Today’s inventions and innovations can change the world of tomorrow, and Intel’s no stranger to that ideal. Having significantly contributed to these changes through their own innovation and research in various areas of technology, Intel’s labs and research locations around the globe have been their driving force.
This brings us to the Intel Future Showcase exhibition, which made its way to Singapore last Friday. Partners, influencers and media were given the opportunity to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey into the future. Having been exposed to the interesting insights into the technologies of today, it’s been breathtaking to first-handily experience the technology that will change how we live, work and play in the land of tomorrow.
Starting with “Today”, Intel showcases its fodder of typical tablets powered by their technology, and more interestingly, their take on devices meant for education. These tables are lightweight, made of kid-proof tough plastic (though honestly, kids will find a way) and bundled with a myriad of other built-in peripherals – this including, a back-facing camera with the ability to turn into a fairly sharp microscope, via the attachment of a purposefully made, cheap plastic lens. The essential factor that Intel is playing here, is that the price tag on many of these devices, make them highly accessible for people to pick up.
We then move to “Tomorrow”, where we see Intel’s acquisition of Basis Science, come to light with their strategy to shoot into the wearables market by learning how people would interact with the technology, and how well onboard sensors do. Other than the typical pulse, gyroscope and pedometer sensors, additional sensors that check sweat and temperature have also been included, definitely being an ode to Intel’s thirst for gathering data to find better ways to analyze them. Alongside it, Intel RealSense was another notable showcase on its own, where normal built-in camera hardware for laptops and tablets, have been revolutionised to understand depth to become 3D scanners and on-the-fly, gesture-controlled MIDI interpreters.
Finally, we enter the “Future”, where Intel puts its focus on an interactive environment, where Intel Engineers explain the assortment of physically hacked together contraptions and maker projects. One engineer explains the concept behind a curiously shaped food-net, that has been converted into a proximity musical synthesizer, producing music based on the distance of a group of five’s hands from a series of ultrasonic sensors. Another explains the genius behind a color-sensitive, imaging sensor with potential applications to help the colorblind and construction workers through the color zones. Behind all of these amazing maker projects, is the Intel Galileo development board – the computational brain powering them.
The highlights of the showcase culminate in a fully-built smart-city, smart-car demonstration, where Intel tells its story of how the Internet-of-things and smart technology can be put into the dashboard of a smart car, to give a new perspective on car sharing, personal recommendations, emotional sensing and dynamic environmental awareness. Wireless technologies too have never been better, with Intel demoing its wireless charging principles and prototype technologies in a world, where electricity is as free-moving as information itself. What a world to be living in where all you need to do, is look inside.
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