I agree, Nadine. Tiny kids take to tablets in a remarkable way. In a family, the kids take over the tablets in ways they never tried to do with desktops or laptops. Flexible computers will be perfect for kid applications.
Good point, Chuck. We're likely to be surprised by what shows up now that this flexible technology is becoming available. It didn't take long for applications to show up for the PC. Smart phones are another good example. Using the phone to make a call almost seems an afterthought for young users.
One idea did come to me while reading through the comments. I can see this used for tablets aimed at the kid's market. I never imagined that a $400 item could be popular for children. If you've ever watched two toddlers arguing over an ipad, you know what I mean.
I agree, Rob. I have a feeling a few years from now they will be in the technology domain in products that we don't even give a second thought to as being out of the ordinary...kind of like the evolution of LED flashlights.
I'm sure that engineers will find many applications for thin film batteries and displays. I can remember when people claimed the only application for PCs was to store recipes. We've found some new apps since then.
It's going to be interesting to see what applications come from this. The flexible displays I've seen are fun, but I haven't seen them in a setting where flexibility was a necessity rather than a nice gimmick. Yet I'm sure somebody will come up with a great idea once this technology is available.
Nadine, I admit that I have a tough time believing flexible displays can work. They seem so counterintuitive, yet there are several development efforts going on to produce them.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
PTC will offer a virtual desktop environment for its Creo product design applications, potentially freeing engineers to run them from remote desktops on a variety of operating systems and mobile devices.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
Now that solar and wind harvesting technologies are a thriving market, researchers are seeking other environmentally related energy sources for which they can create harvesting devices.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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