Future technology
A computer smarter than a cat?
Ars Technica has a post entitled “IBM makes supercomputer significantly smarter than cat”. However, this is one of those misleading titles designed to catch readers. There isn’t really any evidence that this computer could outwit any half-way intelligent cat. What the computer does is run a brain simulation that is described:
IBM has announced a software [...]
Programmable quantum computer
In Monday’s link collection was a ScienceDaily post about an advance in quantum computing made at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This is an important development and a number of posts about this advance have been appearing on the Internet. I think the NIST work is significant enough to say something more [...]
The Chrome operating system is no Windows rival- yet
Ever since Google announced that it was creating a new operating system called Chrome, there has been speculation that this would be a problem for Windows. Very little was actually known about the potential OS until yesterday, when Google revealed some details. The OS will not be available for another year and seems to be [...]
Future Windows
Microsoft just held its annual Professional Developers Conference. As usual some hints about future developments in Windows were given.
You may not yet be using Windows 7 but there is already talk about Windows 8. As I mentioned last month, there is even a site about Windows 8. (It’s not an official Microsoft site, however.) [...]
Searching for meaning
The type of Internet search that we have now is mostly based on scanning for specific text although searching pictures is beginning to add some graphical features. The present search algorithms work remarkably well but have serious limitations and often turn up irrelevant links.
For example, if you ask a question, search engines will be [...]
Google developing new protocol to speed up the Web
I have often thought that it is quite remarkable how well the methods have held up that were instituted at the beginning of the Web. Here we are, years later, and we are still basically using the initial designs.
However, the enormous increase in Internet traffic means that some of the old methods need updating. [...]
Cell phone vs. PC
It’s been quite a while since the cell phone was just a voice communicator. Camera, games, music, personal data manager, email, texting, Web browsing- all of these and more are features that are available on various models of the so-called “smartphones”. In fact, the most advanced of these über cell phones are really small mobile [...]
Is Windows 7 the last major release?
Windows 7 is currently the focus of attention and will likely dominate the PC for a few years. But what about the future? At PCMag, technology industry analyst Tim Bajarin speculates about what comes after Windows 7:
So, Windows 7 does, in fact, matter. But for how long? At the moment, we live in a client/server [...]
Eric Schmidt predicts the future
Leading figures in technology have a certain credibility when predicting the future development of the industry. However, technology has a habit of surprising everyone and even Bill Gates has trouble. (He said spam would be gone by 2006.) So we listen when Google CEO Eric Schmidt makes predictions but we don’t bet the farm on [...]
A new kind of memory
A type of computer technology called phase-change memory has been known about for some time but had not advanced to a possible practical state until recently. Intel has been involved with developing the technology. An advantage of phase-change memory is that it can be miniaturized to smaller dimensions than current flash memory. CNET reports on [...]
Intel slows up USB 3.0
USB 3.0 was looking like it would soon appear but now Intel has put the kibosh on any early expectations. Daily Tech reports:
Those looking forward to the wide rollout of USB 3.0 will be saddened to hear that the specification has been dealt a setback. This summer, expectations were that USB 3.0 devices and computers [...]