It won't happen next year, but the time may be
coming when entire PCs are on a single silicon chip,
and that includes the display. Tiny displays on
silicon wafers are already here, and the heightening
level of integration on a single chip is taking us
in this direction: see the expanding memory
capabilities of the Pentium, or the capability of
the Cyrix MediaGX Processor to incorporate CPU,
graphics, and sound on one chip. This doesn't lead
to Tom Thumb PCs that come with their own magnifying
glasses for us big ol' humans to use; it does lead
to things like intelligent wireless phones capable
of sending and receiving e-mail and browsing the
Web, or a complete PC that uses a wireless
connection to a remote keyboard or other input
device, possibly in conjunction with a display
projector to make a larger image. Wild, huh?
Continuous-grain silicon technology is leading
towards the development of entire PCs "painted" onto
a thin, small pane of glass. CGS technology is being
touted as the next big thing by Sharp, among other
companies.
Sharp is already using CGS to make huge, high-res
LCD panels. And how about wearable PCs? MIT has been
working on the concept since 1993; currently the
focus is getting away from obtrusive ideas like
plastic helmets and silicon jumpsuits, and moving
towards more unobtrusive devices like computerized
rings, watches, and eyeglasses. (Who wants to show
up for a business meeting dressed like one of the
Star Smashers of the Galaxy Range?) Microvision is
working to bring us the "Virtual Retinal Display,"
which displays the images you see directly onto the
retina. Xybernaut is marketing a system, the
Windows-based Xybernaut Mobile Assistant V,
which is designed to be worn by the user and looks
more like something from Blade Runner than
from Radio Shack. It comes complete with wrist
keyboard, head-mounted display, and a CPU that hangs
from your belt. Pony up $11,000 and truly amaze your
friends. Xybernaut is also launching its $1500 Poma
wearable computer, a palm-size dealie that picks up
where the Mobile Assistant leaves off. Find out more
from www.xybernaut.com/. And laugh if you
will, but a refrigerator with Win 98 and an Internet
connection is in prototype, from Frigidare and ICL.
Remember the house in the Ray Bradbury story that
woke the family, cooked the meals, cleaned the
floors, etc.? Home automation isn't just for SF fans
anymore, but is on the horizon. In the story, the
house burns down...but that was just a story, right?
Right. So consider the fact that Motorola and the
MIT Media Lab have built a "cyberhouse" called the
Motorola DigitalDNA Laboratory packed with "smart"
appliances and featuring total networking of all
normal home functions. Or think about the
London-based "Internet Home," built from the ground
up to incorporate technologies from Cisco, British
Telecom, Compaq, Honeywell, Polaris, and others.
The residents can adjust heating, lighting, and
appliances through remote controls, access the Web
from just about anywhere in the house, hold family
videoconferences, and check to see who's banging on
the door with a video camera. Eek. New on the
market: www.myhomeforfree.com/'s offering of
a "free" state-of-the-art house, chock full of the
latest technogoodies. Each room is powered by a
700MHz Pentium III computer, all coordinated by a
central server which also collects marketing data
and manages Internet connections. The rooms are
covered with widescreen displays filled with
whatever the occupants desire to see, but
continually interrupted with spam ads and the
occasional come-on for porn sites. Shopping is easy,
alomst too easy -- for example, the kitchen shows a
display of available goods which can be purchased
simply by touching the screen. In these homes,
extended eye contact often indicates selection, and
the occupants end up with packages on their doorstep
filled with products they don't want. That's bad
enough, but consider the monitoring going on that
keeps track of "extended eye contact...."
The whole field of biometrics is jumping. Want an
MP3 player that straps to your arm and runs off your
own body heat? Texas Instruments has one on the
drawing board. TI also has a wrist-top communicator
reminiscent of Dick Tracy's wristband radio, except
this one is more of a mobile phone and PDA. Don't
speak the language? A translator built into a set of
spectacles can translate signs from Japanese to
English and display them in front of your eyes; IBM
has these babies on the workbench right now. Even
your footwear is going high-tech; Intel and MIT are
working on shoes that gather data on anatomical
movement, useful for physical therapists, athletic
trainers, and podiatrists.
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