Well, I think Intel
research created a device I think
has the potential to make these two science fictions into science
fact.
In sci-fi books, especially cyberpunk-type books, I often see the author describe two bits of technology:
"credstick" - Some sort of device about the size of a cigarette lighter, whose purpose is to securely and anonymously store money. Just like cash, if you lose the credstick or it is stolen, your money disappears forever. Consumers purchase items simply by slotting your credstick into some sort of reader. ATM withdrawals and similar cash disbursement occur just like purchases.
Well, I think Intel
research created a device I think
has the potential to make these two science fictions into science
fact.
The idea is: a personal server. It is a computer the size of a pack of playing cards. No I/O. No screen. No peripherals. All communication to the device is done via wireless, and all the device does is store (and serve) the user's data.
In order to truly make science fiction become science fact, all you need to do is combine your personal server with a "SmartCard" -- a credit-card-sized security key. These exist, and are known to be in use today at highly-sensitive commercial and government installations.
Consider the personal server, smartcard combination: when purchasing a loaf of bread, you simply slot your SmartCard into a reader, just like sliding a credit card through a reader today. Then, you choose whether the store will read your credit card information from your personal server, or debit cash from an e-Wallet stored on your personal server.
I feel Intel's personal server has possibilities far beyond these two items pulled from science fiction. It trumps science fiction. As an example, look at the rapid Asian cultural adoption of Internet-enabled cel phones which store, send, and receive instant messages. I've often heard that an IM-capable cel phone is a social necessity for many young Japanese. Abstracting a bit, all these phones have personal-server capabilities, for a specific type of data. Communication with a personal server is done via web browser, but don't let your imagination be limited by that interface.
The link below to Baard.com introduces the personal server with the rather sensational headline "Has Intel Built the Handheld Killer?" Answer: no. Intel's personal server has a natural synergy with handhelds. It can function as a datastore for the handheld, or a readily available backup target for times when you are away from your home base and not able to sync your PDA with your desktop computer. Or many other possibilities.
The designer of the personal server, Roy Want, envisions that they will eventually become part of cel phones. That is certainly a logical progression, though a bit skewed one: cel phones will certainly gain personal server capabilities, such as adhering to various network protocols used by all personal servers. PDA vendors will no doubt grow software necessary to appear as a personal server as well.
However, great utility still exists in having a little, anonymous, box in your pocket or purse. Something that is not a cel phone or a PDA. Something that is just raw data storage, and nothing else. Personal servers dedicated to the task of storing bits and bytes will inevitably evolve such that some models provide a much larger amount of storage space than a PDA or cel phone would typically hold. This can easily be achieved today by the Hitachi (formerly IBM) Microdrive or similar hardware. Other models might have simple "data card" functionality of limited storage capacity, while still being much smarter than SmartCards. As flash (and flash-like) memory technology advances, the synergy between personal servers and celphones/PDAs decreases, but the overall potential of the personal server should not diminish over time.
The personal server was described in the text on
http://www.baard.com/archives/2003_05.html#000071
White paper: http://www.speakeasy.org/~roywant/papers/Personal%20Server%20(short%20paper).PDF
Copyright © 2008 Jeff Garzik