Isaac Asimov It doesn't look like Moore's law will be repealed anytime soon.

That 2 GHz P4 whiz-bang desktop that you just paid two grand for will look like an old 286 in about 5-7 years, and guys like me will be dumpster-diving for your castoffs. :-)

The implications for society of this are nearly incomprehensible. The power of these processors will allow applications in Artificial Intelligence, delivery and perhaps more importantly, generation, of multimedia content, pure science research, and a host of other apps to continue to completely alter the way we work and play.

The "Computer Revolution" is still in it's infancy.

From a speech by Pat Gelsinger, Intel's Chief Technology Officer:

"Gelsinger said he has "absolute confidence" that the IT industry will continue to exploit Moore's Law over the next 25 or 30 years. Recent research developments, such as a 10-nanometer terahertz transistor with a dielectric layer just three atoms thick, will lead to new IT products later this decade, he said.

By 2010, the typical desktop computer will have a 30-GHz processor that performs 1 trillion instructions per second. Handheld computers will run at clock speeds of 5 GHz, faster than today's high-end systems, Gelsinger said.

The Pentium 4, Intel's current 32-bit processor, has enough design headroom to reach 10-GHz clock speeds, Gelsinger said. Intel is now delivering its second-generation 64-bit Itanium CPU, code-named McKinley, for products that will come out later this year. McKinley's clock rate exceeds 1 GHz. The chip has 3M of onboard cache."

The only real bottleneck I see is the ability of programmers to actually use the vast processing power that will be available to them.

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There is life beyond Google, believe it or not. Some specialized search engines will get you stuff the mainstream engines don't touch.

One new one in this category is findarticles.com They have liscensed for distribution all the content of a boodle of journals and magazines of the type normally only available for paid subscribers, and are making it available for free. How long that can last, only their business plan knows for sure.

Just a random eclectic sampling of the titles to pique your interest: English Historical Review, Science Digest, Hockey Digest, Discover, Skeptical Inquirer, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Journal of Popular Film and Television, Mother Earth News, Popular HotRodding, Psychology Today, Ladies' Home Journal, LA Magazine, and about 300 more.

In all cases articles not freely available on the publication websites themselves are free to read.

I've "wasted" most of the afternoon today just playing with search terms and reading my ass off. :-)

Highly recommended.

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I contend that we are both Atheists. I just believe in one fewer God than you. When you understand why you dismiss all other possible Gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

• Stephen Roberts -

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