Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The future is clear. Less Is Most Definitely More.

Article first published as The Future is Clear - Less Is Most Definitely More on Technorati.
We are on the verge of yet another revolution in technology. Just as the transistor was the turning point taking us down the road for the modern electronics devices we enjoy today, the next turn is about to be even more revolutionary than you can image.

Conventional materials such as plastics that you are used to seeing are quickly going to be minimized, or completely eliminated all together. Instead, alternate materials, some that you may not expect, will be implemented into the design and functionality of future devices.
Take for example, the HP LiM (Less is More) concept computer designed by Jeffrey S. Engelhardt. The white "book" is actually the computer itself, constructed using an aluminum frame, with bamboo, yes, bamboo fabric stretched around to cover the computer interior. This is ingenious, as heat is the main enemy of computers. Using a stretched breathable natural fabric allows amazing ventilation of the system, while lowering manufacturing costs by up to 65%.
The concept system seen here features a 19" transparent tough OLED display, a virtual trackpad projected onto the desk surface, and wireless keyboard to eliminate cable clutter. More can be seen here.

As I wrote in a previous article back on October 31st, 2011, entitled "You are Looking at the Future - Called Graphene", it is certainly going to be a major component in crafting our future tech.
Flexible OLED displays and Graphene will certainly lead to advancements such as wearable devices that are built into the clothes and gear that we wear, further integrating technology into our everyday lives, and our dependence on it.

Another example is, (don't laugh), Google Goggles. Here is Google's concept video of what life will be like with a virtual screen directing our lives as it happens. Google Goggles is part of their "PROJECT GLASS", which can be seen here.


If all that isn't enough, add these technologies into the mix:

GPS: Global Positioning System for the purpose of determining the device's (and usually by default, the user's) current location on Earth.

BUMP: Shares contact information and photos by simply bumping two phones together. Just open Bump, hold your phones, and gently bump your hands together -- Bump will magically do all the rest. There are two parts to Bump: the app running on your device and a smart matching algorithm running on Bump servers in the cloud. The app on your phone uses the phone’s sensors to literally “feel” the bump, and it sends that info up to the cloud. The matching algorithm listens to the bumps from phones around the world and pairs up phones that felt the same bump. Then Bump just routes information between the two phones in each pair.

RFID: Radio-frequency IDentification is the use of a wireless non-contact system that uses radio-frequency to transfer data from a tag attached to, or embedded within an object, for the purposes of automatic identification and tracking. RFID tags can be attached to clothing, possessions, Livestock and pets may have tags injected, allowing positive identification of the animal, or even implanted within people.

NFC: Near Field Communications builds upon Radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems by allowing two-way communication between endpoints (devices). NFC is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few centimeters.

By utilizing these technologies, our electronic devices can communicate with each other, and the world around them, live, in real time.

There is your sneak peek into the very near future of our tech as it becomes more inseparable from our lives as we know it.

I would love your thoughts and comments, please share with your friends.

-J. D. Redmond

Monday, August 6, 2012

Ice Cream. Can you taste the technology?

Article first published as Chocolate Ice Cream. Can You Taste the Technology? on Technorati.

There is more tech in those chocolate chips than you can possibly imagine. Talk about kilobyte karma in your Ben and Jerry's Karamel Sutra!

First it was home computers, then cell phones, tablets, flat screen TVs, technology is now completely ingrained, integrated, and inseparable from our everyday lives. Now, technology takes yet another step, designing the actual food that we eat. Ice Cream.

Not just the ingredients, but way down to the molecular level, changing the way it tastes, feels, consistency, and shelf life. This is Einstein Level particle physics at work here.

Dr. Alan Gray, at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, stated "If you zoom in and look at substances and were able to view them at a microscopic level, you would see that there are actually made up from quite complicated structures of different materials."

Jay Gould, at Cray supercomputer, said "...you've got to have a lot of compute power, It's not just a laptop...if you used just a laptop to generate some of these computations, it might take five lifetimes."

Cray super computer published a special document that explains it as "Over the last 12 years, a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh’s Soft Condensed Matter Physics group and the Edinburgh Parallel Computer Centre (EPCC) has developed simulations of soft matter systems using the lattice Boltzmann method and the parallel computing code "Ludwig" to accurately capture the physics of systems such as mixtures, suspensions and liquid crystals. Understanding and controlling the phase separation of liquid mixtures, for example, prevents the formation of those ice cream compromising ice crystals and improves the shelf-life of frozen desserts - one of the many practical applications of the research." The full document can be viewed here. while the Nvidia blog is here.

Initially researchers ran the code on over 200,000 cores on the Cray XT5 Jaguar system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, then switched over to a GPU system that used fewer resources.

Controlling "phase separation" in ice cream can also benefit other complex liquids, such as motor oil, cosmetics, paints, and other foodstuffs.

The next time you lick your favorite flavor, think about the storm of electrons it took swirling around to fabricate the taste, texture, and experience you are enjoying in your mouth.

-J. D. Redmond.