RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – IBM is announcing today what it’s calling the world’s smallest computer. How small? Smaller than a grain of salt. Seriously. Call them “ink dots,” says the tech giant.
“Within the next five years, cryptographic anchors — such as ink dots or tiny computers smaller than a grain of salt — will be embedded in everyday objects and devices,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM’s head of research.
The tiny PC powerhouse was disclosed within Big Blue’s annual 5-in-5 predictions about five tech innovations that will change our lives over the next five years.
International tech news site The Inquirer hailed the Tiny Tim of PCs:
“Big Blue claimed the 1x1mm computer is the smallest in the world and has the compute power of an x86 machine from the 90s. That might not seem a lot when compared to the power of the latest smartphone chips, but it’s still pretty nippy for a computer that you could accidentally sprinkle on your chippy dinner.”
The “super-small motherboard … could be embedded into packages to offer better shipment tracking and processing,” The Inquirer adds.
Raves tech site Mashable:
“This sucker has the computing power of the x86 chip from 1990. Okay, so that’s not great compared to what we have today, but cut it some slack — you need a microscope to see it.”
Read more about what’s up at Think 2018 online.
