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The Future: Ubiquitous Computing
Computing, over the past 50+ years, has gone through two distinct phases: the mainframe era and the personal computing era. The third phase has begun and you may have not even noticed – that is the way it is supposed to be. Ubiquitous means existing or being everywhere at the same time, i.e. constantly encountered. Ubiquitous computing, or “ubicomp”, as it has been tagged will define the future of computing.The distinguishing feature of ubicomp will be the lack of interface. Everything will be controlled by natural actions as opposed to the point-and-click interfaces we have all grown used to.
Right now we receive information in two distinct ways: pull or push. “Pull” can be characterized by a user sitting down at a computer, firing up Google, and searching for specific information in real-time. “Push” is characterized by receiving filtered information based on user preferences; much like the personalized text messages on your cell phone informing you of weather or traffic conditions.
When computing becomes ubiquitous you will not need to manually set preferences. The object you interact with will learn from you and provide information based on your environment. Temperature, time of day, movement, sound, color and light will all influence the information you receive. Ubiquitous computing will provide a continuous stream of information without being distracting and will only provide the information you need at the time.
Everything will become interactive and more importantly, reactive.
Imagine the following scenarios:
To see where we might be headed, make sure you check out these pages with more illustrative images:
Right now we receive information in two distinct ways: pull or push. “Pull” can be characterized by a user sitting down at a computer, firing up Google, and searching for specific information in real-time. “Push” is characterized by receiving filtered information based on user preferences; much like the personalized text messages on your cell phone informing you of weather or traffic conditions.
When computing becomes ubiquitous you will not need to manually set preferences. The object you interact with will learn from you and provide information based on your environment. Temperature, time of day, movement, sound, color and light will all influence the information you receive. Ubiquitous computing will provide a continuous stream of information without being distracting and will only provide the information you need at the time.
Everything will become interactive and more importantly, reactive.
Imagine the following scenarios:
- You make a call to your friend whose native language is French. He understands English quite well but prefers to speak in French. No problem. In real-time what you say comes across on his end in French and vice-versa.
- You need to setup a meeting with a group of business partners who all have busy schedules. No problem, their automated calendars work together to find a good time for all of you to meet.
- You are rushed to the hospital after a car accident. By performing a retinal scan the ER doctors are provided with time-sensitive and important information: allergies, past surgeries, existing conditions, emergency contact information, name and age. (Ubiquitous computing will probably prevent most accidents before they happen.)
- You have lost your keys. No more searching, just ask your house. It will know EXACTLY where they are, even if they are hiding in the couch cushions. (Keys will probably be a thing of the past at this point.)
To see where we might be headed, make sure you check out these pages with more illustrative images:
- What would be a ubiquitous society like?
- Moving toward a world of ubiquitous networks
- Ubiquitous Computing and Access to Grid Services
9 thoughts:
who would of thought what was cool then is like, when is it enough. as long as we buy it they keep making it. whats up with something that don't cost us money but saves money and last long.
I love it.
I need glasses to see. I hate glasses, but I'm optimistic.
When I was younger I said 'It's OK if I can't see now, because by the time I get older, they'll be able to fix my eyes or replace them or something.'
Anyone for some laser eye surgery?
Cheers Ilker!
No more Babelfish!?
Sign me up!
A great post and I'd like to hear a bit more about the reactive prediction. I'd have thought this model would generate more proactive - and am interested in how you see it. Thanks for the great looking into the future:-) on this one.
Yeah, do a search on 1964 Answer machine just for fun to see what they were thinking 30+ years ago.
Great post!It gives the real insight of what the world will be in the near future.There is a lot that can be added to the list by jemmile.
I can't guest blog for you because you wont allow anything "religious" as you told me once.
Heaven forbid, someone would have to think for themselves when it comes to faith!
I believe the humble mobile phone will be fairly central to this revolution.
For example, early applications like Ice Brkr (sort of a real world friend request), which are still fairly rudimentary in this respect, will evolve into powerful tools which can tell me (for example) that the person behind me in the queue at Starbucks is a also an African Art enthusiast.
What do you think? Post your thoughts..