The Future, Now…
I know I’ve heard that phrase somewhere before, but it isn’t more appropriate than now. And I mean NOW!
Technology is changing faster than ever. Moore’s Law is alive and well, and we see the result of exponential advancement in technology more now than ever before. This is truly an exciting time we are living in. Think of something now based on newer computer and electronic technologies, and I guarantee you’ll see a product that reflects your idea within five years, but probably sooner.
For those of you who don’t know what Moore’s Law is, let me explain real quick. In 1965 Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, made the observation that the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on an integrated circuit is increasing exponentially, doubling approximately every two years.
This trend has continued, though a little slower than Moore had originally predicted, and it is evident today in the small size of all of our electronic components. Each year things seem to get smaller and more compact with newer technologies available. It’s amazing. Data density has doubled approximately every 18 months, meaning that the 320 gig USB hard drive you saw last year for $160 is now selling for $89.99.
Anyway, back to where I was going with this. Technology is changing so fast that we are seeing developments come around so quick today compared to years past. I mean, just look at how big computers were back in the 80′s, and relatively speaking, how slow! Now we’ve got 12″ Apple PowerBooks that process data more than a million and a half times faster than an old Apple IIgs computer. But just 15 years ago computers were only about three hundred times faster than their data processing predecessors.
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It’s amazing. Anyway, what brings my mind to all this stuff is a new digital reader that has just been released. It’s called Kindle, Amazon.com’s new wireless reading device. I remember seeing a digital book reader making the rounds probably about 10 years back but I guess it never caught on. Probably because the user would have had to “link” his reader with his computer at home and transfer content to read on his portable device. Well, Kindle is WIRELESS, so it can download ebooks and news for you while your out and about, or on vacation. You’ll always have fresh content to read, and only one book to pack.
This is the future peeps. Our computers are small and compact, our cell phones are playing all of our mp3s and movies, and the two have been combined in the iPhone and other similar multimedia devices. It’s awesome! I love seeing the technology grow and change, it’s just a cool place to be in the timeline of technology. I’ll have to write a full article on my predictions for the future of technology sometime, but I’d better get working on it soon because the way things are going all the stuff I predict to be, probably will be before we know it.
