Fuel My Imagination

Consider a situation where your brain starts to function way quicker than ever before; your eyes start to see things a lot clearer; you start to hear a lot more things and a lot crispier; you wish to do a lot more with your new super-senses, but the rest of your body is just too slow to respond or you feel exhausted if you use your new powers for even a short duration. Does that really make you a super being? I guess not.

No, I am not attempting to write a script for a new Superman movie, but simply trying to personify a few harsh realities in the field of technology which for some reason, we haven't been taking too seriously as yet. Certain aspects of technology are evolving at a phenomenal pace and we are all riding the wave. We are too busy admiring the advancements to notice certain shortcomings, which may seem trivial as of now but hold the potential to snowball into a major hindrance.

In a recently conducted survey, people were asked what new feature they would like to see in the next generation mobile phones. Majority of the participants responded - "longer battery life". I second that. Mobile phones have come a long way since their inception from being a voice communication device to a handheld computer or an entertainment system. They have grown smaller, slimmer, lighter, and have managed to host a lot more features in a small frame. However, we haven't managed to pack sufficient amount of power in a small battery (without blowing it up). To be precise, the battery hasn't exactly managed to keep pace with the rest of the phone. Some may argue that the battery life is somewhat similar to what it was five years back in spite of the features. All I would say is, try using all the features of the phone for a while and you will know what I am talking about.

The battery problem just doesn't stop here. It extends to a whole array of portable devices. Take Laptops for example. Just over two hours of juice on an 8-cell battery is just not good enough (though we have learned to adapt to it). And to add to it, the battery is also one of the heaviest and bulkiest parts of the laptop making it not-so-portable at times.

And why just talk about portable devices? The desktops are getting even more power-hungry. The only reason no one seems to bother is because you don't get a low battery warning as you draw power from the mains. But sometime in a not-so-distant future, you are bound to feel the pinch in form of inflated electricity bills. The power demands are going up with the launch of every new CPU and Graphic card and so are the heat levels. So, a purchase of a new high end card may force one to buy a new SMPS and a cooling system.

Currently, we are driven by the need for speed but let's not forget that the fastest of cars can go nowhere without fuel. It's about time we gave a serious thought to alternate power sources. We have all been hearing about it for a long time but nothing seems to be happening. Another option would be to make all the devices more power-efficient than the present (not that the manufacturers don't want to.) But it's easier said than done because here lies another problem. We seem to have maxed out a lot of verticals and are left with only the horizontals to explore. The CPU technology has reached the ceiling with the clock speeds and hence looking to go multi-core. The hard drive writing technology too has reached its speed and density limits, and now exploring the perpendicular writing technique to obtain more space. The Lithium Ion/Polymer based batteries too seem to have reached their high point and it's about time to look for a more viable solution.

Just like the verticals, the horizontals will also be restricted some day due to various factors. I guess it's time to think lateral.