Laptop of 2015

I do enjoy a peek into the future, speculative though they may be.

While computer advancements have come light-years in the last decade in terms of speed, memory, data storage, processing power, connectivity, convergence, etc, the basics around them have not changed much at all. Daily use of a computer/laptop still maintains the mechanical keyboard and mouse, which, beyond the ergonomic and wireless advancements, have advanced very little. This prediction shows the advancements yet to come, but seemingly quite reasonable in projection.

2015 is only a few years away... check out what you'll be working on here.

"Industrial Schools"

Less than a minute long, have a look at this commentary by Stephen Heppel.




One idea in particular that I've grabbed on to is the idea that schools are still based on the industrial revolution model. While this is something I've been suggesting for a while now, I too am disappointed in the lack of progression and forward thinking our education system is giving to getting out of the industrial age, when the rest of the modernized world has long since moved on.

In our province of Alberta, we have established through public funds excellent, stable high-speed internet to every school, yet many of those schools have little computer access for the students. Most school networks are tightly locked down so even those few students who have computers of their own they could bring to school can't access the network. I'm interested to check out post-secondary campuses to see if they are following their American siblings in offering campus-wide WiFi for students to access.

In this day and age, why are not most of the students provided laptops and WiFi access in schools, starting in Div II?

Heppel predicts 10 years of 'lost' children. I hope and hope it's not that long, but I do not doubt his prediction. I'm disappointed by it.

Next Steps in Hand-helds

The LucidTouch is still in a very rudimentary, prototype phase, but you can quickly see the potential of who this style of technology may quickly change the hand-held device world. In an era of convergence, this style of interaction is only a few years/months away.

Our LucidTouch prototype allows users to interact with screen content by touching the back of the device. The device allows users to target accurately by providing visual feedback of the users hand. This effect of "pseudo translucency" is created by sensing the hand behind the device and rendering a translucent version onto the screen.