Mntsnow
01-08-2003, 7:35 AM
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.--A coming wave of consumer devices featuring ultracheap and powerful microprocessors embedded in almost everything will drive the next decade of innovation in computing technology, a leading trend-spotter said Tuesday.
Paul Saffo, the director of the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Institute for the Future, said the shift to pervasive computing, in which chips are stitched into the fabric of ordinary life, would define technology in the coming years just as the personal computer did in the 1980s, and the Internet did in the 1990s.
"We're in the middle of a 10-year shift," Saffo said in address at the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International Industry Strategy Symposium in the posh golf resort here. "Every 10 years a new technology comes along that drives demand."
Embedded processor technologies that will lead to new applications include cheap sensors, such as those used in global positioning systems and video cameras, as well as radio frequency identification tags, Saffo said.
Read More (http://news.com.com/2100-1001-979617.html)
Paul Saffo, the director of the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Institute for the Future, said the shift to pervasive computing, in which chips are stitched into the fabric of ordinary life, would define technology in the coming years just as the personal computer did in the 1980s, and the Internet did in the 1990s.
"We're in the middle of a 10-year shift," Saffo said in address at the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International Industry Strategy Symposium in the posh golf resort here. "Every 10 years a new technology comes along that drives demand."
Embedded processor technologies that will lead to new applications include cheap sensors, such as those used in global positioning systems and video cameras, as well as radio frequency identification tags, Saffo said.
Read More (http://news.com.com/2100-1001-979617.html)