Greg Chaffins 
Imagine electronic circuits that have storage themselves without relying on separate memory devices, even having persistent storage after the power is removed. The advantages are obvious, from instant booting computers to longer lasting cell phones. Currently a typical electronic circuit based on a processor has to recover its state from a storage device of some form when power is restored or it is booted. Once that bottleneck is removed it will allow for greater (well, more convenient) interaction with our beloved electronic devices.
Of course, the memristor is not new, at least as far as the theory goes. In 1971, Professor Leon Chua at Berkeley proposed the concept. Now, only 37 years later, it has been achieved, at least in the prototype stage, by a group of talented Scientists at Hewlett Packard. While I am perhaps in danger of overstating the impact, this could literally be a major shaper in the future of computing. Although I do believe that we will never see a fast booting Desktop Windows operating system, regardless of the technology behind it. That is apparent as the sand here is hot.
Aloha from the Beach,
greg
