Well, my friends, we're down to the last keynote of the SunNetwork Shanghai conference.
It's a technology panel hosted by the man I had breakfast with -- John Gage.
Onstage were David Yen, Curtis Sasaki and Greg Bollella.
They had a very provocative talk about how the envelope of technology innovation is being pushed to such limits that the barrier we see on the horizon is not the limits of the technology itself -- but the limits of our imaginations.
These guys are all visionaries. It was awesome. David talked about the innovation in the silicon. Curtis talked about how innovation on the desktop is going to change the way we interact with technology (Imagine taking 3D pictures that you could view in 3D on a flat pannel LCD display). Greg talked about (and showed) how Sun is driving innovation in Java that pushes out the bar on Real-Time computing operations.
Consider a scenario that was brought up during the keynote...
The devices you use in your life right now are time and location aware. So if logic were applied to the data we already have, context could be derrived. And that context could make how you communicate -- or don't -- more effective. Specific example to illustrate the point: Let's say you're Curtis Sasaki and you live in California. You're traveling to Shanghai and you've got one of those fancy cell phones that works anywhere in the world. Your cell phone knows you're in Shanghai because when you landed you turned it on (after the plane got to the gate) and it authenticated itself to the network. So why doesn't the phone intelligently route calls to voicemail when it's 2 a.m. Shanghai time? OK.... take that and extrapolate.. that's what we were talking about.
Greg did an awesome demo demonstrating the work he's doing with Real-Time. Check out this interview with Bollella that ran on java.sun.com very recently... you can get the scoop on Real-Time...
You know, i know this is going to sound so corny... But I'm really proud to work for the same company that employs these guys. I really am.
mary