During his keynote today, Intel CEO and President Paul Otellini said that the Internet will continue to disrupt the consumer electronics and entertainment industries in new ways.
At the same time, he explained how the Internet’s shift to a more personable place will create new business opportunities to those that embrace it. “
We’re now in the midst of the largest opportunity to redefine consumer electronics and entertainment since the introduction of the television,” he claimed.
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When computing became personal, the industry changed – innovation, collaboration and standards drove growth beyond what anyone could imagine,” said Otellini, while making direct comparisons between the early days of the personal computer and the future of the Internet. “
I believe that the Internet is following the same path.”
The first glimpse into the future that Otellini demonstrated live on stage was of a tourist visiting Beijing who couldn’t speak or read Chinese. In order to get around, the tourist used a small mobile Internet device to audibly and visually translate building signs, restaurant menus and conversations in real-time.
After that demonstration, Otellini was joined onstage by Steve Harwell, lead singer of Smash Mouth, in order to demonstrate how, in the future, the Internet could provide more natural social interaction and shared experiences with others. The two showcased a social networking site where musicians can play together over the Internet, even when they are in different locations.
Smash Mouth played together live over the Internet in a 3D virtual world using photo-realistic avatars controlled in real-time by tracking the person’s movement using a number of cameras. Harwell said that the potential for such a thing in the future “
was amazing” after his performance.
Otellini ended by saying that there are four obstacles that Intel needs to overcome in the next three to five years in order to make these usage models possible on mainstream computing devices. He outlined that processors need to get smaller, yet more powerful while consuming less power in order to make it into sleek and small multi-function devices. A wireless broadband infrastructure needs to be deployed to make high-speed Internet available wherever you are in the world.
The Internet needs to become more intelligent and proactive, so instead of you finding the information, the information you require finds you – this means that getting information is no longer a hit or miss affair. Finally, Otellini explained that more natural user interfaces need to be designed so that people can engage with the Internet in more realistic ways.
Do you think that a more personal Internet is out there in the future? I know the natural reaction is to be worried about change, but there are some interesting opportunities for the Internet to become an even more useful place than it is today. Discuss
in the forums.
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