Usefulness and usability

The twin themes of usability and usefulness of wireless technology were to emerge several times during the recent Sophia Antipolis Microelectronics Forum. The keynote address to the Forum was presented by Kevin O'Donovan, Intel's EMEA marketing manager. Talking to the theme of wireless technology in daily life, O'Donovan noted: "The right amount of performance is critical." Almost simultaneously, at its Developer Forum in San José, Intel was reconfirming its focus on the Atom processor architecture and ecosystem, designed specifically for portable products and aimed directly at ARM's successful market penetration. "Our focus is to move into new application areas," confirmed O'Donovan. Intel is attacking the netbook sector to establish itself in the portable products market. "A large screen, enough performance for fast internet access and ultra low power consumption are the key features for this type of handheld device," he said. Meanwhile, Intel tuned Linux software, called Moblin and designed specifically for the Atom architecture, is being revised further to provide an open source applications development platform. "Software compatibility across portable platforms is another Holy Grail for the mobile internet device sector," O'Donovan emphasised. The next iterations of Atom and Moblin will see Intel move into smaller portable devices, such as handsets. This finally heralds Intel's entry to the IP/SoC sector and the company has announced it is working with TSMC. "We're going big on IP and embedded cores for mobile devices," O'Donovan noted. According to O'Donovan, Intel has undertaken many studies on the cultural impact of technology and computing. "It is important to understand how people use technology." He emphasised the importance of delivering useful features. "Ask yourself what problems it will solve; don't just deliver a bunch of new features and tell them to go play." While the user interface is key to usability, understanding what is socially acceptable is just as important, he explained. "A fridge that tells you first thing every morning you are running out of milk may be feasible, but is unlikely to be popular." He also claimed that, while domestic appliances are not going to be featuring quad core processors any time soon, demand for ever higher performance processing in desktops and servers will escalate with new MIPs hungry applications emerging. High quality video and audio features, 3d image processing and immersive interfaces, computational modelling, natural language and voice processing, real time translation: these will all demand significant increases in processing power. Eventually, such applications will shift to portable devices. Meanwhile, the relentless spread of mobile devices is increasing demand for powerful server based network infrastructures. Environmental monitoring, traffic monitoring and social networking are just some of the emerging applications that will generate huge amounts of data that must be 'always available'. "That's different to 'always on'," concluded O'Donovan, emphasising the need for greater energy efficiency and less e-waste.