Monday, July 18, 2005
The Top 5 Things I want to see In the Next 5 Years
Top 3
Let's face it, we all love technology. We surround ourselves with the latest and greatest and consume nothing but the best of the best when it comes to gadgetry and technological extravagances, yet in the past few years the only thing to advance in an incredible degree would be video cards and CPUs. Why has there been such a sudden lack in innovation as of late? Are we in a technological drought? I like to stick to my own diagnosis of the industry as being too concerned with keeping a steady cash flow over social experimentation with new products but then again that's just an opinion from a little guy.
Well, I know what I want to see happen in the next years and I'm there are at least 1 million blogs about this very subject but I have a very convincing statement which should make you read and backup my list and It's quite simple really: I'm right and all 1 million blogs are wrong. There. I said it. I'm sure that after reading the list that you'll also come to this conclusion, at least that's what I'm banking on.
1) Better Designed fans -- RAWR! That's the sound of my system all 24 hours of the day. Although I have fairly new Thermaltake fans for both my CPU and system, the thing sounds as if it had wings and wheels that it would take off into the sky. Now, I'm sure many of you will say "Oh stop whining, there's liquid cooling and fan-less solutions, yackity smackity" but I say nay onto those because 1.) Liquid cooling is more expensive than a fan based setup and 2.) Have you seen an AMD 64 being ran with a fan-less solution? They melt like marshmallows on a campfire.
Seeing how there are is a nearly frictionless lubricant in Japan, I'm sure that some engineers from these fan manufacturers can conjure up the nerve to walk into the sex shops selling the stuff and just buy a few bottles (in the name of advancement and science of course). I mean, haven't they heard of Teflon!? Why not even use a little Wesson on the things, I'm sure they'd sound a lot quieter then apposed to the sand and glass I suspect they use currently for lubrication.
2) Cases with more functionality -- Haven't you even dreamt of having your case double as a food/drink dispenser as well? Of course you have! Wouldn't it just be oh-so cool to have a bottle opener or a soda dispenser built into the case without having to do tedious and sometimes ridiculous amounts of modifications? I mean, the possibilities are quite endless really when it comes to being a dispenser and it wouldn't necessarily be all that hard.
It doesn't have to stop at food either, I mean how many of you have or use the phone near your computer? Well, why not combine the two!? Wouldn't it just be so cool to have a fully functional phone right there on your case? There would be no need to get up ever again except for bathroom breaks but they have bags and jugs for that anyways, right?
3) Wireless everything -- That's right baby, no more wire hang- err, wires. I want to be able to buy something, set it on my desk and it automatically work. This rule applies for everything from mice and keyboards to monitors and various displays. We are in a world where being connected is required but I don't necessarily see why we need to be connected with a huge cable or dare I say dozens of cables! It isn't as if it would be hard, it would just take a standardization of a short range communications standard and some willingness from a few manufacturers.
If it's once thing that amazes people still in this day and age, its things that can send and receive data wirelessly. Even people with a complete understanding of the technology stare in bewilderment at their cutesy, wireless mouse. Come on industry, cut the cords and go truly wireless already!
4 & 5
4) More use of the USB storage keys -- If you're like me, then you game on your PC. And also like me, you must absolutely despise having to keep the damn game disk within the drive all day long. Well, grief no more because I have a handy dandy solution that would not only please you and me but also the game corporations and that idea is: Keep all necessary verification data on a single USB storage key! Simple, right!? Of course it is! Game publishers can each make available a custom "Game Key" that would hold the same information that a CD/DVD of the game would hold for simple "ownership verification." It would kill the need for no-CD patches and be an absolute hit for any avid gamer. Think of it, you could have a custom "EA" USB key that holds verification data on every single current EA game out there and you could "unlock" a game on the key by simply running a registration program or during the initial installation.
Genius, isn't it? I know. It simply baffles me as to why game developers and publishers would skip an idea such as this. I'm sure some people would say that this would simply be unsafe and lead to easier access for pirates to do their "thang" but in all actuality, it's just as safe, if not safer than using disk verification. Also, if you don't want to buy or have a separate USB key for each game publisher, then I propose one company which would collectively hold an agreement with game makers, to sell and manage this entire system. Gamespy is one company that certainly comes to mind. As for production fees, it really isn't too expensive to make an 8MB-32MB USB memory key anymore, in fact, I see them being given away by software companies looking to spread their product. It's no excuse.
5) A Complete Storage re-haul -- Why is my hard drive the same size as the one I owned in 1995? I mean, I know that the engineers went for speed and storage increment over size reduction for desktop solutions but what exactly is their excuse now? small hard drives serve more purpose outside of portable music devices and cell phones, think of how small PCs really could get if hard drives for the desktop were made the same size as those found within the iPods' of today? One could only guess: Freaking small. I want to own a PC that is as thin as a light-weight laptop and with the length and width of a Mac Mini. How cool would that be? It would be beyond amazing in all aspects.
Why doesn't Microsoft use some of their hardware manufacturing knowledge to create a "Windows OS Flashcard?" Think of a world where you could buy Windows as a PCI-E card that is plugged in and automatically run? Operational speed would increase 10 fold easily if the OS was stored on some sort of solid state memory card directly interfaced with the PC and you would never have to worry about keeping track of all those damn installation disks. Life would be sweet and simple and overall system speed and operation would be like lighting! This is one innovation I can only hope comes our way soon.
Well, that's my list. I know it's short but I'm sure it can give you some insight into the maniacal brain of mine and hopefully sparks some discussion or interest into the possibility of any of these things actually being introduced to the public. Innovation should never yield to greed!
This commentary was submitted by the author to take part in our contest.
About the author
Clarence Ladson is currently a college student in Tocoma, Washinton and works in robotical and anatomical engineering. His hobbies include contributing programming skills to various console homebrew developements and orchestrating local LAN gaming events.
source:http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=show&id=99
Let's face it, we all love technology. We surround ourselves with the latest and greatest and consume nothing but the best of the best when it comes to gadgetry and technological extravagances, yet in the past few years the only thing to advance in an incredible degree would be video cards and CPUs. Why has there been such a sudden lack in innovation as of late? Are we in a technological drought? I like to stick to my own diagnosis of the industry as being too concerned with keeping a steady cash flow over social experimentation with new products but then again that's just an opinion from a little guy.
Well, I know what I want to see happen in the next years and I'm there are at least 1 million blogs about this very subject but I have a very convincing statement which should make you read and backup my list and It's quite simple really: I'm right and all 1 million blogs are wrong. There. I said it. I'm sure that after reading the list that you'll also come to this conclusion, at least that's what I'm banking on.
1) Better Designed fans -- RAWR! That's the sound of my system all 24 hours of the day. Although I have fairly new Thermaltake fans for both my CPU and system, the thing sounds as if it had wings and wheels that it would take off into the sky. Now, I'm sure many of you will say "Oh stop whining, there's liquid cooling and fan-less solutions, yackity smackity" but I say nay onto those because 1.) Liquid cooling is more expensive than a fan based setup and 2.) Have you seen an AMD 64 being ran with a fan-less solution? They melt like marshmallows on a campfire.
Seeing how there are is a nearly frictionless lubricant in Japan, I'm sure that some engineers from these fan manufacturers can conjure up the nerve to walk into the sex shops selling the stuff and just buy a few bottles (in the name of advancement and science of course). I mean, haven't they heard of Teflon!? Why not even use a little Wesson on the things, I'm sure they'd sound a lot quieter then apposed to the sand and glass I suspect they use currently for lubrication.
2) Cases with more functionality -- Haven't you even dreamt of having your case double as a food/drink dispenser as well? Of course you have! Wouldn't it just be oh-so cool to have a bottle opener or a soda dispenser built into the case without having to do tedious and sometimes ridiculous amounts of modifications? I mean, the possibilities are quite endless really when it comes to being a dispenser and it wouldn't necessarily be all that hard.
It doesn't have to stop at food either, I mean how many of you have or use the phone near your computer? Well, why not combine the two!? Wouldn't it just be so cool to have a fully functional phone right there on your case? There would be no need to get up ever again except for bathroom breaks but they have bags and jugs for that anyways, right?
3) Wireless everything -- That's right baby, no more wire hang- err, wires. I want to be able to buy something, set it on my desk and it automatically work. This rule applies for everything from mice and keyboards to monitors and various displays. We are in a world where being connected is required but I don't necessarily see why we need to be connected with a huge cable or dare I say dozens of cables! It isn't as if it would be hard, it would just take a standardization of a short range communications standard and some willingness from a few manufacturers.
If it's once thing that amazes people still in this day and age, its things that can send and receive data wirelessly. Even people with a complete understanding of the technology stare in bewilderment at their cutesy, wireless mouse. Come on industry, cut the cords and go truly wireless already!
4 & 5
4) More use of the USB storage keys -- If you're like me, then you game on your PC. And also like me, you must absolutely despise having to keep the damn game disk within the drive all day long. Well, grief no more because I have a handy dandy solution that would not only please you and me but also the game corporations and that idea is: Keep all necessary verification data on a single USB storage key! Simple, right!? Of course it is! Game publishers can each make available a custom "Game Key" that would hold the same information that a CD/DVD of the game would hold for simple "ownership verification." It would kill the need for no-CD patches and be an absolute hit for any avid gamer. Think of it, you could have a custom "EA" USB key that holds verification data on every single current EA game out there and you could "unlock" a game on the key by simply running a registration program or during the initial installation.
Genius, isn't it? I know. It simply baffles me as to why game developers and publishers would skip an idea such as this. I'm sure some people would say that this would simply be unsafe and lead to easier access for pirates to do their "thang" but in all actuality, it's just as safe, if not safer than using disk verification. Also, if you don't want to buy or have a separate USB key for each game publisher, then I propose one company which would collectively hold an agreement with game makers, to sell and manage this entire system. Gamespy is one company that certainly comes to mind. As for production fees, it really isn't too expensive to make an 8MB-32MB USB memory key anymore, in fact, I see them being given away by software companies looking to spread their product. It's no excuse.
5) A Complete Storage re-haul -- Why is my hard drive the same size as the one I owned in 1995? I mean, I know that the engineers went for speed and storage increment over size reduction for desktop solutions but what exactly is their excuse now? small hard drives serve more purpose outside of portable music devices and cell phones, think of how small PCs really could get if hard drives for the desktop were made the same size as those found within the iPods' of today? One could only guess: Freaking small. I want to own a PC that is as thin as a light-weight laptop and with the length and width of a Mac Mini. How cool would that be? It would be beyond amazing in all aspects.
Why doesn't Microsoft use some of their hardware manufacturing knowledge to create a "Windows OS Flashcard?" Think of a world where you could buy Windows as a PCI-E card that is plugged in and automatically run? Operational speed would increase 10 fold easily if the OS was stored on some sort of solid state memory card directly interfaced with the PC and you would never have to worry about keeping track of all those damn installation disks. Life would be sweet and simple and overall system speed and operation would be like lighting! This is one innovation I can only hope comes our way soon.
Well, that's my list. I know it's short but I'm sure it can give you some insight into the maniacal brain of mine and hopefully sparks some discussion or interest into the possibility of any of these things actually being introduced to the public. Innovation should never yield to greed!
This commentary was submitted by the author to take part in our contest.
About the author
Clarence Ladson is currently a college student in Tocoma, Washinton and works in robotical and anatomical engineering. His hobbies include contributing programming skills to various console homebrew developements and orchestrating local LAN gaming events.
source:http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=show&id=99
# posted by dark master : 7/18/2005 09:24:00 AM
