What technology are you eagerly anticipating hitting mainstream?

[yoda291]

Inspired by another thread...what technology are you waiting to hit mainstream currently?

Personally, I'm keeping tabs on UWB wireless technology.

 

[StageLeft]

That thread from last night about a traffic revolution with cars powered by computers.

 

[FoBoT]

personal WMD's

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
personal WMD's

Already got them. My ass.

 

[MazerRackham]

I would like more BlueTooth devices.... BT rocks!

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: FoBoT
personal WMD's

Already got them. My ass.

:Q
:Q
:Q
:Q

 

[Zrom999]

Phasers.

 

[RossMAN]

Bluetooth, I hate the rats nest of wires surrounding our 6 networked PC's.

WiFi, available city wide for either free or an unlimited plan for $20/mo even cheaper if you get a combo deal with broadband.

Robots (Honda Asimo http://world.honda.com/robot/)

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
personal WMD's

The phrase "An armed society is a polite society" would have to be changed to "An armed with WMDs society is a nuked society".

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

1) Fuel cells (for cell phones, cars, laptops, etc)
2) OLED - organic LED (screen technology to replace LCD in the next 5 - 10 years)
3) Blu-ray or equivalent (high capacity optical storage medium for high definition movies and video games).

Edit: I'm aware that all of these are available to some capacity, but none of them have hit mainstream.

 

[FoBoT]

am i the only person that doesn't like wireless stuff?
slow/insecure , i like my wires

 

[AgentEL]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
That thread from last night about a traffic revolution with cars powered by computers.

that's the project i'm working on right now! well, not powered, but controlled by computers...

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: AgentEL

Originally posted by: Skoorb
That thread from last night about a traffic revolution with cars powered by computers.

that's the project i'm working on right now! well, not powered, but controlled by computers...

:beer:

 

[atom]

Android pleasure-bots.

 

[IamDavid]

Some type of wireless broadband for people living in rural areas... Something affordable.

Some type of light weight fuel cell.

 

[rgwalt]

Originally posted by: atom
Android pleasure-bots.

 

[Wallydraigle]

The technology of leaving me the hell alone.

 

[EvilYoda]

another nod for blue-wavelength lasers and OLEDs...should make my HT fun. and expensive.

And in a much less "techie" respect, SFF computers, whether it be G-Box, Shuttle or DIY mini-itx...I would like to be able to afford a hush-box or shuttle and not have to spend $350 for something that contains a $100 mobo, $20 PSU and the rest is the custom case and markup.

 

[yoda291]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
am i the only person that doesn't like wireless stuff?
slow/insecure , i like my wires

This is why I want UWB. fast as hell and hard as heck to sniff.

 

[RyanM]

I'd like to see the synergy of five technologies:

1. Wi-Fi
2. Portable computing
3. VoIP
4. Bluetooth
5. Voice recognition

Imagine having a little PDA on a belt clip with as much power as today's computers. Thanks to Wi-Fi, everywhere you went, there'd be an internet signal. And thanks to VoIP, that computer would also be your cell phone. You'd have your bluetooth handsfree earpiece on, and making a phone call would be a simple matter of telling your computer who to dial.

When you get in your car, you'd plug it into the dash, and it'd fire up the GPS software.

When you got home, you'd plug it into a port replicator, and suddenly that PDA is running your LCD, home theater, dishwasher, and toaster.

The only people who'd have tower computers would be the hardcore gamers and graphics/3D/CAD professionals. Everyone else would just need a little $200 PDA, $50 port replicator, and then monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, etc.

 

[FoBoT]

dang MachFive , that sounds like a good idea

 

[tkim]

fem-bots who feel and sound real.... then i wont have to invite palm-ela and hand-gela to dinner so often...

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
dang MachFive , that sounds like a good idea

Totally.

I was even envisioning what his "throughout the day" examples, kick ass!

 

[RyanM]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: FoBoT
dang MachFive , that sounds like a good idea

Totally.

I was even envisioning what his "throughout the day" examples, kick ass!

Heh, I wrote a short story on what the implications of a fully-functioning implementation of what I described would be, but I couldn't really write a good ending to it, so I sent it to the scrapbin.

Needless to say, I think each of those technologies is bound to begin to be enhanced by the others. We're seeing the beginning of it already, it's just pricey and not fully developed yet.

The only thing on that list that's NOT even (as far as I know) being looked into is the port replicator thing.

Why, I have no idea.

Imagine plugging your PDA into the replicator, and suddenly you have the same input/outputs as you have on the back of a normal computer. This will require, of course, PDAs becoming much more powerful, but by 2008 they should be as powerful as last year's top-of-the-line stuff. At that point, the only thing they lack is the square-inchage to have all the ports on them, and the port replicator solves that. Your average schmoe doesn't need dedicated hardware for audio decoding, that can all be handled by the CPU with all the idle threads present because he's Joe Schmoe and he just runs Word and browses the internet.

 

[Azraele]

Transporter technology.