The future of computing

Filed in archive Market on March 5, 2006

Want to know what our future will be about?

Friedemann Mattern, director of the institute for "Pervasive Computing" from the ETH Zurich talks about "Ambient Intelligence" and "Ubiquitous Computing".

Many everyday objects will become smart because of information technology that collects, saves, processes and communicates data. These objects get a new quality.

Examples:
car tires - calls in when the air pressure is low
medicine - calls in after the date of expire
underwear - saves vital data and informs the doctor in case of emergency
sprinkler - more efficiency because of humidity sensors and weather data from the internet
car - communicates with the insurance about miles driven, how fast, garage etc. and calculates individual rates
clothes, keys, pets, cases - tell you where they are (and their owner)

Wearable computing can be used to augment human senses and process more information so make life more safe and powerful. These two forces will mostly drive the new technologies.

Precondition: micro-electronic enhanced objects, a secure and reliable infrastructure, economic and legal framework and a social agreement about the use.