The Laptop in 2015: Not Your Daddy's Notebook

Computerworld - A lot has changed in the 20 years since the first laptop computers appeared, including gigahertz processors, color screens, optical drives and wireless data. However, one thing that has stubbornly stayed the same is the conventional clamshell format with its hinged display lid that opens to reveal a mechanical keyboard. That's about to change. The rules of notebook design and the components that go inside are being rewritten to make the road a better place to work and play."Between now and 2015, we expect to see a series of big changes that will redefine what a notebook is and what it looks like," said Mike Trainor, Intel Corp.'s evangelist for mobile products.
With crystal ball in hand, we talked to designers, engineers and marketers about how notebooks are likely to change over the next seven years. Here's what they told us.
Concepts for the future
First, let's take a look at some concept notebooks. Just as futuristic show cars give us insight into what we might be driving in the future, concept notebooks offer a sneak peek at how we'll be computing.
These concept notebooks typically are created by independent designers and firms retained by laptop vendors. This is highly secretive business -- the designers we spoke were willing to talk about some of their concepts but couldn't tell us who they were working for. Rarely does a concept notebook make it to the real world as a whole unit, but certain aspects often make it into production. Early 1990s concept devices contained integrated pointing devices, speakers and webcams, all of which are now standard equipment. It's likely that at least some of the new ideas, components and features showcased below will be coming to a notebook near you.
For example, several concept laptops rely on touch-sensitive screens that act as the system's keyboard and mouse and go beyond today's multi-touch technology. Imagine being able to slide your finger across the screen to immediately shut off the display and keep what you're working on confidential, and you get an idea of its potential.

Compenion
The Compenion concept notebook from independent designer Felix Schmidberger in Stuttgart, Germany, borrows heavily from slider cell phones to move beyond the clamshell. Rather than lifting the lid open, just slide it up. The pair of superbright organic LED panels slide into place next to each other, with the lower panel acting as keyboard or scribble pad. The whole thing is only three-quarters of an inch thick. "It reduces thickness, but the slider was more about the feel of using the notebook," said Schmidberger. "The idea is to break free from traditional notebook hardware without having to adapt to new ways of using a computer." Together, the 11-in. screens will yield about 16 inches of usable workspace, so the system has the dimensions and weight of a thin and light system but the screen of a larger one.

Canova

Dual-screen systems could well be the rage in seven years. The Canova from V12 Design, a Milan, Italy-based design firm, is closer to the tried and true clamshell layout, but with a twist.Instead of a display and a mechanical keyboard, the device has two touch-sensitive displays: The upper screen is primarily for viewing applications, and the lower screen is for the mundane activities of typing, drawing and jotting notes. But the Canova can also lie flat for a large expanse of working space. According to designer Valero Cometti, "the idea was to close the gap between man and machine." This notebook changes personality depending on how it's held. Opened all the way, it's a sketch pad. Fold it half open and rotate it 90 degrees, and it's an e-book. By emulating a musical keyboard on the lower half, when it's flat on a table, it can be a go-anywhere piano.

Hydrogen cars to hit the road by 2015?

Kevin Eslinger, a graduate student at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, points to one of the projects the university is studying: a Toyota SUV that runs on a hybrid electric/hydrogen engine ( see video). "We drove this past 100 miles per hour," Eslinger said. And it accelerates as well as a standard gas car, he added. The car, along with an electric/hydrogen Ford Focus, is on display at Semicon West, a chip equipment technology conference taking place here this week. Hydrogen fuel cells and other energy technologies are making their mark at Semicon, as the semiconductor and chip equipment industries try to more aggressively expand into solar panels and transportation. These companies specialize in laying down intricate chemical patterns onto films and surfaces, which is also a principal task in making solar panels and alternative energy engines. Hydrogen, once the darling of the alternative energy world, has been on the skids lately, with critics complaining that difficulties with storage, production and transport of the gas make it impractical and uneconomical as a fuel source. In addition, petroleum conglomerates are devising cleaner car fuels. Nonetheless, some believe the concept has promise, and hydrogen research continues to be funded. In 2004, the Department of Energy said it would spend $350 million over four years on hydrogen research.
Hydrogen will also cut down on greenhouses gases, its advocates say, because only water comes out of the tailpipe. However, manufacturing hydrogen, which involves combining methane with water and heating up the mix to 815 degrees Celsius, produces 9.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide for every kilogram of hydrogen. Some companies are tinkering with ways of sequestering manufactured carbon dioxide in underground caves and other storage facilities to keep it from getting into the atmosphere.
Car manufacturers acknowledge that the concept won't take off unless such problems can be conquered. Filling stations will also have to be built. But they believe that cars fueled by hydrogen could hit the road sometime between 2015 and 2020.
Hydrogen fuel cell cars actually run on electric engines, but the electricity comes mostly from a chemical reaction. Hydrogen and water pass through membranes in the fuel cell. The membranes extract electrons, which then charge a battery that powers the motor.
Battery charging, meanwhile, is supplemented by regenerative braking, a technology used with conventional gas/electric hybrid cars. In regenerative braking, the work involved in slowing the car generates electricity. (In a normal car, energy consumed to slow the car gets lost as heat.)

Toyota's fuel cell car, which is based on the Highlander SUV, contains four torpedo-shaped tanks that in total contain 3.5 kilograms of compressed hydrogen. The hydrogen comes out of the pump at about 500 pounds per square inch. The car gets about 60 miles per kilogram, giving the car a range of about 200 miles.
The Ford Focus, meanwhile, has a similar range but has been cranked up to reach speeds of just 80 miles per hour, a Ford representative said. The hydrogen tanks consume most of the trunk space.
Volkswagen has demonstrated a similar hydrogen fuel cell car, but like the Ford Focus it tops out at around 80 miles per hour.
BMW is also interested in hydrogen. The carmaker is experimenting with an engine that burns hydrogen directly in the combustion process. Ideally, this would lead to greater horsepower. BMW said its car will run on liquid, rather than compressed hydrogen.

GE Invests In USA Made Green Fridges

Here’s one to file for reference when somebody tells you nothing is made in America anymore: GE said it will invest $432 million to establish four U.S. centers focused on the design and manufacture of new refrigeration products. There’s a significant green tinge to the move, too, with GE claiming reduced environmental impact in both the manufacturing processes that will be used and the products that will emerge.

The “centers for excellence,” as the company calls them, will be located in Louisville, Ky., Decatur, Ga., Selmer, Tenn. and Bloomington, Ind. — a current GE facility that had once been marked for shuttering. The company said products from the Louisville, Bloomington and Decatur plants will be manufactured using a new foam insulating process that “will reduce the overall CO2 or greenhouse gas emissions at these sites by 90 percent.”

In addition, the company said, all new products “are being designed to meet the anticipated 2014 Energy Starstandards (and) most will incorporate smart-grid technology” and, by 2014, it will “offer the highest percentage of U.S.-made refrigerators among full-line appliance makers.”

In all, the company said the new investments would create 500 green jobs by 2014. According to a Reuters report, jobs at the plants that formerly would have paid in the mid $20-range per hour will pay $13 an hour, with full benefits, which may or may not thrill those who had the higher pay rate before.

Apple Secret Plan Until 2014

OLPC or One Laptop Per Child

OLPC or One Laptop Per Child is a foundation whose primary mission is to provide every child a computer in the world with Negroponte at the head of the organization. Well, the expectations of the foundation until 2012 are:

• During January 2010 will see the XO version 1.5 with the same form factor than the current model but replacing one VIA AMD thereby get a speed increase of up to 2 times, 4 times faster than DRAM and the appearance up to 4 times faster in Flash memory. Its price is about $ 200.
• One year later XO 1.75 version will appear in the same design of touch screen of 8.9 inches, but this time based on an ARM processor thereby get a reduction of energy consumption. Its price is $ 150.
• Finally, in 2012 (yes that year as lethal) would appear XO version 3.0, with a design radically different from today and becoming a kind of tablet without physical keyboard and much more portable than the current model type netbook. The best would probably its price: $ 100.