The Shape of Things To Come

Times like these makes me think that we are indeed living in "interesting times" and surfing around the web this morning seems to be showing me the shape of things to come.

Take for example the emerging niche of supercomputers. There was a time when only large scientific research facilities have access to these types of computers but now, they are already available in the market. The TYAN Typhoon -- a supercomputer that fits under your table. Yes, they are still targetting scientists and research people but if you think about it, so does that thing we call "PC" when it was first introduced! I wonder when these kinds of computing power will become avaiable to mere mortals like us?

From large to small. The continuing buzz around Project Origami/UMPC Initiative makes me think that these small computers will become ubiquitous in the coming years. I mean looking at this from a "platform agnostic's" point of view, it does make sense to make a smaller, cheaper computer for the masses. One of the reasons why the so-called digital divide exists is that there is no real "killer" hardware that makes it easy for most people to use computers. Maybe Project Origami/UMPC will be it. A nice counterpoint to the personal supercomputer market is an ultraportable computing device that makes computing accessible to the average Jose (and Pedro).

From ultra-portable to ultra-simple. The OLPC project is still full-steam ahead although the leaked images (like the one shown below) will not likely be how the $100-dollar-laptop will look like in the end. Anyway, there are some people who think that these will look better, work better and kick the butt of the UMPC/Origami device because of superior engineering and industrial design. Who am I to judge -- just get it one and release them all!

technorati tags: gadgets