News & Analysis
Ten technologies that will shake the CE world
EET staff
1/24/2012 10:50 AM EST
Ubiquitous Android
Google Android will be to the next decade what Microsoft Windows was to the 1990s. It will be the software platform that will enable many of the most interesting and diverse devices to emerge in electronics.
For decades, the industry has sought—usually in vain—a common base of free, open-source software. The 1980s saw the quest for a unified Unix for computers. More recently, the search was for a single version of mobile and embedded Linux to power everything from mainstream smartphones, tablets and connected TVs to systems on the factory floor.
Google’s Android has come closer than anything in the past to fulfilling the dream. As ARM-based processors strengthen their processing punch, Android will emerge as an operating system for notebooks and PCs.
In smartphones, Android has already surpassed Apple’s iOS and other alternatives in shipments. Its broad support among handset makers is its best guarantee of a robust and long life for use in all systems. Google’s recent work to merge tablet and smartphone variants in version 4.0, called Ice Cream Sandwich, has put the codebase on a solid footing, at least for the moment.
But there are bumps in the road ahead. Android uses Dalvik, a nontraditional Java virtual machine. Java’s owner, Oracle, is suing Google to get rid of Dalvik. If Oracle wins the suit, Java, the previous best hope for software unification, will get a boost at the risk of torpedoing Android.
Android is still relatively immature; it was just in 2011 that Google pledged to support USB on the platform. But there are plenty of tools available to dress up Android for different roles. Mentor Graphics jumped in early. More recently, Wind River fielded tools and Android variants for embedded systems. — Rick Merritt
Next: The ARMing of Win8
Google Android will be to the next decade what Microsoft Windows was to the 1990s. It will be the software platform that will enable many of the most interesting and diverse devices to emerge in electronics.
For decades, the industry has sought—usually in vain—a common base of free, open-source software. The 1980s saw the quest for a unified Unix for computers. More recently, the search was for a single version of mobile and embedded Linux to power everything from mainstream smartphones, tablets and connected TVs to systems on the factory floor.
Google’s Android has come closer than anything in the past to fulfilling the dream. As ARM-based processors strengthen their processing punch, Android will emerge as an operating system for notebooks and PCs.
In smartphones, Android has already surpassed Apple’s iOS and other alternatives in shipments. Its broad support among handset makers is its best guarantee of a robust and long life for use in all systems. Google’s recent work to merge tablet and smartphone variants in version 4.0, called Ice Cream Sandwich, has put the codebase on a solid footing, at least for the moment.
But there are bumps in the road ahead. Android uses Dalvik, a nontraditional Java virtual machine. Java’s owner, Oracle, is suing Google to get rid of Dalvik. If Oracle wins the suit, Java, the previous best hope for software unification, will get a boost at the risk of torpedoing Android.
Next: The ARMing of Win8
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chanj
1/24/2012 2:40 PM EST
Spielberg's vision in Minority Report is becoming reality. What's the world is going to be like?
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agk
1/25/2012 7:31 AM EST
MEM's doing many wonders. I think soon these sensors will be woven into our fabrics and this will monitor our sitting position in front of the PC's enable to improve our performance and health.
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NSK
1/25/2012 2:07 PM EST
First you say that Google's Android will dominate, then you say how Apple's Siri will change everything. I see a bit of a conflict here.
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docdivakar
1/25/2012 2:33 PM EST
@NSK: I feel tempted to say neither one! Both aren't open systems -we know iOS isn't but Android isn't either, contrary to the claims! Google controls it but allows the source to be downloaded.
What is truly open is the up & coming Boot-2-Gecko (B2G) from Mozilla. When I met its CEO Gary Kovacs last year, one question I posed to him was-what is the future of browsers in the world of ubiquitous computing? Do they become irrelevant? Each mobile device has its own browser...
His answer was -well, wait and see. I saw a presentation yesterday, at the Stanford Faculty club where some B2G developers showed what it can do.
I hope B2G enjoys the same success as FireFox.
MP Divakar
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junko.yoshida
1/25/2012 11:43 PM EST
That is really fascinating. We all want to know more about it!!!
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docdivakar
1/30/2012 12:04 AM EST
Junko, I will keep you posted. Had a nice chat with the CTO of Mozilla and also have some presentation materials on B2G.
I understand how Mozilla monetizes FireFox but I am still in the dark about B2G's monetization mnodel.
MP Divakar
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junko.yoshida
1/25/2012 11:45 PM EST
we are not saying one is better than others...the idea of Siri-like services will surely spread everywhere over time...
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docdivakar
1/25/2012 2:41 PM EST
I generally like the list, at least for technology sake... but I think many are solutions looking for problems. One thing is sure, we are networking the heck out of anything and everything! And losing privacy fast!
MP Divakar
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pixies
1/25/2012 8:31 PM EST
And once you expand the connectivity beyond a critical scale intelligence will arise and eventually render humans obsolete.:)
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docdivakar
1/30/2012 12:12 AM EST
@pixies: scary(!) thoughts on extrapolation of networking to higher orders. I have read some what on evolutionary and self-organizing networks but I still consider them dependent on human intervention at least at several phases, for now.
Human beings are already being rendered useless on several fronts with the advances in technology. We are supposed to advance in intellectual thought and their application to work life so we can justify the need for human interaction with processes & tools (in short, work!) but that line of argument seems to be struggling for validation, in some sectors. More automation is rendering human interaction with machines & tools unwanted. I honestly don't know where this stops!
MP Divakar
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GREAT-Terry
1/25/2012 9:54 PM EST
The advance of MEMS technology is so amazing!
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t.alex
1/26/2012 10:15 AM EST
For the ARMing of Windows, i wonder if Microsoft has any way to help developers port their apps to ARM conveniently?
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tina_jeffrey
1/27/2012 10:08 AM EST
Just wanted to draw attention to CogniVue's - also founding member of EVA - latest Smart Back-Up Camera Application dewarping, object detection & distance estimation running on a single CV2201 processor - 9x9mm2 incl sys mem dissipating ~250mW. How's that for 'powerful, low-cost, energy efficient processors as key enablers of this technology'. Check it out on http://www.youtube.com/user/cognivue/videos
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Attoman
10/31/2012 12:10 PM EDT
All in the eyes.
For some of us in Berkeley it has been a twenty year wait for the perception that MEMS is emergent.
This insures that the actual core inventors get neither credit nor monetary reward.
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