This wasn't always the case. About a decade ago, these presentations tended to promise the impossible. This point hit home when Rattner, wearing that moved artificial ears according to mood, opened with a video showcasing a decade-old keynote given by his predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, now CEO of VMware.

What Gelsinger promised-and Intel is, a decade later, planning to deliver-is the first analog radio built from digital technology. The engineers watching that keynote in the early 2000s thought that was impossible and, likely came close to a coronary upon seeing Gelsinger's promise, but they developed it anyway.

This advancement is now a cornerstone of Intel's wireless future and will be key to the company's capability to compete with long-time digital radio makers for future smartphones, tablets and other small, connected devices from sensors to micro robotics. Let's explore this unwired future.

Ratter demonstrated the , which could break an existing innovation barrier: analog doesn't scale down well. According to Intel, once you shrink under 100 nanometers, performance drops off a cliff and the technology becomes nonviable.