Future technologies research on display (photos)

Intel Labs opens its doors to show off a few of their ideas for the future of computing.

CNET Reviews staff

May 9, 2010 1:22 p.m. PT

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Looking forward to bold technologies with high impact, the Future Technologies Group, part of Intel Labs, are researchers that think on the cutting edge, exploring the ways we might using technologies in 10 or 15 years.

Four groups, Exascale Computing, Machine Learning, Pervasive Computing, and Sensing, opened their doors Friday at Intel in Santa Clara, Calif., for a look at some of the next-generation projects they've been working on.

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Face Recognition in the Wild

Attempting to create a highly accurate facial-recognition system, Intel has developed algorithms that build a graphic representation of its world and updates it with real-time observed examples--essentially learning the face better with each interaction.

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Zero Net Energy Personal Network

With a more granular, managed personal energy system, Intel is looking for ways to connect multiple, networked, wearable devices on a user to an intelligent system that can plan and manage our lives. Perhaps the system will be able to suggest we group together errands that need to be done, and suggest a walkable route which will allow time to charge a phone and get some needed exercise.

The goal, Intel says, is to achieve an eternal, always on, personal "digital aura" that integrates life management with self-managing devices.

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Interactive Digital Aura

The Interactive Digital Aura idea and the notion of intelligent computers that watch and learn as a continual mobile user interface is woven into may of the concepts being developed by Intel Labs.

A potential innovation in personal photography are wearable, high-resolution wide-view cameras that capture the image of everyone in front of us without having to explicitly identify them in an image, before being tagged and shared on social networks.

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ClassmateAssist

With schools facing increased class sizes and lower budgets, ClassmateAssist is exploring the idea that automated computing can provide personalized one-on-one tutoring.

By harvesting out surrounding energy from solar, wind, or kinetic sources we encounter during our lives and helping to manage lives by understanding each user's personal context and needs, Intel researchers believe that more richly understood management can make our lives simpler, more organized and more sustainable.

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Summarize

Text-to-speech software capable of summarizing the main points and relevant information from a body of text might one day read the Internet to you, knowing what just which information you are looking for.

Current text-to-voice translators have a very slow syntax, and a computer dictating an entire article is not fast enough to be useful, but researchers are experimenting with algorithms that will know what you're looking for and quickly read it right to you.

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Augmented Reality

Intel Atom processors combine cameras, location awareness, and an array of sensors on the Moorestown platform to visually recognize and identify, providing an augmented reality connected to a huge amount of information on the Web including Twitter, Wikipedia, and other online data resources.