"Call it the smart communicator. In a few years, the functions in
today's personal digital assistant (PDA)--notebook, to-do list,
calendar, contacts--will be the least of it. Thanks to a variant of
Moore's Law that says data-storage density doubles every 18 months,
tomorrow's smart communicator will hold 250GB--enough to store 55
movies.
Indeed, video--both viewing and recording--will be a killer app.
One reason: 'There will be phenomenal leaps forward in display
technology,' says Hank Nothhaft, chairman and CEO of Danger Labs,
maker of the SideKick PDA. Say good-bye to your PDA's power-greedy
liquid crystal display (LCD). Say hello to the smart communicator's
energy-efficient, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display....
Another leap: high-speed wireless connectivity. As data-transfer
speeds of 400 Kbps become standard, high-quality streaming video will
become a reality. The potential of Bluetooth, a wireless technology
with a range of about 30 feet, will also bloom on the smart
communicator, giving it the ability to connect to remote keyboards and
displays. 'You'll carry your whole life in your PDA,' says Scott
Summit, designer of the award-winning Tapwave Zodiac PDA. 'And any
device next to it--a computer, a TV--will reconfigure to run from it.'
Business travelers will be able to use it with screen-and-keyboard
combos in hotel rooms and airports, where the device's expanded mode,
complete with projected keyboard, might be awkward.
The smart communicator will have its own nervous system: sensors
that assess the outside world and adjust the device's behavior
accordingly. A built-in RFID (radio-frequency identification) reader
will pick up data stored on RFID tags in nearby objects, so the PDA
will automatically embed identification labels in the photos it takes.
The onboard eye scanner will let you navigate pages with a mere glance
at the menu bar. Light, heat and motion sensors will enable the device
to know whether it's in your pocket or your hand, and pump up its
cellphone's ring tone if needed. A tilt sensor will trigger the
display to shift between portrait and landscape mode, and it'll offer
finger-free scrolling. The microphone will measure ambient noise and
adjust the volume to compensate in a loud restaurant. The GPS will
detect when you're nearing home, and the communicator will signal
ahead to turn on the heat or AC. Once you arrive, the Bluetooth
network will automatically synchronize data between your communicator
and your PC.
With so much personal information packed in it, you'd think your
smart communicator would be worth 10 times its weight in platinum to
an identity thief. And it would be, if not for the combination of
software encryption and biometrics it will employ to keep criminals
out. If you lose it, the thumbprint-sensing power switch will cause
the screen to display a message asking the finder to return it to you.
It'll also secretly transmit its location via any available wireless
network, so you can track it on a Web-based map. Don't be surprised if
the map's blinking green dot is over your house--it just means you
need to retrieve your smart communicator from under the sofa cushion."
[Popular Science, via PDA
24/7]
So what will library services look like to someone who carries
their whole life in this smart communicator? Will our networks and
peripherals be ready to interact with these devices when they enter
the building?
