Today, a 4-inch-long smartphone holds as much processing power as a desktop PC from five years ago—or a warehouse-bound computer from just a few decades prior. But Moore's law moves far faster than evolution, and no matter how small processors and memory chips shrink, human hands remain the same size. Even if pocket-size computers are technologically capable of serving as our primary go-anywhere PC, their tiny keyboards and small screens present ergonomic problems. Thumbing out a short e-mail on a Blackberry or iPhone may be easy, but try writing a dissertation or creating a CAD model.
So how are engineers squaring the increasing power (and omnipresence) of mobile computers with this ergonomic challenge? To find out, we spoke to engineers at Intel, the dominant computer processor manufacturer. They think they have the solution, and they're calling it Dynamic Composable Computing.
Intel hopes that in the near future, our pocket-size computers will be able to wirelessly connect to any nearby peripheral. Enter a room with a 50-inch plasma TV and it becomes an ad hoc monitor for your pocket-bound PC. Sit down next to a full-size keyboard, and you'll be able to use it to start typing away.
In order for Dynamic Composable Computing to work, the connected computers and peripherals will need to have a series of wireless standards—either built-in or given to them through some sort of accessory. Users will be able to select which components they want to use, much the same way they select Wi-Fi networks today: by scanning for available connections and offering drop-down menus for selection. The exact wireless standards aren't yet determined, but it will likely be a combination of protocols—some of which probably don't even exist yet.
And Dynamic Composable Computing could easily extend beyond the use of displays and peripherals. Intel predicts a future when mobile computers will be able to borrow processing power from nearby computers. A sort of short-range ad-hoc version of cloud computing. "When you walk into Starbucks, you won't just be able to use their Wi-Fi, you'll be able to use their processors," says Roy Want, senior principal engineer at Intel Research. Your pocket-size primary computer would become little more than a vessel for a user profile and key documents, scalable in scope and power to whatever is around you. "You'll be able to create a sort of logical computer with all the tech around you," Want says.
But having so many possible adjunct peripherals and processors creates a problem. If you enter a room with a large number of displays, input devices and peripherals, there can be a staggering number of possible configurations—different ones of which might be ideal for different tasks. To sort through this, the process will likely involve the ability to create configurations that are pre-saved for easy retrieval. For example, a "Movie Editing" composition could include your most powerful processor and graphics card, while an "E-mail" configuration could add little to your pocket computer other than a monitor and keyboard.
For the past couple of years, Intel has been pushing pocket-size mobile internet devices, as they call them. These tiny computers, which are usually powered by the low-powered Atom processer, are typically larger than a smartphone, but smaller than a netbook (and without their requisite keyboard). It struck a lot of observers as curious why anybody would need a computer to fit this niche. Dynamic Composable Computing could be the key. After all, a pocketable keyboardless computer that can run laps around your smartphone becomes a lot more useful when it can be paired with the peripherals around you. –Seth Poges