Royal institution Christmas Lecture 2008-Lecture 2 – Chips with Everything(A quest new year week special)

In his second lecture Professor Chris Bishop reveals the state-of-the-art in computer interaction.

More computers are manufactured every year than the world’s total population. But fewer than 1% of these take the form of desktop or laptop computers. As microchips get smaller and faster they are being incorporated into an increasing range of devices all around us.

Every day we interact with dozens if not hundreds of computers, often without even realising it. But very few of these have mice and keyboards, and as computers become ever more widespread we will need new ways to communicate with them.

In this lecture Chris Bishop demonstrates new touch-screen technologies, three-dimensional displays, and even flexible screens that can be rolled up when they’re not being used.

However, it’s not just displays that are being revolutionised. As the number of computers around us grows, they will increasingly be networked together through the internet – opening up new opportunities to exploit this global computing power.