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November 15, 2001
Top 10 Technology Breakthroughs for Schools (cont'd)
Not There Yet
By Kristen Kennedy
The next wave of innovation is on the rise, but you wonıt see these technologies in the classroom anytime soon.
Ubiquitous Computing
More than just the wireless Web, the next stage of ubiquitous computing means almost microscopic computers in walls, under desks, and even wearable computers you can program to act as alarms. Smart dust, one of these miniature machines, is a tiny sensor about the size of a few grains of sand that can measure light and temperature. These wee devices may one day replace thermostats by automatically regulating room temperature and humidity or even monitor a quadriplegicıs eye movements to help operate a wheelchair.
The Incredible Shrinking Computer
Intel is experimenting with tiny transistors, about 80 atoms wide and three atoms thick, that will someday pack even more computing power into todayıs fastest processors. Try this on for size: microprocessors of the future will hold a billion transistors and be capable of completing billions of calculations in the blink of an eye.
Kristen Kennedy is senior editor of T&L.
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