{"id":669,"date":"2009-01-06T13:16:08","date_gmt":"2009-01-06T21:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nnlm.gov\/pnr\/dragonfly\/?p=669"},"modified":"2026-01-27T14:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T14:37:07","slug":"future-2","status":"archive","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/future-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology of the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year! January is a great time to break out the crystal ball and see what new technologies will change the way we live and work.\u00a0 The following post was written by Max Anderson, Technology Coordinator for the NN\/LM Greater Midwest Region. It originally appeared on the Cornflower blog.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Technology typically changes exponentially. I remember when I worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Help Desk Staff telling me that RAM doubles in size every 18 months. \u00a0 At first I didn\u2019t really know what RAM was, so I just said \u201cwow!\u201d Now I do know what RAM is and does, but my brain overfloweth with the number of emerging technologies in the news.<\/p>\n

Just 5 or so years ago, I did not know what podcasting was, and definitely had never heard of the iPod. Before 2001 I had never heard of blogging.\u00a0 Not having to use a downloaded client program like Microsoft Word to edit a document seemed like a fantasy in 2000.<\/p>\n

I thought I would share with you just a small number of some exciting things happening in the world of technology – and how they may have an impact on how you work.<\/p>\n

Memristers
\n<\/strong>A fourth fundamental circuit element in electrical engineering? What are the other three!? (they are resistors, inductors and capacitors for those who are counting). According to an article on Physorg.com<\/a>, \u201cThis scientific advancement could make it possible to develop computer systems that have memories that do not forget, do not need to be booted up, consume far less power and associate information in a manner similar to that of the human brain.\u201d\u00a0 The potential is that it could replace RAM as we know it today, as well as hard drives as we know them today.\u00a0 In theory they *should* be cheaper and more efficient.
\nTime frame: within 8 years<\/p>\n

32-Core CPU<\/strong>
\nMost of us who work on computers have no idea how many \u201ccores\u201d our computer is running.\u00a0 You may have heard the term \u201cdual core\u201d to describe newer computers coming out, and even 8-core computing (an example is the Mac Pro<\/a>.)\u00a0 What the core refers to is the processor inside a computer.\u00a0 Dual combines 2 via an integrated circuit, 4 does the same, and so on.\u00a0 What does having a 32-core desktop mean to you? For one, the number of programs you can run simultaneously.\u00a0 Another example, creating and editing high-end video podcasts.
\nTime frame: within 6 years<\/p>\n

USB 3.0
\n<\/strong>How many of you have used flash memory? Those little memory sticks we give out during classes or exhibits!? These devices use USB connectivity.\u00a0 Many devices for the computer today can only be hooked up via a USB cable.\u00a0 Examples: mice, keyboards, digital cameras, iPhones.\u00a0 USB 2.0 is the current standard which means that it can run at speeds approaching 480 MB per second.\u00a0 USB 3.0 promises output at 4.8 GB per second (roughly the equivalent of a movie on DVD each second).\u00a0 This means faster charge times for your external devices and of course faster download of your photos and\/or videos from digital cameras.
\nTime frame: anytime now<\/p>\n

Wireless Recharging
\n<\/strong>Can you imagine a world where you don\u2019t cringe every time you have to look under your computer desk?\u00a0 The mass of wires can be very overwhelming.\u00a0 Some of our daily devices are semi-wireless.\u00a0 Electric shavers can be wireless, but they have to get juice from somewhere – and the charging base is what has to be plugged into the wall.\u00a0 What if you could get power to a device without the use of any wires at all?\u00a0 This idea obviously has huge potential in the library world, where we typically have a number of computers and other electrical devices (scanners, printers, etc.)\u00a0 There will be undoubtedly huge obstacles to get this rolling but we\u2019ll keep an eye on it.
\nTIme frame: within 10 years<\/p>\n

What predictions have you heard about in regard to emerging technologies? What seemed fanciful a few years ago and now is a reality?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year! January is a great time to break out the crystal ball and see what new technologies will change the way we live and work.\u00a0 The following post was written by Max Anderson, Technology Coordinator for the NN\/LM Greater Midwest Region. It originally appeared on the Cornflower blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-669","post","type-post","status-archive","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17353,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions\/17353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}