Future Developments • Research on computer use for vision-impaired leading to touch screens with digitally-controlled raised surfaces • Digital Scent Synthesizer The Forgotten Senses (Touch, Smell, Taste)