[Technology Report] Robots Finally Have That Personal Touch
Extending from the factory floor and into your living room, the personal robot’s time has arrived. These devices have pushed past uses as expensive and cute toys like Sony’s Aibo and into sophisticated and affordable products that perform a number of functions in and around the home. Allied Business Intelligence Research says that the personal robotics market, which includes robotic toys, educational robots, and task-based robots, will reach $15...
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Roger Allan
[Technology Report] In Search Of The Next Disruptive Technology
Megatrends donâ??t simply happen on their own. They start with disruptive technologies that completely change the status quo, like gunpowder, the airplane, and the microprocessor. The trick lies in identifying potential disruptive technologies early on and then predicting where they might lead. Back in 1976, I was part of a group at Tektronix tasked with retraining oscilloscope sales and field engineers to sell microprocessor development...
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Don Tuite
[Technology Report] Get Ready For The Multimedia Mess
The setting sun is a pleasant sight while driving home. I’m listening to satellite radio and a call comes in. At my verbal request, the car’s media system switches off the music and answers the phone. I continue the conversation as I pull into the garage and switch the call to my home line as I exit the car. Continuing to chat, I move into a room with an HDTV and switch to video conferencing. The call ends and the radio program resumes from the point of...
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William Wong
[Technology Report] Four-Wheeled Supercomputers
Smart phones. MP3 players. Notebooks. We can’t live without our portable gadgets. However, we probably drive our most computeintensive mobile electronics to work everyday. Today’s automobiles use a variety of networks, sensors, and computer platforms to deliver safer and more pleasant travel than ever. Most companies concentrate their development efforts on safety, efficiency, and performance. These features rank high with consumers, and the...
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William Wong
[Technology Report] Wending Our Way From Wired To Wireless
Over the past century, we’ve wired and rewired the world countless times, evolving from copper cable to fiber optics and beyond. But this cycle will soon come to an end as rapid-fire wireless innovations consistently deliver faster, cheaper, and more reliable communication. ONE TREND AT A TIME The telephone business is still mostly wired, but the cell-phone phenomenon continues to chip it away. The...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] Megatrends Of The Future Will Feed Off Industry Hype
Afaltering economy hasn’t slowed the electronics industry. According to many independent market research organizations and other sources, most market sectors will experience strong growth over the next five to 10 years. In fact, what has become a digital universe is expanding more rapidly than any original estimates. Updated projections based on research by IDC suggests that with a compound annual growth rate of almost 60%, the digital...
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Ron Schneiderman
[Technology Report] Motion Blur Distorts Digital Video's Future
Back in the dark ages, watching TV was a challenge. If you were on the fringes of the broadcast networks’ ranges, you and your siblings had to take turns holding the TV set’s rabbit ears to improve its reception. And if the set stopped working, you were in for a trip to the local drug store with a bag full of vacuum tubes. These days, if you’re talking about a TV not functioning, you’re likely referring to the shift from analog to digital...
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Daniel Harris
[Technology Report] Move Over, Couch—The Cell Potato Is Here
It’s hard to keep up with today’s cell-phone functionality, with voice calls, text messaging, e-mail, Web surfing, GPS navigation, cameras, FM radios, and MP3 music. Now television has jumped headlong into the mix. A few carriers already offer TV programming over their networks, and new broadcast services have come online. Expect an even bigger push for mobile TV later this year and next year. BIG CONTENT, LITTLE...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] Robotics Give Doctors A Helping Hand
Advances in robotics technology are completely transforming today’s hospital operating rooms. With robot control and assistance, surgery for any kind of injury or ailment is faster, more accurate, and less invasive than ever before. Because robots help accelerate procedures, operations become safer. With conventional surgery, a surgeon performing an operation lasting several hours can become exhausted. As a result, the surgeon’s hand can be subject...
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Roger Allan
[Technology Report] The Rats, Snakes, Insects, And Lobsters Of War
They run, crawl, slither, fly, and jump. They’re also robots. Fueled by funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and other public and private organizations, researchers at labs nationwide are developing a new generation of military robots. Inspired by designs already perfected by nature, these robots are helping military units accomplish missions with less risk to soldiers and civilians. Joseph Ayers, principal...
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John Edwards
[Technology Report] Biometrics Looks To Solve Identity Crisis
You see them in blockbuster movies and high-tech TV shows—biometric systems that rely on fingerprints, facial recognition, and other physical and behavioral data to provide identification. But these technologies have moved past the sci-fi genre, and even beyond the high-security arena. They’re hitting the mainstream now. In fact, you may even be using some of them already. Of course, companies in this segment are working hard to keep one step...
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Roger Allan
[Technology Report] From The Typewriter To The PC And Beyond
Patented in 1869 by Milwaukee newspaper editor Christopher Sholes with partners S.W. Soule and G. Glidden, the first typewriters went into production at Remington Arms Co. in 1873. Essentially, they were word processors without a display or memory. They also were unforgiving in terms of user-input errors, since they lacked spellcheck or even correctable tape. Yet the typewriter is notable for its alphanumeric layout (...
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Mat Dirjish
[Editorial] Transitions Make Tomorrow Much Different From Today
Welcome to the latest edition of Electronic Design’s Megatrends special issue. When our editorial staff sat down to decide its theme, we knocked around a few ideas before settling on transitions. We tried to envision what our world might look like several years from now in some key application areas due to the constantly evolving technologies in our industry. This issue is the result. Contributing editor Ron Schneiderman begins with the numbers behind some of...
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Joseph Desposito
