A BOLD AND FOOLISH EFFORT TO PREDICT THE FUTURE OF COMPUTING
What today's prophets of technology say about the day after tomorrow
By Ed Regis

Atenção: Para respondePREDICTING WHAT NEXT YEAR'S (OR NEXT WEEK'S) IPAD IS GOING to be like is hard enough. Knowing what computers in general will be like 150 years from now - an eternity in technology development - is ...[A]... . On the other hand, technology prophets, computer pioneers and researchers have never been known for their reticence on the subject of the future. So we thought it wouldn't hurt to ask them. For starters, will there even be computers in the far future? "There will definitely be computers, " says nanotechnology oracle Eric Drexler of the University of Oxford. "They're more fundamental than the wheel."
Atenção: Para respondeGeorge Dyson, author of books about computers and global intelligence, says, "I can't tell you a lot about computing 50, 100 and 150 years ago but really nothing about computing 50, 100 or 150 years in the future. It's just truly impossible to predict: all I can guarantee is that any prediction will be wrong!" He then relents and makes one: "In 150 years most of the important computation will be analog computation (for the same reason that most of the important numbers are real numbers but not integers) and the notion of alldigital computation will be a quaint relic."
Atenção: Para respondeIvan Sutherland, who invented Sketchpad, the basis for today's ubiquitous graphical user interface says, "I have no clue about the state of the world 150 years from now. If you want to know the future, ask the young people who will create it."

(Disponível em: Magazine Scientific American. janeiro de 2013. v.308. p.30, Adaptado)

Facebook and mobile phones

Will Home work?

Apr 4th 2013, 23:24 by M.G | SAN FRANCISCO

    A DAY after the mobile phone celebrated its 40th birthday, Facebook has produced something that it hopes will make certain of the devices even more useful. On April 4th the giant social network unveiled Home, new software that is designed to give it more prominence on mobile phones powered by Android, an operating system developed by Google.
    This matters because more and more folk are now accessing social networks from mobile devices rather than from desktop computers and because mobile advertising revenues are growing fast, albeit from a low base. Without a robust mobile presence, Facebook could see some of its users siphoned off by rivals born in the mobile era. And it could miss out on a potentially massive source of new revenue.
    There had been speculation that Facebook was working on a phone of its own, or at least on a mobile operating system to rival Android or Apple’s iOS. But dabbling in hardware at this stage of its development would be a huge risk for Facebook and developing a rival operating system would risk alienating Apple and Google, whose mobile platforms have helped power its advertising growth. EMarketer, a research firm, reckons Facebook is on track to win 11% of the $13.6 billion likely to be spent around the world on mobile ads this year.

(Adaptado de http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/04/facebook-and-mobile-phones; Acessado em 08/04/2013)

Facebook and mobile phones

Will Home work?

Apr 4th 2013, 23:24 by M.G | SAN FRANCISCO

    A DAY after the mobile phone celebrated its 40th birthday, Facebook has produced something that it hopes will make certain of the devices even more useful. On April 4th the giant social network unveiled Home, new software that is designed to give it more prominence on mobile phones powered by Android, an operating system developed by Google.
    This matters because more and more folk are now accessing social networks from mobile devices rather than from desktop computers and because mobile advertising revenues are growing fast, albeit from a low base. Without a robust mobile presence, Facebook could see some of its users siphoned off by rivals born in the mobile era. And it could miss out on a potentially massive source of new revenue.
    There had been speculation that Facebook was working on a phone of its own, or at least on a mobile operating system to rival Android or Apple’s iOS. But dabbling in hardware at this stage of its development would be a huge risk for Facebook and developing a rival operating system would risk alienating Apple and Google, whose mobile platforms have helped power its advertising growth. EMarketer, a research firm, reckons Facebook is on track to win 11% of the $13.6 billion likely to be spent around the world on mobile ads this year.

(Adaptado de http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/04/facebook-and-mobile-phones; Acessado em 08/04/2013)

Facebook and mobile phones

Will Home work?

Apr 4th 2013, 23:24 by M.G | SAN FRANCISCO

    A DAY after the mobile phone celebrated its 40th birthday, Facebook has produced something that it hopes will make certain of the devices even more useful. On April 4th the giant social network unveiled Home, new software that is designed to give it more prominence on mobile phones powered by Android, an operating system developed by Google.
    This matters because more and more folk are now accessing social networks from mobile devices rather than from desktop computers and because mobile advertising revenues are growing fast, albeit from a low base. Without a robust mobile presence, Facebook could see some of its users siphoned off by rivals born in the mobile era. And it could miss out on a potentially massive source of new revenue.
    There had been speculation that Facebook was working on a phone of its own, or at least on a mobile operating system to rival Android or Apple’s iOS. But dabbling in hardware at this stage of its development would be a huge risk for Facebook and developing a rival operating system would risk alienating Apple and Google, whose mobile platforms have helped power its advertising growth. EMarketer, a research firm, reckons Facebook is on track to win 11% of the $13.6 billion likely to be spent around the world on mobile ads this year.

(Adaptado de http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/04/facebook-and-mobile-phones; Acessado em 08/04/2013)