One of the most frustrating problems with computers and smartphones is the tendency for programs to freeze up or slow down dramatically. Watching a video "refresh" or to keep "buffering", can result in simply getting aggravated and just closing the video. We are living in a video driven computer world that also utilizes large, resource consuming applications. And, just because we leave a program or application does not mean that it has stopped running. It can continue running in the background, and consume valuable processor space and use.
The simple explanation is that all computers suffer from an inability to communicate internally with itself. It is not self-aware! There are three main activities and processes in all computers. Software, Hardware, and Operating System. The operating system controls the use of the hardware and software and controls the use of all of the resources. But, the operating system has no idea of what is currently being utilized bu the user. So, if you leave an application and it keeps running, and you go to a video or other application, the OS has no clue what you may be doing, so it tries to run both processes. So the video may begin to run at 20 frames per second instead of the better 30 FPS. And, to complicate matters further, most processors are now dual-core or multi-core. This is great for parallel processing but still leaves the computer looking pretty stupid.
There are efforts to alleviate the problem, but it will take time to get it into an operating system The research people at MIT are working on a self-aware solution through CSAIL, Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Scientific American has chosen the effort as one of ten world changing ideas. The link is here. Fortunately, humans are sell-aware, but we just don't always use this feature...
The simple explanation is that all computers suffer from an inability to communicate internally with itself. It is not self-aware! There are three main activities and processes in all computers. Software, Hardware, and Operating System. The operating system controls the use of the hardware and software and controls the use of all of the resources. But, the operating system has no idea of what is currently being utilized bu the user. So, if you leave an application and it keeps running, and you go to a video or other application, the OS has no clue what you may be doing, so it tries to run both processes. So the video may begin to run at 20 frames per second instead of the better 30 FPS. And, to complicate matters further, most processors are now dual-core or multi-core. This is great for parallel processing but still leaves the computer looking pretty stupid.
There are efforts to alleviate the problem, but it will take time to get it into an operating system The research people at MIT are working on a self-aware solution through CSAIL, Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Scientific American has chosen the effort as one of ten world changing ideas. The link is here. Fortunately, humans are sell-aware, but we just don't always use this feature...
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