Out of this world
The announcement did not go unnoticed by US PC Magazine, which in an August 8 edition dubbed it "a truly far-out idea" and one of the hottest five trends to watch.
"NASA has already put out feelers in the private sector for developing this type of technology, which it envisions will support end-to-end communication across the solar system, even in adverse conditions," wrote the article's author, John Clyman. "Watch for domain names like .Earth, .Mars, and .Jupiter sometime this decade."
Futurists are also excited by developments in biological sciences -- though these probably won't happen in 2001. David Smith, vice president of Technology Futures, has dubbed the next half-century "the age of bio", predicting that biological sciences will be applied to manufacturing, computing, the Internet and elsewhere. He says computing power will surpass human brain power by 2040.
Nanotechnology researchers are plotting how to harness the power of the Internet. The NanoComputer Dream Team, a coalition of scientists, programmers and computer enthusiasts, wants to model molecules needed to build a nanocomputer that is only a few thousand atoms in width.
To build it, the group is searching for volunteers to download a screensaver on their computers that would automatically route unused central processing unit time to the project's central processor. The group says its lofty goal isn't attainable until 2011 at the earliest, but the developments in the Dream Team labs have advanced other researchers' rudimentary molecular manipulations.
Others are bullish about the prospects of automotive "telematics" -- dashboard technology that combines audio, a hands-free cell phone, navigation, Internet connectivity, email and voice recognition in cars.
