COMPUTERS
NEW COMPUTERS
· The computer programs that
can recognize human speech
Big computer companies like Microsoft are investing in the development of speech recognition technology which can speed up all computer functions from text inputting to facilitating computer use for disabled groups such as blind and paralyzed people. Prof. James Allen of Rochester University, Rochester, New York, USA, has developed an artificial intelligence human speech, including words that are mispronounced. Most speech recognition programs are limited by only being able to recognize clearly pronounced words in short sentences.
· Computers with virtual
screens and keyboards
German-based Electronics Company Siemens is developing a new ‘virtual’ computer that has no screen, keyboard or mouse and is controlled by hand gestures. An image of a screen and keyboard is projected onto a flat surface, and the hand movements are picked up by cameras which than operate the computer like a mouse would.
· Computers that are controlled
by brainwaves
Though still in its infancy, research into controlling computers by thought is a popular field of research among everyone from the US military, who are investigating pilots controlling aeroplanes by thought, to Japanese scientist Masahiro kahata who is pioneering an Interactive Brainwave Visual Analyzer. Kahata’s device consists of a box worn on a headband that holds electrodes which measure electrical activity in the brain in a games console.
· Talking computer can sense
the needs of the user
Vienna based scientists at Phillips Speech Processing are developing voice recognition computers that can also sense non verbal communications from the user. Routine enquiries regarding train and flight timetables can now be dealt with by the system which helps to put unsure and unfamiliar callers at their ease by responding empathetically. The system works by picking up on basic enquiry phrases and then assessing the caller’s needs. However, if the caller is more experienced, the computer will adjust its responses accordingly.
COMPUTING
METHODS
· Computers which use
light instead of wires
The need to build ever more powerful computers has led to research on the use of laser beams bouncing off mirrors, lenses and prisms to move information between microchips, rather than circuits of wires. Called free space optics, this new kind of superfast computing will benefit from beams of light being able to pass through each other, and some scientists foresee that optics will even be used inside microchips.
· The wormhole computer
without a brain
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA), USA, is funding research into a computer which operates without the central processing unit (CPU) the brains of today’s computers through which all information must pass. The wormhole computer bypasses commands, making the process faster and more energy-efficient.
QUANTUM
COMPUTERS
· Quantum computing with
subatomic computers
US physicist and Nobel prize winner Richard Feynman, came up with the idea of quantum computing, a technique that follows the laws of quantum mechanics. Conventional computers store information as binary digits that can be either 0 or 1. Quantum bits, called qubits, equal both 0 and 1 and can therefore do two different calculations at the same time, making possible computers which may be able to work billions of times faster than the most powerful computers of today.
· Biological computers make
calculations using DNA
Prof. Leonard Adleman from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA, put forward the idea of bio computers in Nov 1994 after having used DNA molecules to help solve a mathematical puzzle.
