Intel creates new R & D division

Chip maker, Intel Corporation has created new research division to boost its computing experience, according to the Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Justin Rattner.
He also said that the new division, called Interaction and Experience Research (IXR) is focused on defining new platforms which would boost computing experience in the future, reports CHARLES OKOH.

A press statement to ITRealms Online quoted Rattner as saying that better technology is not enough these days.

“What the individual values today is a deeply personal, information experience. When I look ahead, this is the biggest change in computing I see coming. At Intel, we’ve been building up our capabilities in the user experience and interaction areas for over a decade,” he said.

Intel, he said, recently assembled an outstanding team of researchers consisting of both user interface technologists and social scientists to create the next generation of user experiences.

“We’ve learnt, for example, that the television experience is not the same thing as the Web experience, even though more and more TV will be delivered via the Internet.
Browsing the Web at 10 feet is an experience few people relish, but television experienced via the Internet is a huge step beyond broadcast,” he said.

Rattner equally said the new division will be led by Intel’s Fellow, Ms Genevieve Bell, who has been one of the leading user-centered design advocates at Intel for more than a decade.

On her part, Bell said Intel now touches more things in people’s lives than just the PC and that Intel chips and the Internet are now in televisions, set-tops, handhelds, automobiles, signage and more, disclosing that IXR will build on 15 years of research into the ways in which people use, re-use and resist new information and communication technologies.

“Social science, design and human-computer interaction researchers will continue that mission, asking questions about what people will value, what will fit into their lives and what they love about the things they already have. These insights will be married with a strong focus on technological research into the next generation of user interfaces, user interactions and changes in media content and consumption patterns,” she said.

Intel labs, she said, already has a strong focus on the next generation of user experience technologies. Current work around context and location has yielded a range of insights and technological possibilities. For example, the idea that devices will understand their surroundings, communicate with each other and change behaviour or take actions based on the user’s environment.

Researchers also demonstrated an experimental, low-cost energy sensor, which could help change the way consumers manage personal energy consumption at home. When coupled with a home information display, it would monitor usage, recommend solutions for more efficiency and reward success.

The sensor needs only to be plugged into the house wiring to instantaneously measure and wirelessly report the power consumption of each electrical load in the home, providing data to analyze energy usage of devices and appliances throughout. This technology forms the heart of a personal energy management system that could lead to valuable changes in behavior and save staggering amounts of energy.

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