Computer Technology

[Dravyk]

I don't think we're stymied, Steve, nor has innovation stopped. I think going from the current circuits to the atomic level I mentioned is quite a jump, a brand new technology. I know it's being worked on, just to make that jump is (literally in this case) a quantum leap. It's not just the old two-year cycle of getting smaller and smaller; it will be a brand new technology. So I think you're just seeing the natural speed bump in the process.

[sarettah]

But it seems like there isn't a need for faster machines without invention and creativity. Much of why machines are as fast as they are now is that people endlessly looked for new ways to use the technology and as applications became more advanced to where they are to today technology followed slowly behind.

Un uh............ Our software technology is so far behind our hardware technology that it isn't funny. Yes, we have more memory to work with, fast processors, etc. But the underlying structures for how we store the data ahve not changed in a fucking long ass time. The basics of software technology haven't changed since the days of Hollerith. The platforms might have changed, electronics made them faster but the basic concept of zeros and ones is the same as the abicus.

Upcoming technology to watch.... This will revolutionize the computer industry as well as many other industries, but if our software technologies do not catch up, it will be for naught. (just imho of course)



http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=11353

"We've discovered a method for generating a diverse library of functionalized gold particles quickly and easily," said Hutchison, who directs the university's Materials Science Institute. "Basic research of this type is the key to finding out what kinds of new electronic, optical and pharmaceutical products actually will come to market."

The article describes how to synthesize the versatile particles, built with cores of 11 gold atoms, and discloses their properties. Nanomaterials and technologies are projected to become a trillion dollar industry by 2010 and affect every industrial and consumer product sector, Hutchison said.


http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=11324

Twisted nanostructures are an important biological motif - just think of the DNA double helix or proteins with helical sections important to their function. Researchers are anxious to produce artificial helices, which could be useful in nanotechnological applications. Korean researchers have now successfully created a molecular system that can even form helices “on demand,” turning the initially liquid solution into a gel.


http://www.computerworld.com/hardwar...104335,00.html

Molecular Self-Assembly
Nanoscale circuits build themselves, breathing new life into Moore's Law.

SEPTEMBER 05, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Someday, computer chips will be grown, not made.
The concept of nanotechnology—that is, the manufacture of preposterously small objects—is at least familiar to most, although the scales involved continue to boggle the mind (a pinhead is about 1 million nanometers wide). It's easy to see why such extreme miniaturization interests semiconductor makers: Feeding the beast called Moore's Law grows more difficult with every generation of chips.

A number of companies are betting that the best way to operate in this nanoscale world is via "molecular self-assembly," in which circuits literally grow themselves. IBM, Texas Instruments Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and Hewlett-Packard Co. are focusing on incrementally self-assembled components that can be integrated with conventional silicon-based chips. Meanwhile, start-ups such as ZettaCore Inc. and Cambrios Technologies Corp. aim to eliminate silicon completely by building entire semiconductors from molecules.

But, experts caution, the race is not a sprint but a marathon whose finish line is 20 years off at least.

Researchers have already shown that it's possible to integrate self-assembly with conventional semiconductor-manufacturing techniques—meaning chips that are at least partially self-assembled may be found in commercially available computers in five to seven years, says Jack Uldrich, president of The NanoVeritas Group in St. Paul, Minn., and co-author of The Next Big Thing Is Really Small (Crown Business, 2003).

[Dravyk]

Exciting.

As long as it doesn't turn on us.

[EroticySteve]

Thanks.

Originally Posted by sarettah

Un uh............ Our software technology is so far behind our hardware technology that it isn't funny. Yes, we have more memory to work with, fast processors, etc. But the underlying structures for how we store the data ahve not changed in a fucking long ass time. The basics of software technology haven't changed since the days of Hollerith. The platforms might have changed, electronics made them faster but the basic concept of zeros and ones is the same as the abicus.

Upcoming technology to watch.... This will revolutionize the computer industry as well as many other industries, but if our software technologies do not catch up, it will be for naught. (just imho of course)



http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=11353

"We've discovered a method for generating a diverse library of functionalized gold particles quickly and easily," said Hutchison, who directs the university's Materials Science Institute. "Basic research of this type is the key to finding out what kinds of new electronic, optical and pharmaceutical products actually will come to market."

The article describes how to synthesize the versatile particles, built with cores of 11 gold atoms, and discloses their properties. Nanomaterials and technologies are projected to become a trillion dollar industry by 2010 and affect every industrial and consumer product sector, Hutchison said.


http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=11324

Twisted nanostructures are an important biological motif - just think of the DNA double helix or proteins with helical sections important to their function. Researchers are anxious to produce artificial helices, which could be useful in nanotechnological applications. Korean researchers have now successfully created a molecular system that can even form helices “on demand,” turning the initially liquid solution into a gel.


http://www.computerworld.com/hardwar...104335,00.html

Molecular Self-Assembly
Nanoscale circuits build themselves, breathing new life into Moore's Law.

SEPTEMBER 05, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Someday, computer chips will be grown, not made.
The concept of nanotechnology—that is, the manufacture of preposterously small objects—is at least familiar to most, although the scales involved continue to boggle the mind (a pinhead is about 1 million nanometers wide). It's easy to see why such extreme miniaturization interests semiconductor makers: Feeding the beast called Moore's Law grows more difficult with every generation of chips.

A number of companies are betting that the best way to operate in this nanoscale world is via "molecular self-assembly," in which circuits literally grow themselves. IBM, Texas Instruments Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and Hewlett-Packard Co. are focusing on incrementally self-assembled components that can be integrated with conventional silicon-based chips. Meanwhile, start-ups such as ZettaCore Inc. and Cambrios Technologies Corp. aim to eliminate silicon completely by building entire semiconductors from molecules.

But, experts caution, the race is not a sprint but a marathon whose finish line is 20 years off at least.

Researchers have already shown that it's possible to integrate self-assembly with conventional semiconductor-manufacturing techniques—meaning chips that are at least partially self-assembled may be found in commercially available computers in five to seven years, says Jack Uldrich, president of The NanoVeritas Group in St. Paul, Minn., and co-author of The Next Big Thing Is Really Small (Crown Business, 2003).