Journal Triv's Journal: Just had an idea... 1
Ok, so I was thinking about Apple ditching ADB and serial ports completely in favor of USB and Firewire, so I started thinking about the next thing to go.
Then, as I looked at my flatscreen iMac I had my epiphany. There's nothing about the interface of that computer you don't need. All that matters is the screen, the keyboard and (occasionally) the optical drive. Since you don't need the CD drive exposed constantly, you move the screen out of the way when you need to access it. Sweet idea.
Then it hit me: optical disk-drives will go. Think about this piece of tech:
Instead of placing a disk in the drive we'll have a small, flat box with a cheap, short-range wi-fi transmitter in it. It'll probably be completely solid state, not optical or magnetic. You take the thing within range of your computer and the computer automagically mounts the disk just like a CD. No more need for truly 'removable' media.
This is a far future thing (and how you power the drive is a problem) but I'm willing to be we'll see this in the next...10? 20?...years.
:)
Triv
Then, as I looked at my flatscreen iMac I had my epiphany. There's nothing about the interface of that computer you don't need. All that matters is the screen, the keyboard and (occasionally) the optical drive. Since you don't need the CD drive exposed constantly, you move the screen out of the way when you need to access it. Sweet idea.
Then it hit me: optical disk-drives will go. Think about this piece of tech:
Instead of placing a disk in the drive we'll have a small, flat box with a cheap, short-range wi-fi transmitter in it. It'll probably be completely solid state, not optical or magnetic. You take the thing within range of your computer and the computer automagically mounts the disk just like a CD. No more need for truly 'removable' media.
This is a far future thing (and how you power the drive is a problem) but I'm willing to be we'll see this in the next...10? 20?...years.
Triv
neato (Score:2)
Personally, I'd rather see solid state media in DVD or HD-DVD capacities. A card the size of a CF or MemoryStick with 50 GB on it would be just fine for what we currently use CDs and DVDs for today, and the reader would be small enough to fit into a slate- or table-style computer.
I envision a system where the guts of the computer-- multiple processors, bulk data storage, the printer, whatever-- sit in the closet, while slates are used over a wireless network. Combine a slate with a Bluetooth keyboard (and a little stand thingy) and you've got a desktop unit. Slates should, ideally, be cheap enough that you can buy several for a household-- a couple hundred bucks each, tops-- and come in different sizes and shapes. All it really needs-- speaking metaphorically, not literally-- is enough processing power to run a VNC client and enough graphics power to display it.