The third revolution in the computing world

Songdo International City in South Korea. The New Songdo City, to be completed by 2015, has been founded on the idea of a global model of the city with the most innovative infrastructure, schools, buildings, transport systems, and services.
What are the practical differences and how will they influence the life of the residents? Let's imagine individuals that get up every morning to work. Their home computers collect information for the shopping lists and order the goods in grocery stores. At the same time the computer systems are planning the routes to their workplaces, taking into account traffic conditions and their changes - simultaneously handling transportation needs of all residents of the city.
After the apartments are left by the residents, the computer systems automatically adjust the power consumption on the premises to an absolute minimum. For this purpose the home computers cooperate with a central meteorological computer, air conditioning and heating systems.
To enter other buildings, the individuals have to be recognized by video security systems that will permit them to come into specified areas, direct to the elevators etc. Building management system will monitor the location of the workers and set optimum conditions.
After work, the individuals will be able to pick up the ordered goods from the grocery stores, for which they will be automatically charged through the banking system. In clothing stores, thanks to telemetry systems scanning the customers, the staff will be able to immediately suggest adequate size of clothing or footwear.
These are only several examples of the enormous opportunities that will be available in this metropolis.
On the one hand so much computerization may tempt with easier life, on the other hand it carries the risk of excessive surveillance. One thing is certain: the Korean-American New Songdo City project attracts much more people than it can encompass. This means that the interest in modern lifestyle solutions is enormous.

Computer visualization of New Songdo City

 

Ubiquitous computing.
At the beginning of the "era of computers" one computer served many users. The next stage was the era of personal computers: one person - one PC. Today we are entering the days when one man is surrounded by a lot of computers, large part of them being contained in various consumer devices.
New Songdo City is the implementation of the great breakthrough, which was predicted over 25 years ago. It is called "ubiquitous computing" - the model of human-computer interaction, introduced by Mark Weiser, a scientist at Xerox PARC in the US, and published in the late 80s. Computers will transform the world if they are interconnected and people can easily interact with the computer network.
So far, we have seen a quick development of the elements that lay foundations for this concept - the Internet, data exchange standards, communication protocols, wireless networks.
The creator of the model proposed three basic forms for ubiquitous system devices: tabs, pads, and boards. Together with a group of colleagues he even created prototypes of such devices, which can be considered as the ancestors of our smartphones, touchscreens, PDAs, etc.

With the development of technology, the concept is being developed further. An interesting idea is called "Smartdust" - sensors or robots having sizes of micrometers and collecting environmental data (temperature, light intensity, noise etc.) for further analysis. Another idea is "smart skin", based on OLED technology and being the interface of computers not similar in any way to the known devices - they will be built into our clothes, curtains in the house, or upholstery in the car.
Due to the growing number of devices operating on the Internet it will be necessary to extend the pool of IP addresses. The problem will be solved by the IP v6 standard.
The key technologies enabling the implementation of ubiquitous systems are RFID and GPS. The first of these will ensure the basic form of communication between individual devices, the second will be used for locating the various devices in space.