Over the period, there has been a complete shift in the primary function of a chair, i.e. seating the user in comfort. Expanding the function of common household furniture, British designer Jamie Martin has come up with a hi-tech seat dubbed the “Gadget Chair” that integrating game consoles, computer, TV/PVR, video & music playback and back massager in a single unit is sure to enhance the experience of the user. Incorporating miniature-cooling fans, heating elements and an adjustable lumbar support beneath the red exterior, the leather-upholstered chair also presents an ergonomic design to place you comfortably during those extended gaming sessions.
Placing an electronically adjustable 16:9 OLED screen upfront to work as a viewing platform for movies, gaming and internet access, the geeky chair too adds a number of multi-colored LED lights to project different tones on your surrounding environment, moving you in a zone far away from the real world. Surrounded by multi-directional illuminated speakers and a large sub-woofer, the user literally moves into the virtual world. The adjustable chair provides the user with an automatically retracting gaming wheel/joystick, where they can mount their keyboard/trackpad combo as well.
The ceiling-mounted motion technology allows both vertical and rotational movement, thanks to the hydraulic pistons. The chair provides a limited rotational motion to enhance the turns through the corners, allowing an altogether new gaming experience to the users. If this is not enough, it also connects multiple HD Digital TV tuners to the Mac/PC to utilize it as a 1TB high capacity PVR.
Published By : Riyandi Nurfauzan I.
Matric No : 0921451
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The amount of information available through the internet has exploded over the past decade. Advances in data storage, transmission and processing have transformed the internet from a geek’s paradise to a supporting pillar of 21st century society. But while the last ten years have been about access to information, I suspect that the next ten will be dominated by how to make sense of it all. Without the means to find what we want in this vast sea of information, we are quite literally drowning in data. And useful as search engines like Google are, they still struggle to separate the meaningful from the meaningless. As a result, my sense is that over the next decade we will see some significant changes in how we interact with the internet. We’re already seeing the beginnings of this in websites like Wolfram Alpha that “computes” answers to queries rather than simply returning search hits, or Microsoft’s Bing, which helps take some of the guesswork out of searches. Then we have ideas like The Sixth Sense Project at the MIT Media Lab, which uses an interactive interface to tap into context-relevant web information. As devices like phones, cameras, projectors, TV’s, computers, cars, shopping trolleys, you name it, become increasingly integrated and connected, be prepared to see rapid and radical changes in how we interface with and make sense of the web.
Farisan Aufar Makmung
0927571
Given IBM's second divestiture -- with more expected to follow -- HP is already the next IBM. It is the dominant vendor in the emerging media center segment, and it retains dominance in printing and imaging. HP is a strong number two to Dell in PCs and has a more comprehensive product set. With surprising strength in marketing, it is the only vendor to successfully emulate Apple's skill set and the only vendor to private-brand an Apple product. To succeed, HP must assure a high-quality experience with all of its offerings. This removes some control from product group managers, something we haven't seen in a company like HP since the Watsons left IBM. Without that, pressure to break up the company will increase, with IBM serving as the model. HP's danger is being caught in the middle; its opportunity is the chance to dominate as IBM dominated. It will all come down to teamwork.
Dell is at the opposite extreme. It operates on a simpler model that requires more partners but fewer team players, focused more on costs and less on company cohesiveness at a product level. Basically, Dell is a sales and logistics engine that operates with minimal overhead. This is the model that became the ideal in the '90s, and Gateway is now emulating it. Easier to execute but containing risks associated with technology advancement, it depends heavily on IBM and HP's inability to execute, and Microsoft and Intel adequately make up the difference. Dell's exposure is one of control: It can dominate a segment but not an industry. Should the market move to AMD and/or Linux, Dell becomes increasingly exposed, because neither of these supplies the complete core platforms that Dell requires for its model to work.
Farisan Aufar Makmung
0927571
Microsoft remains the dominant company in the segment, but it is clearly under siege. With an inability to do sustaining marketing, its customers are overwhelmed with negative news surrounding foundation products. This is a prime example of marketing as a competitive weakness, and it has become Microsoft's greatest exposure as it is forced to compete against products that shouldn't yet be competitive.
There are some bright spots for the firm, however. It is expected to pass Sony in the console gaming segment by avoiding Sony's Osborn-like mistake (Osborn was a company that went under by prematurely promoting a product it didn't yet have) and by building a better game development platform. Microsoft should be able to expand its dominance in embedded systems by continuing to focus more on customer needs than on per-unit revenues. And Janus, the subscription-based media delivery product, has the potential to have a massive impact on the digital music business. But the market is Microsoft's to lose, and as a company it has clearly demonstrated that it is easier to chase a leader than to be one.
Oracle is now the heir apparent for the Microsoft crown. The world we are moving to is one with massive centralized services, and Oracle is positioning itself to be the dominant software company in this new world. The firm has a culture suited to rapid acquisitions, and at this point even the hostile nature of many of them may not make much of a difference. The first test will be PeopleSoft, but Oracle's successful completion of this merger should set the stage for a number of rapid-fire acquisitions that will complete the set. Still, integrating companies will be a lot easier than integrating products. And .Net exists -- but if you remember Microsoft's inability to articulate the advantages of its offerings, you'll see a much more level playing field and one that may now favor Oracle.
Ten years ago, few people had heard of the term “synthetic biology.” Now, scientists are able to synthesize the genome of a new organism from scratch, and are on the brink of using it to create a living bacteria. Synthetic biology is about taking control of DNA – the genetic code of life – and engineering it, much in the same way a computer programmer engineers digital code. It’s arisen in part as the cost of reading and synthesizing DNA sequences has plummeted. But it is also being driven by scientists and engineers who believe that living systems can be engineered in the same way as other systems. In many ways, synthetic biology represents the digitization of biology.
We can now “upload” genetic sequences into a computer, where they can be manipulated like any other digital data. But we can also “download” them back into reality when we have finished playing with them – creating new genetic code to be inserted into existing – or entirely new – organisms. This is still expensive, and not as simple as many people would like to believe – we’re really just scratching the surface of the rules that govern how genetic code works. But as the cost of DNA sequencing and synthesis continues to fall, expect to see the field advance in huge leaps and bounds over the next decade. I’m not that optimistic about us cracking how the genetic code works in great detail by 2020 – the more we learn at the moment, the more we realize we don’t know. However, I have no doubt that what we do learn will be enough to ensure synthetic biology is a hot topic over the next decade. In particular, look out for synthesis of the first artificial organism, the development and use of “BioBricks” – the biological equivalent of electronic components – and the rise of DIY-biotechnology
Zahra R. Maulida 0923710
Cosmetics and pharmaceuticals inhabit very different worlds at the moment. Pharmaceuticals typically treat or prevent disease, while cosmetics simply make you look better. But why keep the two separate? Why not develop products that make you look good by working with your body, rather than simply covering it? The answer is largely due to regulation – drugs have to be put through a far more stringent set of checks and balances that cosmetics before entering the market, and rightly so. But beyond this, there is enormous commercial potential in combining the two, especially as new science is paving the way for externally applied substances to do more than just beautify. Products that blur the line are already available – in the US for instance, sunscreens and anti dandruff shampoos are considered drugs. And the cosmetics industry regularly use the term “cosmeceutical” to describe products with medicinal or drug-like properties. Yet with advances in synthetic chemistry and nanoscale engineering, it’s becoming increasingly possible to develop products that do more than just lead to “cosmetic” changes. Imagine products that make you look younger, fresher, more beautiful, by changing your body rather than just covering up flaws and imperfections. It’s a cosmetics company’s dream – one shared by many of their customers I suspect. The dam that’s preventing many such products at the moment is regulation. But if the pressure becomes too great – and there’s a fair chance it will over the next ten years – this dam is likely to burst. And when it does, cosmeceuticals are going to hit the scene big-time.
So those are my ten emerging technology trends to watch over the next decade. But what happened to nanotechnology, and what other technologies were on my shortlist?
Nanotech has been a dominant emerging technology over the past ten years. But in many ways, it’s a fake. Advances in the science of understanding and manipulating matter at the nanoscale are indisputable, as are the early technology outcomes of this science. But nanotechnology is really just a convenient shorthand for a whole raft of emerging technologies that span semiconductors to sunscreens, and often share nothing more than an engineered structure that is somewhere between 1 – 100 nanometers in scale. So rather than focus on nanotech, I decided to look at specific technologies which I think will make a significant impact over the next decade. Perhaps not surprisingly though, many of them depend in some way on working with matter at nanometer scales.
In terms of the emerging technologies shortlist, it was tough to whittle this down to ten trends. My initial list included batteries, decentralized computing, biofuels, stem cells, cloning, artificial intelligence, robotics, low earth orbit flights, clean tech, neuroscience and memristors – there are many others that no doubt could and should have been on it. Some of these I felt were likely to reach their prime sometime after the next decade. Others I felt didn’t have as much potential to shake things up and make headlines as the ones I chose. But this was a highly subjective and personal process. I’m sure if someone else were writing this, the top ten list would be different.
And one final word. Many of the technologies I’ve highlighted reflect an overarching trend: convergence. Although not a technology in itself, synergistic convergence between different areas of knowledge and expertise will likely dominate emerging technology trends over the next decade. Which means that confident as I am in my predictions, the chances of something completely different, unusual and amazing happening are… pretty high!
Besides the effect that this technology will help people, especially women to look more beautiful with this combination, several society who are rigid to accept new technology will disaccept this invention. This is because they believe by living naturally without any chemical products, and accept body that God has given, people will look more beautiful rather than those who consumed this technology.
Dwintha Maya Kartika 0921500
Blurring the boundaries between individuals and machines has long held our fascination. Whether it’s building human-machine hybrids, engineering high performance body parts or interfacing directly with computers, bio-interfaces are the stuff of our wildest dreams and worst nightmares. Fortunately, we’re still a world away from some of the more extreme imaginings of science fiction – we won’t be constructing the prototype of Star Trek Voyager’s Seven of Nine anytime soon. But the sophistication with which we can interface with the human body is fast reaching the point where rapid developments should be anticipated. As a hint of things to come, check out the Luke Arm from Deka (founded by Dean Kamen). Or Honda’s work on Brain Machine Interfaces. Over the next decade, the convergence of technologies like Information Technology, nanoscale engineering, biotechnology and neurotechnology are likely to lead to highly sophisticated bio-interfaces. Expect to see advances in sensors that plug into the brain, prosthetic limbs that are controlled from the brain, and even implants that directly interface with the brain. My guess is that some of the more radical developments in bio-interfaces will probably occur after 2020. But a lot of the groundwork will be laid over the next ten years.
Muhammad Ihsan (0823137)
The big question is whether globally-coordinated efforts to develop and use the technology in a socially and politically responsible way emerge, or whether we end up with an ugly – and potentially disastrous – free for all.
We cannot clearly predict about how this geoengineering will be developed or not, I think with several government’s policy in the future, geoengineering intensify will be accepted in the society and we can save earth efficiently.
Zahra R. Maulida - 0923710
Smart grids connect producers of electricity to users through an interconnected “intelligent” network. They allow centralized power stations to be augmented with – and even replaced by – distributed sources such as small-scale wind farms and domestic solar panels. They route power from where there is excess being generated to where there is excess demand. And they allow individuals to become providers as well as consumers – feeding power into the grid from home-installed generators, while drawing from the grid when they can’t meet their own demands.
The result is a vastly more efficient, responsive and resilient way of generating and supplying electricity. As energy demands and limits on greenhouse gas emissions hit conventional electricity grids over the next decade, expect to see smart grids get increasing attention.
As the invention of this Smart Grid, people will be easier to use electricity, as well as electricity supplier will be profitable in terms of saving more energy. This technology will obviously accepted by societies since they agree to protect earth and its energies.
Dwintha Maya Kartika
0921500
Good as they are, most of the materials we use these days are flawed – they don’t work as well as they could. And usually, the fault lies in how the materials are structured at the atomic and molecular scale. The past decade has seen some amazing advances in our ability to engineer materials with increasing precision at this scale. The result is radical materials – materials that far outperform conventional materials in their strength, lightness, conductivity, ability to transmit heat, and a whole host of other characteristics. Many of these are still at the research stage. But as demands for high performance materials continue to increase everywhere from medical devices to advanced microprocessors and safe, efficient cars to space flight, radical materials will become increasingly common. In particular, watch out for products based on carbon nanotubes. Commercial use of this unique material has had it’s fair share of challenges over the past decade. But I’m anticipating many of these will be overcome over the next ten years, allowing the material to achieve at least some of it’s long-anticipated promise.
Muhammad Ihsan (0823137)
