> On the other side, the desktop based wired web might change and
> especially desktops itself will change, becoming lighter and more
> portable themself -- allowing you to use the Internet while moving
> around the house, connected to a wireless LAN. Thats even already kind
> of reality, with the SONY Airboard:
> http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2634505,00.html.
Quite true, and with these wireless "desktop-like" portable devices they
will integrate the other parts of your home to the network, light control,
A/V equipment, weather station, kitchen, sauna, alarm systems, etc. Philips
Pronto has become a very popular replacement for a stack of remote controls
and it has very similar concept to these portable desktops - fully
configurable and customable, easy to use and portable enough.
Presumably Sony's Airboard has been available in Japan since December. Any
news how well it has been doing? The price tag is still quite high, hard to
go below laptop prices as the volumes are much less but the technology
required is very similar. Some other manufacturers, e.g. 3Com with their
Audrey, have already cancelled their similar products.
I would buy such a board right away if I could fully customize it to show
information delivered from my freebsd server in the basement ;-)
Petri
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Mon Apr 2 20:31:56 2001