When computers first came into existence during the 20th century, the computers took up entire rooms and were only able to perform simple mathematical formulas. In addition, these computers had to be rewired and reprogrammed every time the operators needed to change or update a function. Today’s technology advances are allowing computers to become more powerful and much smaller every year. Think about it, how big was your first computer and what is the size of the computer your using now? Chances are the computer you have now is much smaller and more powerful than your first computer. If we continue on this path towards small powerful computers, what will our computers look like in ten years?

Imagine your next computer being based upon a glass of water. While today you need to avoid getting water anywhere near your computer and electronics in general, researchers have already demonstrated that water is able to create an ultra-dense storage system that computers and other electronic devices can use. Researchers have developed a method to use small amounts of water to stabilize the memory bits of nanowire that is barely three-billionths of a meter wide. As this technology progresses we may find that water will increase the memory and storage capacity of our computers and allows us to use new and different materials in our computers and technology.

Maybe, your next computer will not be based on a glass of water but what is living in the water. A computer built from E. Coli bacteria has already successfully started to solve mathematical puzzles. The bacteria computer actually completed a mathematical problem faster than a standard computer based upon the silicon CPU chip. Bacteria computing is based upon the idea of DNA computing and can actually process the same data we use our computers for today. Each strand of DNA is able to process bits of data independently while still creating a useable whole. Ok, it may not be appealing to have a dish of bacteria sitting on your desk but DNA computing is one technological advancement that researchers are working on daily and we will see the technology learnings applied to our computers in the future.

If bacteria is not your idea of a perfect computer, why not consider a magnetic trap that holds quantum qubits. Qubits are very similar to the bits we currently use to represent data in our computers. In our computers today, the bits store data as either a 0 or 1 which is considered very linear (there is only two choices and no in-between). When using qubits, we can represent data as 0, 1, or both 0 and 1 at the same time, instead of data being very linear qubits allow our data to become 3-dimensional. When one qubit interacts with another qubit, we create a quantum qubit computing platform that is the basis for 3-dimensional computing. Once we start to use quantum qubits in our computers we will not need to represent 3D images on our computer screen because they will be created around us in the magnetic trap process the qubits.

If your a person on the go, you probably own at least one portable laptop computer. Ten years from now, your entire portable computing process may change as well. Instead of carrying a heavy computer, it would be much nicer to have a piece of expensive jewelry instead? Diamonds actually make much faster computer chips than the current silicone we use, however since natural diamonds are very expensive we continue to use silcone. Currently advances in technology and our knowledge of geological processes has opened up the ability to create diamonds in a lab. Man-made diamonds are virtually identical to diamonds made by the earth. Since we no longer need to wait for the earth to produce the diamonds we need for our computers all we need is for the price of man-made diamonds to become affordable. Then CPU manufacturers will begin to create computer chips that are much faster than the computers we have now and and we can begin to move toward jewelry as a computer.

Finally, our computers may become a pile of photosensitive molecules. Molecular computing focuses on similar ideas to DNA computing and creates a process where the computational power of individual molecules is harnessed to create faster processing. Photosensitive molecules can use the energy of light to fuel the computing power of the molecules. Researchers believe that molecules and molecular computing will create faster computer that are more cost efficient, save energy, and are smaller in size.

Whatever our computers look like in ten years, one thing is for certain, we will be using smaller computers with more power. Researchers may be pushing computing processes to the extreme but every day new advances in DNA and molecular computing are pushing the envelope and creating faster computers based upon materials that surround us in life.

For every computer that is designed, manufactured, and successful in the marketplace there is a computer that fails as well. Some of the biggest ideas in computing and technology never succeed as products because people simply are not interested in the advancement. Remember how the Segway was going to change the may everyone traveled? How many of the devices have you seen this month? Car manufacturers are always mindful of not building the next Edsel but do computer designers keep their failures in mind when creating the next model or style of computer? Sometimes the failure is caused by poor design or manufacturing but just as often the issue is poor marketing or poor timing on release. Whatever the reason for the failure sometimes the failures are so big that we still remember them today.

The Xerox Alto is the considered one of the grandparents to today’s computer and also one of the biggest failures in computing history. Developed by Xerox in 1972 the Alto had a bitmap display, windows, drop-down menu bars, built-in Ethernet, a hard disk, a mouse, two keyboards, a software productivity suite including a word processor, a paint program, and email. To sum up, the Alto had everything your new computer came equipped with today and it was released almost 40 years ago. But at the time the Alto was releases, Xerox was in the middle of a copier and patent war and did not pay any attention to this computer at all. The Alto was left without any marketing or support and the project failed. Eventually the Alto was canceled by Xerox and the employees associated with the project went on to form Microsoft, IBM, and Apple.

Another major computer flop still remembered today, was the Apple III released in June of 1980. This computer was designed for use in the business market but had such a high cost that many businesses could not justify the purchase price. In 1980 a new car cost around $6,000 and the Apple III was priced at $7,800. The Apple III also had a poor design overall which eventually led to its downfall. The engineers responsible for the design of the Apple III set out to make a small powerful desktop computer but they actually built one of the largest computer jokes in history. There were too many parts crammed into the small computer cases and to save even more space the engineering team decided to leave the cooling fan out. The computer became so hot during use that the parts would expand and the computer chips would pop out. How did the Apple III support staff help you resolve this issue and teach you to get the chips back into their slots? Pick up your computer that cost your employer more money than a new car and drop it onto your desk repeatedly.

Long before the ipod and iphone came to the market, Apple created another portable computer, the Newton. The Newton was one of the first handheld computers or PDAs to be sold to the public. But the Newton was well known for high price and a large size. The Newton became well known for its handwriting recognition problems. Only an elite group of technology lovers wanted to carry this bulky portable product with them and this handheld assistant never reached the mass market appeal desired by Apple. This was the first PDA and the market was simply not ready at the time.

Apple is not the only company that has released poorly designed computers in the past. In 1983 IBM released the PCjr. This computer was designed for school use thus the jr name. The PCjr was considered to be a PC clone but the computer was not compatible with PCs of the time. Overall the idea of a computer for the classroom was a great idea but this project was simply not designed well. In the end, the design of the computer’s keyboard led to the PCjr ultimate downfall. The keyboard was designed to communicate with the computer via infrared beams. However, one keyboard was interchangeable with another and in the classroom, students would point their keyboards at each other’s machines for the sole purpose of screwing up each other’s computing sessions.

Computer designs are constantly being changed and upgraded in order to provide consumers with new choices and new products to purchase. However not every product is as successful as Windows or IBMs PC. Every year new models of computers and new electronics are being designed by they fail. In fact, many products are designed and never make it to the consumer because their design is either flawed or research shows that people are not going to purchase it. Take a trip through an electronics trade show and you may just discover the next computer or electronic product that will not make it.

When computers first came into existence during the 20th century, the computers took up entire rooms and were only able to perform simple mathematical formulas. In addition, these computers had to be rewired and reprogrammed every time the operators needed to change or update a function. Today’s technology advances are allowing computers to become more powerful and much smaller every year. Think about it, how big was your first computer and what is the size of the computer your using now? Chances are the computer you have now is much smaller and more powerful than your first computer. If we continue on this path towards small powerful computers, what will our computers look like in ten years?

Imagine your next computer being based upon a glass of water. While today you need to avoid getting water anywhere near your computer and electronics in general, researchers have already demonstrated that water is able to create an ultra-dense storage system that computers and other electronic devices can use. Researchers have developed a method to use small amounts of water to stabilize the memory bits of nanowire that is barely three-billionths of a meter wide. As this technology progresses we may find that water will increase the memory and storage capacity of our computers and allows us to use new and different materials in our computers and technology.

Maybe, your next computer will not be based on a glass of water but what is living in the water. A computer built from E. Coli bacteria has already successfully started to solve mathematical puzzles. The bacteria computer actually completed a mathematical problem faster than a standard computer based upon the silicon CPU chip. Bacteria computing is based upon the idea of DNA computing and can actually process the same data we use our computers for today. Each strand of DNA is able to process bits of data independently while still creating a useable whole. Ok, it may not be appealing to have a dish of bacteria sitting on your desk but DNA computing is one technological advancement that researchers are working on daily and we will see the technology learnings applied to our computers in the future.

If bacteria is not your idea of a perfect computer, why not consider a magnetic trap that holds quantum qubits. Qubits are very similar to the bits we currently use to represent data in our computers. In our computers today, the bits store data as either a 0 or 1 which is considered very linear (there is only two choices and no in-between). When using qubits, we can represent data as 0, 1, or both 0 and 1 at the same time, instead of data being very linear qubits allow our data to become 3-dimensional. When one qubit interacts with another qubit, we create a quantum qubit computing platform that is the basis for 3-dimensional computing. Once we start to use quantum qubits in our computers we will not need to represent 3D images on our computer screen because they will be created around us in the magnetic trap process the qubits.

If your a person on the go, you probably own at least one portable laptop computer. Ten years from now, your entire portable computing process may change as well. Instead of carrying a heavy computer, it would be much nicer to have a piece of expensive jewelry instead? Diamonds actually make much faster computer chips than the current silicone we use, however since natural diamonds are very expensive we continue to use silcone. Currently advances in technology and our knowledge of geological processes has opened up the ability to create diamonds in a lab. Man-made diamonds are virtually identical to diamonds made by the earth. Since we no longer need to wait for the earth to produce the diamonds we need for our computers all we need is for the price of man-made diamonds to become affordable. Then CPU manufacturers will begin to create computer chips that are much faster than the computers we have now and and we can begin to move toward jewelry as a computer.

Finally, our computers may become a pile of photosensitive molecules. Molecular computing focuses on similar ideas to DNA computing and creates a process where the computational power of individual molecules is harnessed to create faster processing. Photosensitive molecules can use the energy of light to fuel the computing power of the molecules. Researchers believe that molecules and molecular computing will create faster computer that are more cost efficient, save energy, and are smaller in size.

Whatever our computers look like in ten years, one thing is for certain, we will be using smaller computers with more power. Researchers may be pushing computing processes to the extreme but every day new advances in DNA and molecular computing are pushing the envelope and creating faster computers based upon materials that surround us in life.

If you are tired of using Microsoft Windows and want to explore the world of the Macintosh without spending the money for a new computer, you should consider porting the Mac OS to your PC. Completing a port of Mac OS X is becoming easier as more and more people want to give the software a try. You do need to be aware that this a considered hacking your computer, and could very well be considered copyright infringement. But if your willing to try and you have a little bit of computer knowledge, you may really enjoy the outcome.

You may want to try this process out on a second computer or a second hard drive instead of giving up your primary computer. While this process is relatively easy once you have the proper files, the process explained here will wipe your hard drive and that includes any personal files you have on the hard drive. If anything goes wrong and you sacrificed your primary computer and hard drive to the process, you may end up having to rebuild your computer without any support from your manufacturer or Apple.

You will need a separate hard drive to install OS X on. If you are interested in dual booting between OS X and Microsoft Windows, you need two separate hard drives. This process will not work on a partitioned hard drive. Once you have the necessary hardware, search your favorite torrent site for the necessary files. You need to find “VMWare files for patched Mac OS X” online and download the entire file. This file should end up over 6gb after your download has completed. Once you have the proper .img file, move it to an external USB hard drive and set the drive aside.

Next, download the Ubuntu Live CD from the Ubuntu website. You need to verify that you are getting the correct version of Ubuntu. Burn the Ubuntu .iso file to a CD thus creating a bootable Ubuntu disk. Place the disk in your computer and boot from it. Once Ubuntu boots and the GUI Is running, connect the USB drive that is holding your Mac OS X files. Note the path to you USB drive and double confirm the location of the drive you will be using for your new Mac OS X operating system.

It is not time to work with Linux to install OS X on your PC. Open a terminal window and change the directory of the terminal window the appropriate path for your USB drive. Then in the terminal window type “dd bs=1048576 if=./tiger-x86-flat.img of=/dev/hda” You will want to make sure that you replace the “hda” with the correct drive information for your final installation of the OS X files. And double check everything before you continue on, this command will erase whatever drive you indicate. When you hit enter, your computer will start working. This process may take several minutes to complete so be patient. After this wipe and transfer process is complete, you can remove the Ubuntu CD from your computer and shut down the PC. After your computer is shut down, you should remove the USB drive that held you OS X .img file and reboot your computer. If everything was completed correctly you will be booting into Apple’s OS X instead of Microsoft’s Windows.

If you want to move to Mac OS but do not want to use linux, you can still install OS X using public-domain tools native to windows. These tools still have the ability to completely wipe your hard drive, so again the same cautions apply. Make sure you are not using your primary hard drive unless you want to spend time rebuilding your computer if anything goes wrong and you will need a separate hard drive as the process will not work on a partitioned drive. Porting Mac OS to your PC is not an exact science and anything can go wrong at any time.

If using Microsoft Windows to handle your port, you still need to find and download the “VMWare files for patched Mac OS X Tiger Intel” but instead of Ubuntu’s Linux files, you also need to download “Forensic Acquisition Utilities”. Install the Forensic Acquisition Utilities onto you main root drive and use the command “dd if=c:\tiger-x86-flat.img of=\\.\physicaldrive” where physical drive is replaced with the appropriate indicator of the drive you want to install Mac OS X on. Once you start the process, it may appear that your computer hangs however do not touch anything, your hard drives are working away. After the process is completed, reboot your computer and set your BIOS for your preferred boot sequence. If everything worked properly and your hardware is compatible you should see OSX boot up.