Paper meets computerApril 16, 2009
I had an interesting thought today: Imagine, say 30 years in the future, you're sitting at your desk and in front of you is what looks to be an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. It's a bit thick, around 1/32 of an inch, and it's glossy. It's also flexible.
But this paper is special: You use it much like we use computers today, using your finger to navigate through menus, scroll through documents, etc. You can use a stylus to write information, or an on-screen keyboard that works like the keyboard on today's iPhone. You can even speak at this little piece of paper.
It has a very small internal battery, but it derives most of its power wirelessly from the table below it. Its onboard electronics are responsible for transmitting input to a computer somewhere else, which is responsible for actually running the programs. Screen updates are passed back wirelessly and rendered on the screen. And once the image has been rendered, it takes little-to-no power to keep it there.
The paper can be taken virtually anywhere, and it still works, so long as it has an energy source.
Throw it in your backpack, head off to classes, and you're set, with access to all of your lecture notes, the Internet / email, etc.
The devices are so cheap to produce that virtually every person on the earth affords them, and if one breaks, you throw it out and grab another one.
My first BlackBerry applicationApril 6, 2009
A couple of weeks ago, Meredith came home from work with a shiny new BlackBerry Bold for me, which I had been eying for quite some time. Getting a data plan through Rogers turned out to be more than a little frustrating: A $25 data plan quickly turned into $43/mo because they charge you $10/mo for not taking a voice plan (lame) and another $7/mo for a system access fee. (sigh)
Anyway, once I started playing with the device, I was curious to see what the development tools were like, and I have to admit, I'm impressed! RIM makes available a Java Development Environment "JDE", which consists of an IDE and tools for copying apps to the device, etc.
Last weekend I got
my application up and running. A fun experience!
Automatic gas/brake
March 12, 2009
An interesting post on Gizmodo today made me realize that this will be the first feature of autonomous driving that will be developed: Fully automatic gas/break in cars. I like how this post describes it, especially the part about using GPS to know when to decelerate for corners. Of course! It makes so much sense. I would tend to agree that this technology will likely see the light of day in the next ten years. I'm not sure how pervasive it will become, but I wouldn't be surprised if it catches on. One of the biggest obstacles I foresee is having stop lights smart enough to communicate to the surrounding cars. Maybe in large cities, but not smaller towns?
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