Computer processing power, as you know, has been growing exponentially for decades. Our means of interacting with computers, however, have changed little since they first appeared.
Computer still convey information to users almost exclusively through sight and sound, speakers and screens. We still give information to computers mostly through keyboards, track pads and mouse devices.
It has long been predicted that this would change.
Computer still convey information to users almost exclusively through sight and sound, speakers and screens. We still give information to computers mostly through keyboards, track pads and mouse devices.
It has long been predicted that this would change.
Until now, however, interface technology for personal computers has been pretty static. Voice command capabilities have improved somewhat in recent years, but the technology is of limited use. For the handicapped, there are even devices that tap electrical brain signals and track eye movements. Military researchers are moving these extremely expensive technologies forward for combat purposes.
If you play computer games, however, there are other options. There are, for example, controllers like the Wii remote and various joysticks.
Why is this important?
It is important because gamers and the gaming industry have pushed personal computing to the limits from the beginning. Important elements of the computer you’re using today were developed for, and financed by, gamers. They range from graphics cards to faster, wider data buses.
It is a mistake to underestimate either the financial or technological impact of gaming. Gaming not only pushes personal computing, it is already bigger and growing faster than the movie business today. The technologies embraced, financed and perfected by the early adopters in the gaming community have a way of making it to the mainstream.
One obvious and underestimated example is 3D virtual worlds (VWs). Once available only as incredibly expensive training simulations for astronauts and pilots, they reached the public in the form of computer games. Later, they became two-player and then multiple-player and finally massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). Simultaneously, top corporations, hospitals and the military adopted VWs for training, conferencing and collaborations.
There is, however, one big difference between the VWs used by gamers and the multimillion-dollar systems used to train pilots and surgeons; it is haptics or computer touch. Haptics adds touch feedback to our means of communicating with the digital world. This is one of the technologies that will fundamentally change computing, because touch is so critical to our everyday lives.
In advanced simulations, users can touch and feel desks, walls, steering wheels, scalpels and catheters, as well as the tissue they affect, using robotic mechanisms to convey sensations that feel like the real world. Already, crude attempts have been made to bring tactile information to gaming. The Wii and Sony PlayStation controller’s primitive vibrations are examples.
All these haptic applications take place in 3D virtual worlds. It is critical that you understand that these worlds are coming fast to your PC. They will not only be gaming environments. They will be educational, productivity and social apps. Your computing experience will transform from a series of flat walls to 3D offices with intuitive storage spaces as well as conferencing rooms for business and recreation.
Such 3D haptic technologies have been available for a while, but costs have limited their usage to those who can afford mainframes. For the first time, however, a serious haptic foray is being made into VWs at PC costs.
Haptic technologies are already being integrated into one important area of consumer-level computing. Ironically, it is the physically smallest sector, mobile devices. The need to make frustratingly tiny screen interfaces more usable has forced manufacturers to implement haptics. Tricking the sense of touch into feeling virtual buttons and textures vastly improves the mobile touch-screen interface.
What is sorely needed is the “PC” of haptic interfaces — a device that is inexpensive enough to become a ubiquitous platform. Once this device reaches a critical mass, “killer apps” will inevitably emerge to exploit the newly created haptics-enabled possibilities. We’ve seen this occur with mobile devices like the iPhone, for which apps have become a major industry.
I trust this post has provided some background and evidence that powerful efforts are underway with breakthroughs for the 3D virtual world technologies. These activities will soon provide alternative wealth creating opportunities and our economy will become significantly stronger around an expanding training, conferencing, and collaboration industry for top global businesses, hospitals, the space program, and the Department of Defense.
In closing, I favor a quote from Steve Forbes. Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy (including the investment potential of breakthrough technology) will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be the key to resolving our global financial crisis.
To gain the necessary financial education, it is best to obtain association with, access to, and membership in a wealth creation community. As a result, you will learn and have the knowledge to use alternative wealth creating strategies such as Bank on Yourself, debt reduction, and asset protection. You will be exposed to wealth acceleration investments in areas (discussed in this and previous blog posts) such as 3D virtual technology, atomically precise manufacturing, nuclear power generation, commercial space ventures, Carrier Ethernet technologies, nanotech lithography, robotics, nano-based next-generation battery technology, precious metals, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, food commodities, and gold mines. You will have the knowledge to consider investments in assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants; things that are hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute; definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.
Another benefit of membership in a wealth creation community is exposure to entrepreneurial leadership and business opportunities. Many of these leaders suggest that if you don’t focus on being a digital entrepreneur, being self-employed, or being a small business owner, it will be a very tough road in the months and years ahead; actually it will be an uphill battle. As a result, the innovative wealth creation communities provide education and training on B2B, and B2C, eCommerce enabling a new breed of professionals that are creating six figure second incomes.
It is wise to monitor breakthrough technology as there are truly exciting developments afoot in the field of 3D virtual technology and related business activities. I will continue to monitor developments and provide updates in future articles and at my blog.
Finally, I want to thank Patrick Cox of Agora Financial as he was the source of some of the materials about the technology advancements mentioned in this post.
In closing, be sure to Read More of my Posts at aspenIbiz blogspot, my Internet Marketing blog; Obtain Some Tips About Being No 1 on Google at aspenIbiz My Go-To-Market Partners, my Affiliate website; Learn How to be Savvy with Your Money Like the Insiders at aspenIbiz The Conspiracy For Your Money blog, and How to Live Longer at aspenIbiz My Life’s Advantage Today site.
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