Ubquitious Computing

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Overview

Ubiquitous Computing is a concept that describes a world in which most everyday objects have computational devices embedded in them.

In 1988 Xerox PARC researcher Mark Weiser first proposed the idea of Ubiquitous Computing to describe what he felt would be an enormous number of ubiquitous computers embedding into everything in our everyday life so that we use them anytime, anywhere without the knowledge of them. Today, ubiquitous computing is still at an early phase as it requires revolutionary software and hardware technologies."[1] He felt that the initial forms of ubiquitous computing would include tabs, pads, and boards.

Weiser's Landmark article, The Computer for the 21st Century appeared the September 1991 issue of Scientific American, pp 66-75.[2]

In 1995 Sheldon Renan asked Weiser what he thought printing would be like in the world of ubquitious computing, to which Weiser responded, "In ubiquitous computing you print into somebody's pocket". Weiser then showed Renan a pad (size of an iPhone) and they developed a method of communicating with one hand. It was called tabs, pads, and boards - that was the strategy that led to ubiquitous surfaces[3].

Related Reading

References

  1. Tech, Lakshmi. Ubiquitous Computing. IPV6.com. 2008. Accessed 18, Mar 2012. http://ipv6.com/articles/sensors/Ubiquitous-Computing.htm
  2. Rhodes, Bradley. A brief history of wearable computing. http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/lizzy/timeline.html#1991c
  3. Personal conversation with Sheldon Renan about Mark Weiser. April 2011.