Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  Wired ways over calm cities (10 Sep 2004) Ubiquitous computing is a term that generally refers to the methods which are used to make computers available throughout the physical environment but invisible to the user. Alan Kay, President of Viewpoints Research Institute Inc and Senior Fellow at Hewlett-Packard (HP) Labs, considers ubiquitous computing as part of the 'third paradigm' of computing, where 'calm technology' is embedded and integrated into our daily lives. The first paradigm can be identified as the era when computers whizzed and frizzed and mainframes were the size of rooms. Currently we are in the period driven by the desktop model. The 'third paradigm' promises to bring the day where computers will no longer crash out in an undignified manner before our eyes; instead they will live seamlessly, invisibly and in harmony with us. Or at least that is the ideal. Article URL: http://www.nestafuturelab.org/viewpoint/art33.htm Read 114 more articles from NESTA Futurelab sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: AIfIA launches Mentoring Programme for Information Architecture     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy