The Future of Computers.

Someday, perhaps before the decade is out, you may be able to read this story on a sheet of Internet paper as thin as the one you are now holding. After your eye has scrolled down the page, the text will change to display the next page. It won't seem like a computer, but it can be described as nothing else. This new kind of computer, which won't at all resemble the complex, unreliable beasts that we all love to hate, will be making its way into our lives over the next handful of years. But what will it look like? And what will it do?

To get a glimpse of what may be in store, NEWSWEEK ventured into a few of the top corporate laboratories in the United States, Japan and Europe. We asked engineers to show us their pet projects, the kinds of things you won't see on retail shelves for at least three years, perhaps more. Rather than precursors to actual products, we wanted to see what ideas engineers were still only toying with. We found sleek new devices constantly connected to the Internet, and others that would be all but invisible, integrated into our offices and homes, connecting the digital world to the world of everyday things. Some would never need to be turned on or off or given lengthy commands: they'd activate themselves when you're near and, like a good butler, anticipate your needs. Some researchers are trying to distill the essence of all gadgets into a single device; it would consist of removable electronic building blocks that can be reassembled like Legos into a variety of devices, from a video camera to a Walkman to a word processor. Some machines would detect gestures, understand language and simulate common sense. This, at least, is what engineers are trying to do. "Some of the technologies to do many of these things are already available," says Mario Tokoro, director of Sony's Computer Science Labs. "Once we think it is time to bring them to the public, I think we can do it."

Many of the ideas we encountered will never see the light of day. Others may appear in vastly different form. What follows is not a prediction but simply our pick of the most interesting ideas out there.

ENHANCED REALITY

In most jobs, altering your reality will get you fired. But DaimlerChrysler engineer Holger Regenbrecht is stone-cold sober. He is peering at the V-8 engine of an S-class Mercedes-Benz through a pair of cumbersome glasses that are wired via bulky cables to a PC. These "augmented reality" (AR) glasses allow him to see the real engine, but they also superimpose animated three-dimensional digital images. He sees the air-intake nozzle he needs to replace outlined in bright red. He follows the animated arrows right in front of his eyes. Usually one of the more complicated parts of an engine to replace, the nozzle slides into place without a hitch.

This is no mean feat. Fitting images into the context of what you're seeing means that the computer has to "see" and understand what it's seeing. A tiny digicam fixed to the side of Regenbrecht's glasses tracks his field of vision. Powerful software fits the virtual engine to the real one, displaying the images on his glasses. Soon this unwieldly rig will shrink down to a fashionable slimness suitable for all sorts of applications, from medical to videogames.

AR glasses that would allow a surgeon to "see" a patient's CT scan as he operates. In Greece a tourist-information system based on AR is being planned for the 2006 Olympics; visitors will receive wearable PCs and funky goggles that will let them amble though digital re-creations of the ancient ruins of Olympia. And a Japanese firm is building an AR computer game with virtual monsters.