Where are computers going

[zxc123]

Can you picture the next few generations of computers? Where do you think we are heading.

The movies usually have computers morphing eventually into Android type assistants, but it is a long leap from where we are today to android type computers. What are the short term development steps of our little PCs.

We know the cpu and gpu will soon merge into a single unit, a brain so to speak. Then motherboards will need to start shrinking, the big square things of today won't do. PC makers will need to get serious about system wide liquid cooling. For computers to be more than just information boxes, they first need to have sensors - eyes and ears - so they can collect information themselves. A small box that various sensors can be plugged into... That's as far as I've gotten with the thought, feel free to add some.

Well, I could see them becoming a personal warning device, a small device that we could carry on our shoulder that scans the surroundings for anything dangerous - a gun, fast moving car, breaking glass, distant woman screaming...couple that with a personal gps, personal secretary (voice recognition software still needs some improvement last time I checked), that would be a pretty cool gadget to have I think.

 

[jsc]

Implants. Why screw around with wearing the thing on your shoulders?

 

[obsidian86]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/27/science/27QUAN.html

this before implants

 

[megamanx00]

Gesturing will replace the keyboard and mouse and eventually there will be some kind of crazy neural interface. Even so people will think I'm a dinosaur for continuing to hook up a keyboard and mouse to my computers ^_^.

I also think that eventually we will hit the physical wall to how small we can make CPUs with transistors and have to move to light based CPUs in order increase performance. That should last till we get down quantum CPUs. By then I will still be using a keyboard and mouse .