10 Tech Concepts Which Will Change The Face 2008

1.EEG Game Controllers
The Nintendo Wii has gotten gamers moving about with its motion-sensitive controllers, but the next generation of game control device may require no movement at all. Video games that can read your mind will invade living rooms in 2008, thanks to electroencephalography (EEG) controllers that detect the electrical activity of the brain. Scientists have been working on the basic concept for several years, developing experimental brain implants that allow paralyzed patients to check their e-mail and move their wheelchair by thinking about it. But the new wave of EEG devices make the transition from medical device to consumer gadget, involving simple headsets that slip on with an array of electrodes to measure brain activity.

Already, Japanese researchers have demonstrated a prototype system that allows users to move their avatars around the virtual world of Second Life with only the power of their thoughts. The system is aimed at providing new opportunities to patients with severe paralysis. Some companies are using the consumer gaming market as a launchpad—hoping to make enough money to develop medical devices later, they say. Emotiv Systems promises its headset will detect facial expression, emotion (for instance, you might need to remain calm to stay undetected in a stealth game), as well as Jedi-style thoughts such as an intent to levitate things out of a swamp hands-free. Another company, NeuroSky, is creating its own biosensor technology for gaming. Whichever company wins, the force will be with us.
2.Self-Healing Materials
Drop your cellphone and it is likely to get scratched—unless it’s made of a self-healing material. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed the first practical self-healing plastic back in 2001: When the material was damaged, embedded microcapsules ruptured and a healing agent oozed out the fill the crack. The agent mixed with a catalyst also embedded in the material and hardened in place. The problem was that the catalyst was too expensive to be practical in real-world applications. But now the same research team has managed to modify the process so that the expensive catalyst is replaced by an inexpensive solvent. Tests of the new system show that fractures can recover as much as 82 percent of their original strength.

The applications for self-healing materials range from cosmetic uses like car paint that makes door dings disappear to structural uses like repairing airplane fuselages, where cracks can be catastrophic. The Illinois researchers are already working on tough paint for Navy ships, and the Army Corps of Engineers is testing a self-healing coating for large steel structures that have lead-based paint on them. Ultimately, the technology will allow bridges to repair tiny cracks before they turn into major structural problems.
3.High-k Transistors
Every few years, we’re warned that computer chips soon won’t be able to get any smaller or faster. The problem: Tiny chip circuitry lets electric current leak out, causing overheating and wasting power. But Intel has once again managed to reduce chip size, with the smallest features on its new Penryn chips shrinking from 65 nanometers to 45 nanometers, thanks to a radical change in how it builds the insulating wall on its chips.

For the past four decades, semiconductor makers have used silicon dioxide as an insulating material. But the most recent generation of chips is so small that the insulating layer is as little as five atoms thick, making it impossible to shrink further without permitting too much current to leak away. The new chips replace silicon dioxide with a hafnium-based high-k insulator. “High-k” refers to the electric properties of the new material, which allows ten times less leakage current to escape compared to a similar thickness of silicon dioxide.

Intel rival AMD is following with its own 45-nanometer chips, also based on high-k technology. And the pace of development seems unlikely to slow down quite yet: Intel as well as an alliance of chip makers led by IBM have already demonstrated working prototypes of the next generation of high-k chips, 32-nanometer models that should hit in 2009.
4.Real-World Web
The machines know where you are—and that may be a good thing. As more portable devices merge GPS information with network connectivity through cellular, Wi-Fi or ad hoc links, Internet use will change. Do a Yellow Pages search on “pizza” when you’re in a new town and your smartphone will tell you the closest spot to get a slice. New pop-up ads may not be far behind—imagine receiving an alert that a Starbucks is just a block away, along with an electronic coupon for a new coffee flavor.

Already, many GPS devices are integrating real-time contextual location information into guidance. Many of the latest systems incorporate real-time traffic and construction information over terrestrial or satellite radio frequencies.

But the biggest development of 2008 may be the advent of Android, a new open-source mobile operating system platform backed by Google and several major cellphone carriers through the Open Handset Alliance. The organization’s aim is to encourage the development of creative applications that will transform the mobile handset into more of a portable mini computer whose phone function is secondary. Google cites possible mash-ups like combining a mobile version of Google Maps with a service showing where your friends are, suggesting that the company’s mastery of contextual information could help kick-start a new, location-based information age.

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