New Information Technologies

Hot New Information Technologies That Will Change Everything

Memristor circuits lead to ultrasmall PCs. Intel and AMD unleash massively multicore CPUs. Samsung TVs respond to your every gesture. These and other developing technologies will fundamentally change the way you think about--and use--technology.

The Next Big thing? The memristor, a microscopic component that can "remember" electrical states even when turned off. It's expected to be far cheaper and faster than flash storage. A theoretical concept since 1971, it has now been built in labs and is already starting to revolutionize everything we know about computing, possibly making flash memory, RAM, and even hard drives obsolete within a decade.
The memristor is just one of the incredible technological advances sending shock waves through the world of computing. Other innovations in the works are more down-to-earth, but they also carry watershed significance. From the technologies that finally make paperless offices a reality to those that deliver wireless power, these advances should make your humble PC a far different beast come the turn of the decade.
In the following sections, we outline the basics of 15 upcoming technologies, with predictions on what may come of them. Some are breathing down our necks; some advances are still just out of reach. And all have to be reckoned with.

Memristor: A Groundbreaking New Circuit
32-Core CPUs From Intel and AMD
Nehalem and Swift Chips Spell the End of Stand-Alone Graphics Boards
USB 3.0 Speeds Up Performance on External Devices
Wireless Power Transmission
64-Bit Computing Allows for More RAM
Windows 7: It's Inevitable
Google's Desktop OS
Gesture-Based Remote Control
Radical Simplification Hits the TV Business
Curtains for DRM
Use Any Phone on Any Wireless Network
Your Fingers Do Even More Walking
Cell Phones Are the New Paper
Where You At? Ask Your Phone, Not Your Friend
25 Years of Predictions