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- It's later than you think: Prof Gilbert Cockton of
Sunderland
University warns the hi-tech world of the future is already
with us now.
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- YOUR doctor may not be wearing X-ray specs - but he may
as well
to be from what he knows about you.
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- The latest technology will
enable him to have a computer
in his pocket linked to a screen played
directly onto his retina from the
edge of a pair of glasses.
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- Doctors with
sensitive information which they may not
want patients to see could be
among the first to put it into practice.
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- Whether it is acceptable or not
is another matter. Do
you want your GP peering at you past a computer
viewer? Perhaps not - however
it may not be long before we are all
wearing our computers so the GP with
'bionic' spectacles will just be
one of the crowd.
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- As the boom in mobile phones and pagers means each ringing
tone
has everyone whipping out their own little black box, so computers
will
be something we always have in our pockets.
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- Our clothes will constitute the
keyboard and our movements
will tell the computer what we want. Perhaps
our fingertips may be the
mouse and a sensor glove the keys - all ideas
being worked on across the
globe.
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- A host of wearable computers
are already in the prototype
stage and the race is on to make them
available commercially.
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- But what Professor Gilbert Cockton, a Sunderland
University
research professor who lives at Whitley Bay, thinks will be
the most important
change in the next 10 years is that there will be
computers everywhere
- and we will not even realise.
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- "Computers are
going to get tiny," he predicts,
"and more mobile. They can
now mount them in glasses."
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- He explains that in many
companies it is not always practical
to have the computer sat on a desk
in the office.
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- Voice recognition computers already take notes at post
mortems,
for example.
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- Pocket-sized computers which can be accessed when our
hands are
full are being used experimentally for aircraft and military
vehicle
maintenance workers in the States.
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- Roll-up keypads to put in your
pocket have already been
developed and experts are working with kevlar
to transmit electronic signals.
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- The next stage is weaving it into our clothing to make
a wearable 'keyboard'.
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- "In terms of the commercial application of these
things, we are looking at three to five years from now," says Prof
Cockton.
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- "In the past people have used the computer for serious
work. They will be used much more for fun. It is hard to think of any area
of human life which you cannot get a computer in today. We will not
notice.
It's like motors, they are in your hairdryers and washing
machines but
you don't go around shouting, 'Look I've got a motor in
this!' "
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- Some Internet companies are now looking at providing
filing and
document services, so you won't even have your own files in
the office
- they will be on-line.
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- "Security is one of the problems. The minute you
go on the Internet security becomes a much bigger issue," says Prof
Cockton.
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- Bio-data - such as iris or fingerprint recognition -
appears to
be the way forward and is another major growth area for
researchers.
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- Croda IT introduced such a system last year for security
purposes. It was costly but soon paid for itself because it was no longer
necessary to have someone work out their payroll. They had an automatic
computer record of who was in and out.
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- Experiments are underway with
similar technology for
cash machines.
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- Computers will pervade our
homes, workplaces and social
life.
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- Our homes will be able to think
for us. Locking the door
could set the alarm or we could phone our
house and tell it to turn on
the oven, says Prof Cockton.
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- And we will see a
rise in video conferencing - at work
and home.
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- Already the technology is being
piloted so that you can
control exactly what the person at the other
end sees.
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- Mr Cockton laughs as he explains one person could be
picking
their nose and at the other end their normal face will appear chatting
away. Diving out of the bath will be no problem - your machine will
recognise
that you are naked and show 'another you' with
clothes.
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- There are computers which will track you around the room
so you
don't have to sit at a desk to talk to your friends, and you'll
be able
to chat as you do the washing, or watch television.
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- These are not pie in the sky
ideas they already exist
- all they need is to brought onto the general
market.
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- Video links could bring us back to something older generations
may feel more at home with too.
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- "There is no doubt the Internet is going to affect
call centres, but it will not be long before it comes full circle,"
says Prof Cockton, adding that sales staff will soon be beamed into our
homes to take our details and answer our questions.
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- "We are limited in what we
can do without a sales
assistant. The average person is not going to go
home and spend two to
three hours typing in information.
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- "It will be
around 10 years before we see that.
But a lot of manufacturers are
gearing up for it already."
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- Although it raises many
questions, there is also hope
that in many ways it could change our
lives for the better - but that is
down to the experts, the powers that
be and just how demanding the public
are about what they accept or
don't accept.
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