Tech forecasting is a perilous endeavor.

It seems like the headlines are constantly bombarding our news feeds with booming bold letters, proclaiming the latest breakthrough technology.

But how often do these breakthrough technologies actually make it to the consumer market?

It always seems like they’re five to 10 years away.

No one wants to be a false prophet with a prediction so immediate that it could easily be proven incorrect in short order. But sometimes, long-term predictions can be even harder.

But even though people know that predictions can be a waste of time, they still want to know: What’s next?

It’s easy for entrepreneurs and researchers to stumble and hit a wall at any point in the process of bringing new tech to market, causing delays or even the termination of the project.

And that’s why many use the wily hedge mechanism coined by Silicon Valley soothsayers to circumvent these uncertainties: making predictions “five to 10 years out.”

It just hits that perfect sweet spot — just close enough that people can begin to taste it, but just far enough away that (almost) no one will call you out if it doesn’t come to fruition.

And with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas presenting so many new advancements to the public just last week, people are already getting a taste of what their computers will be like within the next five to 10 years…

Brain-Like

Scientists have designed printable organic thin films for “neuromorphic” computers that are designed to operate like the human brain, which will help power the Internet of Things (IoT).

The IoT needs components and chips that can handle huge quantities of data.

Sayani Majumdar, from the Aalto University in Finland, along with her colleagues designed and fabricated the basic building blocks of “neuromorphic” computers inspired by the human brain.

The technology and design of neuromorphic computing are advancing more rapidly than its rival revolution quantum computing, says Majumdar. The key is to achieve the extreme energy-efficiency of a biological brain and mimic the way that neural networks process information through electric impulses.

They have abilities beyond existing technologies and also bode well for energy-efficient and stable neuromorphic computing.

The junctions work with low voltages of fewer than five volts and with a variety of electrode materials — including silicon used in most of our electronics.

They can also retain data for more than 10 years without power and can be manufactured in normal conditions.

The junctions are made with organic hydrocarbon materials and could greatly reduce the amount of toxic heavy-metal waste in electronics.

Thousands of junctions can be made in a day at room temperature without them suffering from the water or oxygen in the air.

Numerous junctions packed together in neuromorphic chips could then perform tasks like image and pattern recognition and make decisions automatically — since the devices are built to imitate neurons in the brain — giving them the ability to learn as they run…

Project Linda

San Francisco-based gaming company Razer has a bold history of bold experimentation. At last year’s CES tech industry trade show, Razer showed off an outlandish three-screen gaming laptop concept that was a bit too crazy to end up in the hands of consumers.

This year, however, Razer’s concept product is somewhat tame but in a good way. In fact, the gaming company may have figured out how we’ll be using computers in the not-too-distant future.

Razer’s “Project Linda” is essentially a docking station for the company’s own smartphone that turns it into a laptop with a 13.3-inch display and keyboard.

The rudimentary concept behind this endeavor is that smartphones will become the only device you’ll ever need for leisure and productivity.

With the device, you can do all the basic stuff with your smartphone, like perusing the web, social media, and apps.

And when you need to be more productive — like writing long emails or documents and switching among multiple browser tabs — you can place the Razer phone into Project Linda to benefit from a larger screen and keyboard.

Once connected to the laptop-like docking station, the phone will then act as a mouse trackpad for easy navigation. But that’s just the most basic use of the enclosed phone: It can also act as a second screen that complements what you see on the laptop screen.

All it takes is the press of a button, literally, to transform a smartphone into a laptop.

It really is genius…

The Bottom Line

Quantum computers have always been a popular topic when discussing the future of computers.

Lots of companies, like IBM and Google, have been racing to be the first to bring them to the consumer market.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is also joining the quest to develop quantum computers — devices that would exploit quantum mechanics to crack the problems that overwhelm conventional computers.

Quantum high-performance super-computing would completely upend the technological world as we know it.

But setting all the uncertainties that go along with tech forecasting aside, the future of our computing needs will be faster, more efficient, and unlike anything we’ve seen thus far… And that’s for certain.

We’ll just have to see who makes it first.

That’s all for now.

Until next time,

John Peterson
Pro Trader Today