Who needs hardware anymore? Just as the vacuum tube was replaced by the solid state transistor, the role of hardware in many applications is beginning to be replaced by software. Take for example software defined radio, developed by the US government for military use, this system replaced all the transistors and capacitors in typical radios with software algorithms, allowing for the modulation and demodulation of all signal types (eg AM, FM, CB, WB, HDTV) with the simple switch of a software element.

PS make sure to take a look at the Cognitive radio section....insanity.
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