Friday, April 22, 2011
Overcoming the Human Technology Bottleneck
Posted by Michael Knutson in "Laptop Thoughts Talk" @ 09:30 AM
"In an era where every mainstream notebook has at least two CPU cores and even phones will soon have four, human beings are becoming the real bottleneck in every application. Each time you switch between tasks because you need to copy and paste that URL from the browser into your Facebook update in another tab or browser window, your system waits on you. Whether you're using a notebook, tablet, or phone, more megahertz won't solve this problem. Dual screens such as those on the Kyocera Echo phone and Acer Iconia 6120 tablet will."
With dual cores, quad cores, ad infinitum, users are overwhelmed with popups, windows, background apps, chats, video sessions, file transfers and (fill-in-the-blank). It's still a case of hurry-up and wait, but today it's no longer the computer that is the bottleneck, it's us. The author opines that adding a second screen is one way to overcome bottlenecks. While this would provide some relief, I personally think that today's technology is limited more by our archaic I/O devices, specifically the keyboard and mouse, that haven't really changed much from the first computers with attached keyboards. How do we overcome this bottleneck? Voice recognition? Imagine an office with a bunch of cubicles where everyone is chattering (and yelling, no doubt) at their computer. Can you say cacophony? Even after decades of research and development, voice recognition and control is rudimentary at best, at least in my world. Anybody have any ideas? A world of riches probably awaits anyone who can solve this problem.