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Handheld Supercomputers in 10-15 Years?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the oh-yeah-that-i-need dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Supercomputers small enough to fit into the palm of your hand are only 10 or 15 years away, according to Professor Michael Zaiser, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh School of Engineering and Electronics. Zaiser has been researching how tiny nanowires — 1000 times thinner than a human hair — behave when manipulated. Apparently such minuscule wires behave differently under pressure, so it has up until now been impossible to arrange them in tiny microprocessors in a production environment. Zaiser says he's figured out how to make them behave uniformly. These "tamed" nanowires could go inside microprocessors that could, in turn, go inside PCs, laptops, mobile phones or even supercomputers. And the smaller the wires, the smaller the chip can be. "If things continue to go the way they have been in the past few decades, then it's 10 years... The human brain is very good at working on microprocessor problems, so I think we are close — 10 years, maybe 15," Zaiser said."

6 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Yes, it will run linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Amen. It's been working for eBaum's World this last week.

  2. Re:Yes, it will run linux by somersault · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I for one would welcome our new funny memeless overlords

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    which is totally what she said
  3. Ok, this won't work! by laejoh · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    How am I supposed to enjoy pr0n when I have to hold this so called supercomputer in my hands???

  4. In the not too far future by Colin+Smith · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    The sun will wake you up, the electricity won't be reliable or cheap enough for you to afford to spend it on an electric alarm clock. You'll stumble down stairs, grab your sickle, go out get on your bicycle and ride to work. You'll spend the day cutting Soya, Willow, Switchgrass, Jatropha or some other energy crop because the product is too expensive to spend fuelling farm machinery. There will be hundreds like you in the fields, the cities will be largely deserted, only the rich able to afford to live there.

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    Deleted
  5. You Stole My Joke.... by StressGuy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You Insensitive Clod!!!

    {...sniff....}

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    A goal is a dream with a deadline
  6. Re:Yes, it will run linux by Kamokazi · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yes, but will in Soviet Russia, will it blend me?

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