Wacker has a handle on beer and an eye on the future

Jeff Wacker sees computer monitor glasses and the virtual keyboard as part of our future. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Jeff Wacker has seen the future and it involves a blue plastic tag stuck to the side of a beer keg.

Admittedly the blue tag - an RFID [radio frequency identification] transmitter - isn't the most exciting futuristic gizmo Wacker was showing off during a visit to Auckland last week.

The Texas-based "futurist" for computing giant EDS also had a "heads-up" display - a pair of glasses that project a computer screen into the user's field of vision - and a cellphone-sized PC to attach it to.

These were complemented by a projected virtual keyboard, so you can type on any available surface.

But these devices are not just about strapping a computer to your belt so you can check your email through your glasses.

It is a glimpse into a future when multi-skilled "hybrid workers" will be able to tap into a pool of human - and ultimately computerised - expertise to help them do their jobs more efficiently.

The ageing population will force us to develop smarter technology, Wacker says, because we're about to lose the luxury of having enough people to do all the work for us.

As the baby boomer generation heads into retirement, the US alone is expected to have 40 million fewer workers in 15 years than it does today.

The heads-up display, complete with an outward looking camera, will enable a worker to phone for assistance while in the middle of doing a job. The expert he calls will be able to see what the worker sees, and offer advice accordingly.

"It's the ability to stretch the experts that you'll not have enough of," Wacker says.

"Later on, expert [computer] systems will take over from that expert sitting in a pod waiting to talk to you."

But back to the beer keg tag.

"I like to think of it as a business paradigm rather than an RFID tag," he says.

The individualised signals it pumps out have helped to solve a major logistics headache for a US trucking company: identifying, sorting, delivering and collecting kegs from multiple breweries.

"Bar masters love it too because they know exactly what they've got and how old the beer is," Wacker says.

The next innovation will be to add micro electro mechanical systems sensory technology to the keg tags, enabling the storage of information about the temperature and humidity which they have been exposed to during storage and transportation.

"That will ride the same backbone we're creating for this infrastructure to create a very robust edge."

The "edge", Wacker explains, is where IT meets the real world. It's the source of an information explosion as computers gather and process exponentially increasing amounts of data.

"What we're seeing is that information technology capabilities are going to continue to accelerate and one of the fall-outs of that is that people will use IT differently."

The change in IT use will involve pattern recognition technology and expert systems combining to drive "context into your computing environment" so the flood of data businesses process can be analysed effectively.

Wacker is one of about 25 EDS fellows, the company's inner sanctum charged with steering business strategy. He travels extensively to keep up with developments both within EDS and at its client companies.

"I don't think these things up in a vacuum. Getting out and doing a lot of field work is the best way," he says.

JEFF WACKER

* Who: EDS fellow and futurist.

* Favourite gadget: " I like the heads-up display because it's helping me with a failing memory."

* Next big thing: A model-based computer architecture supported by heavy simulation capability.

* Alternative career: "I restore antique automobiles and do fine cabinetry woodworking. I'd like to do that full-time someday."

* Spare time: "I do a lot of travelling so spare time is at a premium. They don't like you to take carburettors on planes to work on. I don't understand it. We've got to work on that."

* Favourite sci-fi movie: 2001.