Off-Loading Everything Dept.: The desktop PC revolution has always been centered on the versatility of the small computer and its microprocessor. Over time, such machines took over the roles of dedicated word processors and other specialty systems. But of late, we've seen that the microprocessor, as powerful as it has become, cannot do everything. So we're in an age of coprocessing that began with the modern DSP chip and has become the most important subsegment in the world of processor design.
Already we've seen the importance of graphics processors and the rise of nVidia. More recently, 3Com has developed network interface cards that incorporate encryption processors to speed up transfer of encrypted data. The latest iteration of this trend is the development of the TCP off-load engine (TOE). This is needed to deal with the compute-intense aspects of TCP termination, which cannot cope with high-speed connections without grinding to a halt. Such chips, when they begin to arrive, promise to speed up all aspects of desktop and Internet computing.
Shades of CORE Memory Dept.: IBM is one of the many companies trying to perfect new memory technologies that have the speed of DRAM and the permanence of flash memory. It's developing what it calls Magnetic RAM. With "magnetic cells," IBM is employing the technology found in newer hard drives. But instead of using a head to read data, your PC reads data off the storage device in a serial or parallel fashion. This kind of thing is supposed to lead to the true "instant-on" computer: everything in all memory locations maintained with no power consumption required.
What baffles me is that we don't have an instant-on computer already. I don't care whether everything is left intact. I just want to avoid those long boot times. Putting the OS on a flash module isn't rocket science.
Here Come the Robots Dept.: In case you haven't noticed, an entire cult has formed around the little Sony AIBO robot dogs. Lots of people have them as trouble-free pets. Personally, I've always thought the robot dog would be funnier if it crapped spent triple-A cells around the house, thus mimicking a real dog.
The last time we saw a robot fad was in the early 1980s, when Nolan Bushnell, buzzing with a string of successes and consequent ego boost, rolled out the Androbot, a crackpot device if ever there was one. This thing could do little more than awkwardly chase cats and fetch beers. That round of robotics quickly died, but an underground of robot mavens vowed to return. For an excellent Web site stuffed with links to robot sites all over the world, check out www.jeffbots.com/realbots.html.
Meanwhile, Fujitsu just announced a humanoid robot kit. Dubbing it the HOAP-1 (Humanoid for Open Architecture Platform), the company plans to sell the first 100 over the next three years for a whopping $41,000 each. I predict that these things will sell out within a year, high price or not. The robot, which walks on two legs, is 18 inches high and is programmed by a standard PC running Linux.
What Goes Around Comes Around Dept.: So I go to a garage sale and stumble upon a rare Fairchild LED wristwatch! For those who are unaware of LED watches, now collector's items, they were a faddish product for a couple of years in the early 1970s. They changed the watch business forever by popularizing the quartz timer and digital display. The big chip companies, including Intel and National Semiconductor, all made them.
The LED watch quickly gave way to the LCD watch. The thing about the old LED watches is that the LEDs would chew up batteries, so they stayed off until you pushed a button. It became prestigious to have one of these watches and constantly be pushing the button, in a gesture of superiority. Only rich folks need have applied, as some of the watches cost as much as $1,500.
So look out for the reemergence of the LED watch, in the form of the OLED (organic light-emitting diode) watch. The hottest thing going on in display technology is the polymer-based semiconductor scene, with the OLED leading the way. IBM, working with a company named eMagin that specializes in OLED microdisplays, has developed a direct-view mini-VGA OLED display to be used on a modern wristwatch.
Apparently, you can view a movie on this thing, not that you would want to. The display is fabricated on crystalline silicon CMOS chips and was incorporated in IBM's prototype wristwatch computers running Linux. Can you imagine? If this were my April Fools column, it would make more sense.
IBM has long been toying with wristwatches, possibly thinking it missed out on the 1972 LED watch fad. Look for watches with fancy displays, Bluetooth, and other capabilities. Some watches will be used for personal ID and commerce: You walk into the store and the watch pays for your purchases. And you thought the days when people stole wristwatches were over!