[kictanet] Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives in the Next Five Years

Thu Jan 27 12:13:53 EAT 2011

Afternoon Listers...

Thought i would share this with you...

Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives in the Next Five Years

Whether it’s rising energy costs, the daily impacts of a more urban and
crowded world, or staying in touch with friends in today’s fast-paced
society, people around the globe face a unique set of challenges.

Within the next five years, though, a host of technologies will provide
novel solutions to some of today’s toughest problems. In some cases, these
innovations harness existing infrastructures and technologies in clever new
ways. In other instances, they provide new approaches to meeting everyday
needs. But within the next five years, these innovations will help improve
the way the world works.

People won’t need to be scientists to save the planet
Not everyone is a scientist, but every individual is a walking sensor. In
five years, sensors in phones, cars, wallets, and even tweets will collect
data that scientists can use to paint a real-time picture of the world.
People will be able to contribute this data to fight global warming, save
endangered species, or track invasive plants or animals that threaten
ecosystems around the world.

Making simple observations, such as when the first thaw occurs in a town,
available over a network of other computers will give scientists access to
bits of data that they never had before. By combining all of this data
together, they will make sense of events on a wider scale.

For instance, IBM recently patented a technique that enables a system to
accurately and precisely conduct analysis of seismic events, such as
earthquakes, as well as provide early warnings for tsunamis, which can
follow earthquakes. The technique also makes it possible to rapidly measure
and analyze the damage zone of an earthquake to help prioritize the
emergency response needed.

People will have the opportunity to meet their friends in 3-D
In the next five years, 3-D interfaces – like those in the movies – will
let people see and talk with 3-D holograms of their friends. Movies and TVs
are already embracing 3-D, and as 3-D and holographic cameras get more
sophisticated and miniaturized to fit into cell phones, people will be able
to interact with photos, browse the Web, and chat with friends in entirely
new ways.

Scientists are working to improve video chat so that it can include
holography chat -- or "3-D telepresence." The technique uses light beams
scattered from objects and reconstructs a picture of that object, a similar
technique to the one the human eye use to visualize its surroundings.

But the new opportunities in 3-D will go beyond just chatting with friends.
Scientists are working on new techniques of visualizing 3-D data that will
let people step inside designs of everything from buildings to software
programs or run simulations of how diseases spread across interactive 3-D
globes.

Batteries will breathe air to power devices
In the next five years, scientific advances in transistors and battery
technology will allow devices to last about 10 times longer than they do
today. Instead of the heavy lithium-ion batteries used today, scientists
are working on batteries that use air to react with energy-dense metal. If
successful, the result will be a lightweight, powerful and rechargeable
battery capable of powering everything from electric cars to consumer
devices.

Better yet, batteries may disappear altogether in some smaller devices. By
rethinking the transistor, the basic building block of electronic devices,
IBM is aiming to reduce the amount of energy per transistor to less than
0.5 volts. With energy demands this low, some devices such as mobile phones
or e-readers could be charged using energy scavenging, a technique that
could make it possible to charge a phone simply by shaking it.

Commutes will be personalized
Advanced analytics technologies will provide personalized recommendations
that get commuters where they need to go in the fastest time. Adaptive
traffic systems will intuitively learn the travel patterns and behavior of
every individual, proving more customized travel safety and route
information than is possible today.

By combining predictive analytics with real-time information about current
travel congestion from sensors and other data, traffic systems can
recommend better ways to get to a destination, such as how to get to a
nearby mass transit hub, whether a train is predicted to be on time, and if
parking is available at the train station. New systems can learn from
regular travel patterns where each individual is likely to go and then
integrate all that available data and prediction models to pinpoint the
best personalized routes.

Computers will help energize cities
What if the energy poured into the world's data centers could be recycled
for a city's use? The groundwork is already being laid to make this goal a
reality. Innovations in computers and data centers are enabling the
excessive heat and energy that they give off to do things like heat
buildings in the winter and power air conditioning in the summer.

Up to 50 percent of the energy consumed by a modern data center goes toward
air cooling. Most of the heat is then wasted because it is just dumped into
the atmosphere. Using new technologies, such as novel on-chip water-cooling
systems, the thermal energy from a cluster of computer processors can be
efficiently recycled to provide hot water for an office or houses.

For instance, a pilot project in Switzerland involving a computer system
fitted with the technology is expected to save up to 30 tons of carbon
dioxide emissions per year, the equivalent of an 85 percent carbon
footprint reduction.

These five innovations are based upon market and societal trends expected
to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from our labs
around the world that can make them possible.

Kind Regards

 Maureen Muthua                              2nd Floor, Africa Re Center       (Embedded 
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 Territory                                   Hospital Rd, Upper Hill, P.O.               
 Marketing and                              Box 35475 00200                              
 Communications                                                                          
 Manager                                                                                 

 IBM East                                    Nairobi, KENYA                              
 Africa                                                                                  

 Phone:         +254 20 2834 000                                                         

 Mobile:        +254 722 740 884                                                         

 e-mail:        maureenm at ke.ibm.com                                                      

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