Supercomputing in Laptop ..

IBM Lab guys are putting their efforts to cram more data into less space on a memory chip or a hard drive has been the crucial force propelling consumer electronics companies to make ever smaller devices. Stuart S. P. Parkin, a physicist, is developing “racetrack memory,” a technology that makes it possible to read and write data far faster than is possible with existing storage devices. It shrank the mainframe computer to fit on the desktop, shrank it again to fit on our laps and again to fit into our shirt pockets. -- well it can go smaller than that also.

While writing this, my shirt pocket has a Harddisk of 250 GB from Western Digital which I bought at 150 $ (Sale, rebate advantage than the original cost of 200 $).

Combining the hard disk break through with Intel's quad core Higher Performance and Low Cost to Mainstream Computing ; and the projected 80 Core chip, it gives a imagination of a Supercomputers in a Laptop. The days are not far to bring this imagination to reality.

Question is: Who is going to use it ?

Compute intensive and data intensive applications are numerous, spreading from entertainment to health care. It remains to see who takes the fast-mover advantage.