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At WinSuperSite.

What is the equivalent of that one in US? I don’t remember seeing any Volvo car in US with that high of an mpg.

There is no US equivalent of this Volvo page. Draw your own conclusions.

Ok, Google logo change happened a while ago and it is not new anymore. I just noticed the similarity today. It is kind of mirror or upside down of the Microsoft Windows logo with a different shape. Blue, yellow, green and red in four squares. Was that intentional or just a coincidence?

I would like to introduce you to HAL 2020. Unlike the other HAL that was mostly software residing on a super computer, HAL 2020 is hardwired in to small and simple computers that you and me uses. Ok, not yet but by 2020 .

When I say small and simple computers I mean the laptop or desktop or netbook or the smartphone you use. By 2020 you would expect smartphones with 3D screen projections, meh (that is a new word in some dictionary already) no privacy, or rollable screens and keyboards to be your main and probably only computing device.

May be there is not much of computing going on there. It is capable of streaming at really high bandwidth. All computing is offloaded elsewhere. If you care too much about privacy, you could get powerful computing and storage at price that you can keep at home but still will use your smartphone (if you can still call it phone because that may not be the main function) that talks to the super number cruncher elsewhere.

That’s all for introduction.  Come back later for more…

My browser knows too much about me. I am glad the browsers today are not actively collecting and remembering my information. What if all those sites I visit, emails that I send, things I purchase and so on can be used to “better serve my needs”? Like showing me ads based on my browsing history, not just the search terms I used.

I think Chrome is the beginning of an era where ads are targeted at me based on my past actions and habits. May be that Minority Report style ads need a few more years to develop but the ads can be delivered to me through my computer or a device like that.

To deliver that “experience”, Google need few things. One is an OS that knows it all. It takes years to develop a complete OS. In the meantime a smaller OS for communications device can be developed, like Android. It will know what I am doing, where I am and other things based on the phone’s capabilities. Capabilities like GPS, WiFi etc. The Chrome browser will be built in to these OS’s. That will provide more information about me based on my browsing habits as I mentioned above.

Now let us say Google installs billboards all over the place that are connected to the telephone towers. Cell phones in the vicinity will register with the towers and also know the exact location of the phone if I accept the “Can this application use your location” pop-up which many of you are already familiar with. Or may be that is already embedded in the terms of service with phone company. Based on the number of people nearby, the billboard can display ads that appeal to most people, people who spend most money, more likely to spend money or things like that. That looks like a much easier way to get that Minority Report like ads to you sooner, right?

It may sound scary today but it will be normal tomorrow. I will just get used to it and won’t bother to think about how it works because it was “always there”, so what is the big deal about it.

I just used Google, Chrome and Android as an example. But Microsoft and Apple could do it today if they want to do it. They already have everything that is needed to get there. But you cannot do such things overnight and get everyone too excited and scared. So they will bring out things slowly in to the market one at a time. OK, I added that one just to spice up the conspiracy theory.