[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMlWbTqwkdU&hl=en&fs=1] This new Intel ad, from their recently-launched 'Sponsors of Tomorrow' campaign, is spot on. Today's real rock stars should be the brains behind all the technology that has changed our lives and prompted the world in new directions. And, in many ways, they are. I wonder how many people would opt for a free computer over free concert tickets. I know I would.

Right now, I'm knee-deep in a research project about future technology and I must say it's really inspiring. Intel's Exploratory Research Projects, NTT DoCoMo's (the Japanese rock stars of all that is mobile) Mobile Society Research Institute, and Singularity University (to-be-opened in June, sponsored in part by Google, of course), to name a few examples, are all scheming away for the next big breakthrough. Rock stars to be.