Regular people have turned into amateur artists, creating new content that's being both stored locally and uploaded on YouTube and similar websites. They are enabled in part by a new range of apps that have changed editing from a complex and time consuming task, to one which can be completed in a few minutes, with just a few clicks. The power of a new generation of microprocessors has made this possible, supported of course by high capacity hard disks and fast PC memory, along with longer battery life that lets the user work for extra hours.
Kicking off 2012, we have seen the introduction of the Ultrabook. These are notebooks that are much lighter in weight, with longer battery life, but which still maintain a standard notebook’s processing power and functionality. Today, notebooks have become thinner and lighter. With the availability of 3G connectivity, notebooks have truly become mobile. Even with the growing popularity of tablets, there are still plenty of innovations being developed for notebooks and we can expect even more powerful, versatile notebooks in the near future.
The technology of proximity transfer has been available for a while, but until now it had not gained wide acceptance. This technology helps transfer files quickly without the need to use cables. It may be used to transfer files to and from external resources such as hard disk drives (HDDs), cameras, other PCs, and mobile phones, among many other devices.
The same technology can be used to print from a notebook, without a cable connection. In the near future, laptops will be able to transmit video files to a television or home theater system completely wireless. One of the technologies currently available with an Intel-based processor is Wi-Di — which accomplishes the task of cableless file transfer.
Over the last few years, batteries, along with processors and applications, have become more efficient. This has led to batteries lasting up to eight hours on a single charge. There are also evolving technologies, which will support the contactless charging of batteries. Imagine placing your laptop on your desk without any wires attached to it and it gets charged! Such technology will also do away with the need to carry multiple types of chargers when traveling.
In fact, the new generation of laptops has a focus on making life easy. For instance, passwords provide security, but can cause trouble if they're forgotten. With the inclusion of biometric readers, such as finger print sensors on laptops, there's no need to remember or key in complex passwords. Access is at the tip of a finger. Even better, some laptops are now loaded with facial recognition systems that have replaced passwords. These laptops may be programmed to log in only if a registered face is recognized.
Laptop systems are getting much smarter, too. For instance, using Bluetooth, a mobile phone may be paired with a laptop. Once the security system in the laptop is activated, if the mobile phone moves away from the laptop, say in a pocket when the user goes on a coffee break, the laptop would go into system lock mode. When the registered phone is in proximity of the laptop again, the system would unlock. A few laptops even have enhanced security features, which allow the laptop to "phone home." If the laptop is stolen, it can send a message back to the user mentioning its last location based on the wireless connection it establishes.
Touchscreen is now common in handsets and it will soon be a standard feature in laptops. This is not only useful in playing favorite games, such as Angry Birds, but it will also allow users to just touch to edit pictures, block cells in Microsoft Excel sheets, position images on Microsoft PowerPoint slides and many other tasks.
Last year we saw the launch of 3D products, such as televisions and notebooks, initially with glasses and later on models were introduced that allowed 3D without glasses. Innovations in this area will take this technology beyond its entertainment value and aid designers and engineers to visualize their work more vividly.
— John Maliakal is the regional manager for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, Computer Systems Division, Toshiba Gulf.
