`
`The winning team from the University of Illinois are (from left): Stephen Wolfram,
`Stephen Omohundro, Arch Robison. Steven Skiena (holding TABLET), Bartlett Mel,
`Luke Young. and Kurt Thearling.
`
`Apple Computer, Inc. sponsored a con~
`test last September at a dozen universi-
`ties across the country to design the per-
`sonal computer of the year 2000. The
`rules were simple: describe the comput-
`er’s purpose, predict the technologies
`that will be available at that time, and
`how to use them. The participants were
`judged on both original thought and how
`well they illustrated the workability of
`that thought.
`Nearly 1,000 students in teams of up to
`five entered designs; five teams were
`chosen as finalists and flown to Apple
`headquarters in Cupertino, California for
`the final iudging on January 28, 1988.
`The distinguished panel of judges in-
`cluded Ray Bradbury, Alan Kay,
`
`Diane Ravitch, Alvin Toffler, and Ste—
`phen Wozniak.
`After a series of oral presentations, the
`student team from the University of llli-
`nois was awarded first place in the com-
`petition. (Princeton and the University of
`Minnesota placed second and third, re-
`spectively.) Each student member of the
`Illinois team was awarded $2,000 toward
`the purchase of Apple equipment, the
`faculty advisers—Stephen Wolfram and
`Stephen Omohundroflreceived a full
`Apple desktop publishing system valued
`at $8,500, and the University received a
`$20,000 Macintosh lab. The following re-
`port describes the design of TABLET, the
`winning entry.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`EXHIBIT
`Petitioner - Kyocera
`
`PX 1006
`
`Kyocera PX 1006_1
`
`

`

`REPORT
`
`TABLET: PERSONAL COMPUTER
`IN THE YEAR 2000
`
`BARTLETT W. MEL, STEPHEN M. OMOHUNDRO, ARCH D. ROBISON, STEVEN S. SKIENA,
`KURT H. THEARLlNG, LUKE T. YOUNG, and STEPHEN WOLFRAM
`
`A design represents a compromise between conflicting
`goals, and the design of the personal computer of the
`year 2000 is no exception. We seek something that will
`fit comfortably into people's lives while dramatically
`changing them. This may appear to be a contradiction
`that cannot be reconciled. But if the technology does
`not fit easily into the habits and lifestyles of its human
`users, it will be discarded by those it was meant to
`help. And if this new tool does not change the life of its
`owner, it is only because we have been too shortsighted
`to imagine the possibilities.
`Our way out of this dilemma is to base the design
`upon something which is already integrated into every(cid:173)
`one's life, to take a vital tool and give it more life. We
`have chosen to improve something that most people
`use everyday, the humble paper notebook.
`We have all heard the computer revolution was sup(cid:173)
`posed to eliminate paper from the workplace. Instead, it
`has lead to desktop publishing; now we can not only
`write papers but typeset them ourselves. Paper note(cid:173)
`books have many properties that make them particu(cid:173)
`larly friendly. They are light and portable. No one
`thinks twice about taking a pad anywhere. They are
`easy and natural to use, as accessible to the toddler as
`to the octogenarian and as relevant to the artist as the
`engineer. They can be used to communicate with other
`people. They are the ideal medium for integrating text
`
`© 1988 ACM 0001-0782/88/0600-0638 $1.50
`
`and graphics, and perfect for creative doodling. More(cid:173)
`over, notebooks are forgiving of mistakes, simply peel
`off the page and start anew.
`It is natural to revise and edit written documents.
`There is something satisfying about crossing out an of(cid:173)
`fending sentence from a written draft, a feeling that
`word processors have not captured. We aim for a com(cid:173)
`puter that will provide all of these benefits and more.
`
`Thus, the personal computer of the year 2000 will be
`a portable machine the size of a notebook. We will
`write and draw with a stylus on a screen which mimics
`a physical writing surface. Enhancing this with the
`powers of computation and communication, we create
`a tool that will improve the way we live and work.
`This report provides a more concrete depiction of the
`machine we have in mind, namely TABLET.
`
`June 1988 Volume 31 Number 6
`
`Communications of the ACM
`
`639
`
`Kyocera PX 1006_2
`
`

`

`Report
`
`THE MACHINE
`Our machine will have the same dimensions as a
`standard notebook. It will look like an 8%" x 11" mon(cid:173)
`olith from the movie 2001, and be reminiscent of Alan
`Kay's Dynabook [9]. This rectangular slab will weigh but
`a few pounds, and have no buttons or knobs 10 play
`with. The front surface will be a touch-sensitive display
`screen and will blink to life upon touching two corners.
`On one of the short sides will be a credit care. sized slit,
`while the other three sides support a ridge with a slight
`reddish tint. TABLET is targeted toward the profes(cid:173)
`sional of the year 2000 who is willing to pay lhe equiv(cid:173)
`alent cost of a microcomputer of today.
`
`The I/O Surface
`The most important part of any computer is its inter(cid:173)
`face with the user. The front surface of our computer is
`a high-resolution touchscreen that yields slightly to the
`touch. With this single input deVice, we can get a tre(cid:173)
`mendous range of flexibility and options. We can use it
`to create an entirely soft interface.
`Fingers are low-resolution devices. They can get
`in the way in certain applications, especially when
`they block our view of what they point at. To take
`true advantage of human motor control and a high(cid:173)
`resolution touchscreen, we need a fine-tipped stylus. A
`walk through any art gallery shows what a person can
`do with stylus type devices.
`On powering up our machine, icons representing a
`typewriter keyboard, a ballpoint pen, a telephone, a
`calendar, a TV, and a host of other applications will
`appear. By touching and dragging with the stylus, we
`can manipulate the icons as with a mouse. We can
`move rapidly through a series of popdown, drag-off
`menus by checking off what we want with the stylus.
`Pressing the typewriter icon will cause a keyboard pat(cid:173)
`tern to appear on the screen. This pattern can be re(cid:173)
`drawn like MacPaint objects and thus be cuswmized to
`the user's finger size and taste. Since it is so£1, the key
`. pattern can be QWERTY, Dvorak or based on one of the
`new, non-standard shapes like the chord. As we tra(cid:173)
`verse down a menu and need text input, the keyboard
`will appear.
`But if we are holding a stylus, why bother with the
`keyboard? Unless the user requires rapid entry, the sty(cid:173)
`lus is a natural way to enter text. Pressing the ballpoint
`pen icon will cause a ruled notebook page to appear on
`the screen, complete with simulated looseleaf holes if
`desired. With the stylus, we can write and draw di(cid:173)
`rectlyon the surface of the screen. As we stroke the
`stylus across the screen, a simulated ink trail is left
`behind. Nothing beats a pen for writing or drawing, so
`this will permit the ultimate integration between text
`and graphics. Some people feel more comfortable com(cid:173)
`posing on paper than on a computer, and thi~ method
`presents the illusion they are. And, if we wish, hand(cid:173)
`writing recognition software will convert to type all the
`text we scrawl out.
`This metaphor will extend easily to the applications
`with which we are familiar. Text editors can be built
`
`around the standard editorial symbols used by proof(cid:173)
`readers, where slashing out a word deletes it and snak(cid:173)
`ing two words transposes them. Despite the interactive
`nature of word processing programs, almost all writers
`print out a draft and scratch corrections upon it before
`pronouncing it ready. Our text editor will support this
`style, and graphics and mathematics will be integrated
`in a similar fashion.
`Without question, this is technologically feasible. Our
`interface relies on three different technologies: display,
`touchscreen, and optical character recognition. Each of
`these areas is progressing nicely toward what we need
`in 2000. The density attained in liquid crystal display
`(LCD) technology has increased by a factor of 100 every
`seven years [8]. For an 8112" X 11" color display with
`laser printer resolution we need less than 3 X 107 pix(cid:173)
`els, which by extrapolation will be available by 1991
`and cheap by 2000. In addition, LCOs represent the
`perfect foundation for a touch-sensitive display. The
`capacitance of an LCD cell is pressure sensitive, so we
`can easily detect the tip of a stylus and even how hard
`it is being applied. LCOs have already been used as
`digitizing tablets [14], and given the resolution of our
`display we will have no difficulty mimicking the finest
`ballpoint.
`
`Cursive character recognition is a difficult problem,
`and smacks of artificial intelligence. However, there
`has been enough progress to show that it is coming.
`Today, there exist systems with 97 percent character
`recognition accuracy rates for neat handwriting. Com(cid:173)
`bined with spelling correction, such systems achieve
`near 100 percent accuracy [15]. Adjusting for variations
`in handwriting is equivalent to breaking a substitution
`cipher [3, 12], a trivial task for our computer. Training
`the machine to recognize the owner's handwriting will
`lead to the highest possible recognition rate. Of course,
`no system will recognize 100 percent of handwritten
`text, but what is not recognized can be highlighted in a
`different color and reentered by the user.
`A high-resolution color display can do more than just
`imitate a notebook page. It will be fast enough to sup(cid:173)
`port video. The entertainment possibilities are amusing,
`such as having a display of 361" X 1" moving icons,
`
`640
`
`Communications of the ACM
`
`June 1988 Volume 31 Number 6
`
`Kyocera PX 1006_3
`
`

`

`Report
`
`each one a different television channel, permitting us to
`monitor the action over a large section of the dial. We
`can watch the bad guy being rubbed out on Channel 6
`while the passion heats up on Channel 40. A more
`important application is video communications. Video
`is the next obvious step in the communication evolu(cid:173)
`tion which started with text and has progressed to
`voice.
`It might seem surprising that our design is not built
`around speech recognition as the major input technol(cid:173)
`ogy. Science fiction seems to specialize in talking to
`computers and listening to what they say. However,
`people do not really want to talk to computers. In many
`of the contexts where a portable computer will be used,
`such as the classroom, the airplane, or a shared office,
`talking out loud is not acceptable behavior. Further,
`dictatlhg letters and memoranda is ~ skill which takes
`time to master, and is something that makes most peo(cid:173)
`ple uncomfortable. Our handwritten interface is much
`less intrusive than speech.
`
`The LaserCard Mass Storage Units
`The high density read-write storage card unit repre(cid:173)
`sents the next milestone in mass storage technology.
`Replacement of the classical rotating disk/movable
`head format will result in spectacular imprOVements
`over current mass storage systems in terms of data ca(cid:173)
`pacity, data rates, and integrity of physical construc(cid:173)
`tion.
`These credit card-sized optical RAMs will be a con(cid:173)
`venient, inexpensive, and physically robust data stor(cid:173)
`age medium. People will carry them in their shirt pock(cid:173)
`ets and trade them like baseball cards. "Can I borrow
`your reference library, please?" Customized cards will
`be ordered from information services via electronic
`menu-driven catalogs, offering a wide variety of books,
`video and data, all paid for by the gigabyte.
`The vast storage capacity of LaserCard devices will
`alter our conception of what should be stored on a
`computer. Through data compression techniques, a sin(cid:173)
`gle one-gigabyte card will hold four hours of video or
`two thousand books from a personal library. Current
`optical media are limited by the resolution at which a
`laser can be focused, currently approximately one
`square micrometer, and require a head that sweeps
`back and forth mechanically over a rotating disk [11].
`Advances in high-resolution optical films (such as
`LCDs) will allow the fabrication of huge arrays of inde(cid:173)
`pendently addressable "light-gates," that can be used to
`direct the beam of a short wavelength, solid-state laser
`directly onto a specific site of the storage medium for
`reading or writing. The surface-emitting lasers will be
`paired with photo-detectors, in a relatively low-density
`grid positioned above the optical gating system, defin(cid:173)
`ing a set of independently read-writable "laser" sectors.
`This technology will have no spinning disks, no ser(cid:173)
`voed read-write heads, and no rotating mirrors. The
`only moving part in the whole machine will be the lid
`which keeps the optics dry if we use it in the rain.
`Because of its size and durability, the LaserCard will be
`an integral component of a powerful portable machine.
`
`The Infrared Interface
`Along three sides of the box will be an infrared bar
`interface. This is how we will connect our machine to
`its immediate surroundings. What might we want to
`connect it to? Printers and projectors, stereo headsets
`and video cameras, toasters and roasters, and just about
`anything else. Microprocessors have already become in(cid:173)
`expensive enough that many household items are now
`"smart." Smart devices are most useful if they can com(cid:173)
`municate with other smart devices. Using a 256-bit
`key, we can give every atom in the universe a unique
`identification number, let alone give every separate
`memory location in each smart device its own unique
`ID. Thus, when devices talk to each other, they will
`know to whom and to what they are speaking.
`On clipping a device to the bar, the computer and
`device will start to talk to each other at near gigabaud
`rates via infrared [13]. The device can be identified,
`causing the appropriate icon to appear on the screen.
`An advantage of using infrared light is that devices
`need not be physically clipped on while indoors. When
`the user is within the reception area of the printer, the
`printer icon will appear. There is a tradeoff between
`dispersal and bandwidth with infrared, and trouble oc(cid:173)
`curs when the scattering delay approaches the distance
`between bits. Clip-on lightguide cables will be neces(cid:173)
`sary to achieve data rates above 500 kbits/second, and
`infrared repeaters stationed in large offices will im(cid:173)
`prove accessibility.
`What types of peripherals will people need? One of
`the most widely owned peripherals will be a tactile
`keyboard. For rapid text entry, nothing beats a good
`solid keyboard. The fastest recorded human informa(cid:173)
`tion transfer is music pouring out of the fingers of a
`concert pianist. The handwriting interface and simu(cid:173)
`lated keyboard will suffice for portable applications,
`enough so that we will not want to be hampered by the
`dead weight and fragility of a keyboard when we are on
`the move. But it would be nice to have a real one for
`some applications and why not? When we move our
`machine within infrared range of our keyboard, a type(cid:173)
`writer icon will popup on the screen, which we can
`open and then start typing.
`Another peripheral that will be extremely popular
`will be a lapel-sized video camera. Charge-coupled de(cid:173)
`vices (CCDs) make inexpensive and rugged solid-state
`cameras. As with LCD, CCD production methods are
`similar to VLSI, and prices will follow the correspond(cid:173)
`ing learning curve. The upshot is that camera devices
`will be so inexpensive most people will be able to af(cid:173)
`ford one. They will be useful for recording meetings,
`self-recorded e-mail videos for instruction and personal
`communication, and as a digitizing device for printed
`documents that remain in the year 2000. The notion of
`digitizing documents is important because a substantial
`number of printed documents will remain, such as old
`books and new contracts. After digitization, the image
`can be processed to cleanup and recognize the text.
`Imagine not only carrying a Xerox machine, but one
`that will permit the user to search xeroxed documents
`by keyword and context.
`
`June 1988 Volume 31 Number 6
`
`Communications of the ACM
`
`641
`
`Kyocera PX 1006_4
`
`

`

`Report
`
`It takes only a little more courage to predict a Global
`Positioning System (GPS) receiver on our machine,
`either as a clip-on or a built-in component. GPS [6] is a
`satellite-based positioning system which enables objects
`to determine their location in the world to within a few
`meters, or even closer if the U.S. Department of Defense
`allows it. By plUgging in the Rand McNally Road Atlas
`LaserCard and taking our computer for a drive, it can
`provide us with an ideal route between two points by
`considering the possible routes, the time of day, and
`current traffic patterns (using an on-line data base, dis(cid:173)
`cussed below). The capacity of a LaserCard is such that
`we can store all the parking spaces in the state, and
`have the best spots near that French restaurant in the
`city read to us through a speech synthesizer.
`In addition to communicating with peripherals via
`infrared, we can also talk to other computers. Each
`machine can continually broadcast personal facts that
`users may wish the world to know: perhaps their name,
`image, interests, and marital status for openers. Setting
`a machine in "get acquainted mode" will display the
`location of all machines in the vicinity and li:;t the
`names of their owners. While sitting on a plane the
`user can scope the crowd, and maybe find someone
`interesting to talk to during the trip. Just ima!~ne turn·
`ing this loose in a singles club!
`
`The DataLink
`If we can take our computer anywhere, we need to be
`able to use it anywhere. This brings us to communica(cid:173)
`tions capabilities. Through our national telephone net·
`work, we can access any person or machine within
`seconds. Historically, this depended upon direct physi(cid:173)
`cal connection with the phone grid. Cellular telephone
`technology has changed all this and will change per(cid:173)
`sonal computers as well.
`What can we expect from cellular telephones?
`Clearly voice communications, but more important for
`our purposes will be data. Cellular telephones support·
`ing the ISDN standard will transmit approximately 56
`kbits/second for each of 400 users per cell. With
`compression, this is sufficient to transmit video at con(cid:173)
`ference quality rates today [7] and will increa.se per(cid:173)
`formance dramatically with new adaptive algorithms.
`To use this link for voice communications, we will
`need a microphone and speaker built into the unit.
`These are inexpensive and justified by other applica(cid:173)
`tions. However, for privacy, in most applications we
`will use a headset attachment clipped onto the infrared
`bar.
`The main use for the cellular link will be to commu(cid:173)
`nicate with other computers and the people u.sing
`them. Electronic mail is a wonderful medium for ideas
`and does not intrude upon the recipient the way a
`telephone does. It sits there quietly waiting to be read.
`We will be able to integrate video and graphics as well
`as text in our e-mail documents. It will also improve
`more traditional forms of communication. Filters can
`be used to eliminate unwanted junk mail. This will
`alter the face of advertising. Future advertising will be
`
`done by subscription-users wanting to keep up with
`new cars will let the industry know.
`Finally, TABLET will be welcome news for roman(cid:173)
`tics. The touchscreen and cellular link will conspire to
`transmit handwritten love letters anywhere in the
`world in seconds.
`
`The Traditional Computer
`The aspect of our design which deals with what today
`is described as the computer. i.e. the processor and its
`memory, is rather mundane. It is clear there will be
`mega-MIPs and giga-bits available to work with, but
`since our machine is intended to be a commodity, the
`speed will not be a constraint. This is not to say we will
`fail to exploit whatever computational power we can
`get, but nothing we foresee needs more power than is
`granted us by very conservative projections [10]. What(cid:173)
`ever processor we have under the hood is irrelevant to
`the rest of the design. Thus, we avoid the temptation to
`guess the exact number of MIPs or the memory size of
`our machine. We also avoid citing exactly how many
`processors the machine will have. There will obviously
`be some form of parallelism, in the tens of processors
`rather than the thousands, several of which will be
`special purpose devices for graphics, image compres(cid:173)
`sion, and analog signal processing.
`One would hope that from all the attention focused
`upon instruction sets in the RISC versus CISC debate a
`standard instruction set for general purpose computers
`will be established by the year 2000. Odds are it will be
`quite RISCy, and this will permit object code compati(cid:173)
`bility across a wide range of computers. There is really
`not a significant difference between the instruction sets
`of different manufacturers, and enough of them have
`been burned producing incompatible chips for the in(cid:173)
`dustry to lead the push for standard processors. Micro(cid:173)
`processors will be pretty much generic, coming in fast,
`extra fast, and economy sizes. This degree of uniformity
`already exists with memories and will drift to more
`sophisticated components.
`There will also be standardization among user inter(cid:173)
`faces, to the extent that all will be constructed in lay(cid:173)
`ers, where all but the highest layer will be a universal
`standard. Running on these generic processors might be
`a standard version of UNIX, appropriately updated for
`parallel architectures. which will come out of its shell
`into a standard Postscript interface. Other hardware
`standards, like the RS-232 interface and MIDI will be
`simulated over the infrared-bar interface.
`What will these processors be made of? Most likely,
`silicon because of the accumulated manufacturing ex(cid:173)
`perience. The only gallium arsenide in TABLET will be
`in the infrared bar interface for the LEDs. More exotic
`technologies such as optical computers, molecular or
`chemical computers, or superconductors will not ma(cid:173)
`ture by that time. Currently, we are only a few years
`and few orders of magnitudes away from some funda(cid:173)
`mental limits on feature size in silicon. These will es(cid:173)
`sentially be reached by the year 2000, and so research
`will change direction toward more reliable processing
`
`642
`
`Communications of the ACM
`
`June 1988 Volume 31 Number 6
`
`Kyocera PX 1006_5
`
`

`

`and higher yields. This makes possible wafer-scale inte(cid:173)
`gration with all the circuitry sitting on one six-inch
`diameter wafer. Putting both memory and processor on
`the same chunk of silicon will improve performance by
`reducing buffering and capacitance delays. There will
`be so much room on a wafer that there will be at least
`two of each functional unit onboard, dramatically im(cid:173)
`proving yield and reducing costs.
`Between improvements in semiconductor processing
`and improvements in design technology, the complex(cid:173)
`ity of IC's should continue to Quadruple every five
`years [1]. With generic processor architectures and
`room for a wafer full of circuitry, what will there be for
`the new generation of silicon compilers to do? Crank
`out special purpose processors, no doubt. Traditionally,
`co-processor chips were used because there was not
`room on the chip for the arithmetic or graphics hard(cid:173)
`ware. Now, there will be room for a larger graphics
`processor, analog and digital hardware for image pro(cid:173)
`cessing, and much more.
`Perhaps the most interesting special purpose proces(cid:173)
`sor will be a general adaptive data compressor sitting
`between the memory and the main processors. It will
`be a hardware implementation of an adaptive algorithm
`such as Lempel-Ziv [18] or LZW [16], or perhaps some
`higher level algorithm recognizing features in text and
`video. This will permit video to be stored on LaserCard
`and transmitted over low bandwidth lines, because im(cid:173)
`age expansion will occur at video rates. If a picture is
`worth 1,000 words, imagine what can be saved by im(cid:173)
`age compression. Through compression researchers
`have already fit 72 minutes of video [2J on a CD-ROM,
`which is about half the size of our projected LaserCard.
`This same technology will be essential to transmit
`video over the cellular phone link. It is ironic that
`compression becomes even more important as memory
`size increases because there is so much more to trans(cid:173)
`mit and access.
`
`Power
`TABLET is designed to bring power to its users. With a
`portable computer, however, the user must bring power
`to the machine. Either the machine must contain its
`own power source, or it must take energy from its envi(cid:173)
`ronment. The only significant power from an indoor
`environment is light, but we can expect no more than
`0.3 watts even if we cover the entire surface of our
`box with efficient but ugly solar cells. Fortunately,
`recent developments suggest we can plug into battery
`power.
`Lithium battery performance has approximately dou(cid:173)
`bled each decade since 1946 [4]. Already, lithium D(cid:173)
`cells can deliver 45 W-hr. This provides all the power
`we will be able to use without running into heat dissi(cid:173)
`pation problems. Rechargeable lithium batteries exist,
`and one way to recharge them will be with inductive
`coupling. Park the machine in a holster plugged in an
`electric outlet and the batteries can be recharged with(cid:173)
`out a wire link.
`
`Report
`
`Other Computers in Other Places
`Much of the communication with other machines will
`be with those of the same model, through e-mail. We
`will also make use of large database machines that will
`spring up as resource centers. Despite the large storage
`capacity of LaserCard, there is no hope that everyone
`will physically be able to own all the data they will
`ever need. This information will sit on a database ma(cid:173)
`chine which we will pay for by the gigabyte whenever
`information is accessed. There are significant and diffi(cid:173)
`cult economic issues about who will pay to create new
`information, and it is reasonable to expect newer infor(cid:173)
`mation to be more expensive than old. Simple calcula(cid:173)
`tions show the Library of Congress contains about 20
`terabytes of information, which will fit on about 20,000
`LaserCards. Thus, the actual size of a database machine
`is not necessarily large. The biggest task for such infor(cid:173)
`mation centers will be to keep up with and make avail(cid:173)
`able new knowledge being created around the globe.
`
`One gigabyte per LaserCard is a lot of storage, and 20
`terabytes is even larger. Keywords and subject headings
`will be inadequate for the task of referencing all this
`information. There is a famous story about "the univer(cid:173)
`sal library" constructed from all possible character se(cid:173)
`quences of sufficient length, which contained all the
`books that could ever be written. Unfortunately, such a
`library is utterly useless, since the catalog has to be as
`large as the library itself.
`To effectively search our more modest libraries, we
`will use automatic indexing programs to construct our
`catalog. These programs might map all English words
`and proper names into, say, 216 different classes. A bit
`
`June 1988 Volume 31 Number 6
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`643
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`

`

`Report
`
`vector of this size can be prepended to each document,
`where a bit is set if a member of the corresponding
`word class appears in that document. Thus wo can
`qUickly identify the set of documents relevant to our
`query by comparing the document vector against a vec(cid:173)
`tor of all possible aspects, spellings, and synonyms for
`our search. Such a system can "infer" by analyzing the
`similarities between the vectors of related documents.
`Similar indexing techniques can be used for music and
`video, so we can search for songs similar to our favorite
`Beatles tune.
`'
`Of course, there will exist problems for which the
`processing power available in an 81/2" X 11" box is not
`enough. Large, parallel, special purpose supercomputers
`will be readily tapped for such applications. One fanci(cid:173)
`ful solution would be for the U.S. government to pull
`the plug on the $6 billion supercollider (pending the
`inevitable progress in high temperature superconduc(cid:173)
`tors) and use this money to produce a massively paral(cid:173)
`lel computing "power station." With this amount of re(cid:173)
`sources, a billion processor Connection Machine [5) or a
`thousand processor Cray could easily be const.ructed
`and maintained. Anyone could call up and use some
`section of this machine, paying for the time and num(cid:173)
`ber of processors used. For research applications, per(cid:173)
`haps the entire machine would be devoted to a single
`problem, making what was once intractable almost in(cid:173)
`stantaneous. Applying such a tool to genetic sequences
`or long term weather forecasting has the potential to
`truly improve the quality of life for everyone. And ap(cid:173)
`plying small portions of it to such amusements as inter(cid:173)
`active movies present interesting possibilities.
`
`THE IMPLICATIONS FOR WORK
`A growing number of professionals bothered by the
`hassle and inconvenience of commuting to the city and
`work are opting to work at home. This has been made
`possible largely by the development of personal com(cid:173)
`puters, since the facilities of the office can be replicated
`at home. Communication with co-workers can be
`maintained via telephone and occasional office visits.
`TABLET has the possibility of accelerating thi.s trend
`and pushing it in a new direction.
`The insight is that with a truly portable computa(cid:173)
`tional and communication tool, we are not restricted to
`working in the office or at home. We can work any(cid:173)
`where. TABLET will provide access to anything we are
`used to having at the office, so there is no reason not to
`work somewhere else. On a sunny day we can take our
`work to a park, and not fear being out of touch for an
`important message. The distinction between work and
`vacation will blur. Perhaps the biggest drawback of
`work-at-home, however, is the loss of social contact
`with co-workers. But now we can take our work to
`where people are, instead of moving people to where
`the work is.
`Video conferencing will be vital if people are to com(cid:173)
`municate effectively from afar. The CCD camera, video
`compression processor, and cellular link mak'3 this a
`
`reality almost anywhere. Today's video conferencing
`requires a studio and a heavy investment. We can take
`our conference to where the work is actually being
`done.
`Carrying an expensive computer is unnerving for
`many people for fear of breakage or theft. Our design is
`simple and robust enough to survive a healthy jolt. The
`threat of theft will be eliminated since each computer
`wiU ha·ve a unique identification number. We can call
`up the computer after it has been stolen and use the
`GPS receiver to let us know exactly where it is. Try
`and fence merchandise this hot! To protect personal
`information, it is reasonable to take handprints with
`the touchscreen for identification.
`Perhaps even more important than physical security
`is data security. A great deal of personal information
`will be stored on these machines, and communicated
`by infrared and cellular telephone. To safeguard this,
`encryption and digital signatures will be used with all
`data transfer. By 2000, the general public will be famil(cid:173)
`iar enough with the notion of digital signatures to trust
`them more than physical signatures. This will be neces(cid:173)
`sary because of the ability of ray traced computer
`graphics to simulate any desired scene or image. The
`time is almost here when photographs will no longer be
`admissible as evidence in a court of law because they
`will be so easily and successfully faked.
`By 2000, the marriage of computers and science will
`be complete. Algebra, calculus, and all aspects of math(cid:173)
`ematical calculation will routinely be done by com(cid:173)
`puter, just as all arithmetic has now been relegated to
`calculators. Scientific journal articles will have live
`equations built in, so they can be checked auto