Pervasive Computing

ALSO CALLED: Transparent Computing, Ubiquitous Computing
DEFINITION: Transparent computing is a characteristic of pervasive computing, the possible future state in which we will be surrounded by computers everywhere in the environment that respond to our needs without our conscious use. In this context, transparent means invisible. A long sought goal of computer science, transparent computing would involve systems so subtle and responsive that they could, for example,  … 
Definition continues below.

PERVASIVE COMPUTING DEFINITION (continued): …  solve various user problems without any knowledge on the part of the user of what was taking place. As a simple example, an invisible computer could respond to a glance at a particular Web site URL by calling up similar Web sites and listing them unobtrusively nearby. John Seely Brown, chief scientist at Xerox, writing in MIT's Technology Review, suggests that, in appearance, the future will seem like the pre-computer past: computers will merge with the background and eventually seem to cease to exist. Although computers are not expected to be visible in the environment, virtually all man-made … 
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