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Technology

Another Wireless Book 49

Posted by CmdrTaco from the more-vapor-hardware dept.
More vapor hardware to wish existed: Peter Ostrowski writes "Looks to be a really cool way to access the internet from any where in your house (including your bathroom). Its an all in one magazine size computer with a 10.4 inch color LCD (touch screen) and has a 2.4 GHz RF link to a base sation thats hooked to the internet with a normal modem, DSL, or cable.. Should be around $350-$400." I'm not sure how I feel about surfing the web from the jon. I think I like it, but I'm not so sure. Wireless would be cool, but think how scary the effects of it would be...
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Another Wireless Book More

Another Wireless Book

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  • I don't think so... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Somehow I doubt they will be That cheap.

    10.4 inch TFTs have been pushed into the instrumentation market, the price for the raw
    TFT lingers around $500 when you buy them in
    quantity of 1000.

    Unless they sell millions of these things,
    I don't see how they will get them below $750
    each.
  • What is the security on those things? I just bought a radio and i m waiting to get my ham liscence and i m thinking...anyone can listen! and fsck up your computer!

    ---

  • Since my need for a portable computer is mainly so that I can irc or something less useless then the web (/. and a few other (rare) sites side) while sitting in the hot tub. I can see it now, sitting in a hot tub, chatting with a girl I already know to be cute online. If I was independantly wealthy I'd never had to leave, just use my cell phone (or the web) to have meals delivered. Oh wait, as some of you have pointed out, I need something for the John too.

  • From what I read on Proxim's site, all they provide is a wireless ethernet type solution.

    This appliance is compact, has a touch-screen for doing your web navigation, and has an embedded OS (appliance-style power-ons). It's significantly cheaper than a standard laptop and doesn't have all the messy hardware associated with laptops. Configuration requirements are kept to an absolute minimum.

    It's simple, portable and efficient.

    It's not the same thing at all.
  • There are Java IRC (and telnet?) apps available. There's no reason you can't just use one of those.
  • This thing isn't on the shelves yet. It could be that by the time they're ready to ship, prices will have fallen enough to make that price goal seem reasonable.

    And I would expect them to be selling millions of these things (especially at that price).

    I would buy one at the $350-400 price, but if it goes any higher I'd have to think a bit harder about it.
  • ohh duh!, look at the spec's and U see it's designed for mum,dad and the ankle-biters...now while I agree a nice big chip et.,al. would be nice, this is for the mass-market web-consumer not '/. gcks'
  • Since most web viewing is to porn sites (according to national media), having web access in the john is quite apropreate.

  • I can use it in the bathroom.


  • This is really neat and all, but since it uses such an ungodly frequency and is cable modem compatible I assume it can achieve some decent bandwidth. What I would really like is a little transmitter with an ethernet jack, and a configurable IP address. The tablet would be a portable VNC client. This way you could access any desktop in your house, be it a Mac, Linux, or Windows machine without it going away when you shut off the tablet... also the VNC client would take hardly any OS at all.

    For the unitiated, here is a link to VNC which has saved me more times than I would like to admit.. (left ICQ running at work)

    http://www.orl.co.uk/vnc/
  • Well almost. Mine's got a 9" screen and something like a real keyboard on it. It's only 928MHz, but I can telnet to my linux box and do whatever I like from there. If I could get something current from the office I could probably even run X on it.
  • Actually, the VNC protocol was originally developed for Olivetti's VideoTile, which was a wireless LCD display you could pick up and carry with you. AFAIK, you wrote on it with a stylus.
  • This would make a neat remote control for the house. Hook it up to your Linux box, and have it run an X server. Plug in a navigable 3d representation of your home, and maybe some custom tcl/tk apps for the more common stuff, and you are in business.

    You could even make it flush the toilet you are sitting on from it :-)
  • Come on folks...Dont tell me im the only one who has a rj45 in the crapper.

    Have laptop will logon.

    I have also used my palm pilot to dial into a shell from the can. Its easy, every one should have one in the bathrooms right next to the toilet paper.

  • Dude, that's the point.. It doesn't do anything that geeks think is cool. But, you know what? It retrieves the basic things that the general populace needs and at a decent price. I would love to give grams an easy to use web/e-mail solution and let her rip.. :)

    Later,
    Eric
  • I dont know if I got it from ./ or not, but Cyrix has made a 'proof of concept' WebPad.. Esentialy what we see here, except there getting OEMs to do all the final stuff.

    There paget is here [cyrix.com]

    It runs QNX, and OEMs can add things like PCMCIA sockets and whateverelse they feel like. Unlike, say, a WebTV, or a PalmPilot, it has a 'real' processor, a MediaGx. No, dont think of playing Quake III on it, but its still cool. Not a replacement to a PC, or even to a laptop. But how many people have or want both a Palm and a laptop? This fits in the middle, and its nothing to cary around a clipboard is it?

    I dont know if I'd buy a WebPad, but if they dropped the web and added another d... Where do I sign?
  • How about combining this with a Linux box in your trunk to make a cool interface for a car mp3 player. The trunk machine would decode the mp3s and serve web pages to this tablet. You could keep this in the front seat (or mounted on the dash or whatever), and you'd have an 800x600 color touch screen to control your mp3 player. Now that would be cool. (Although I agree, wince needs to go)

  • A wireless Internet tablet which runs an embedded Windows operating system enabling a portal architecture stored on a CompactFlash card using the Windows 32-bit API

    ack!?!
  • As it stands right now, the rooms in the house we must use are the kitchen, the bathroom, and whatever room has the computer in it. We passed the point of being able to stay inside permanently long ago. With this new innovation we need only visit the kitchen and the bathroom. Let's hope it stays that way, because the next one to go would be the kitchen. Ugh.
  • Slashdot people always have good posts, but this has to be one of the funniest collections I have seen in quite a while. :)

    hackproof NT machine at 207.104.108.11
  • I bet in 20 years 70% of all computers will look like this.

    People want to mail and read stories and news.

    They don't want to configure all there is to configure. They want to use a computer like they use a TV or telephone.

    No hassles, just do what you want to do.
  • Since we're dreaming on the vaporware level...

    It's pretty clear that they're looking to compete with Web TV and are probably supplementing expensive hardware with an incremental revenue stream via the dialup service but when I look at this product it makes me want something a little more.

    So raise your hand now if you're comfortable admitting that you've spent many an hour in bed with a laptop (for the sake of an example we'll assume the activity was READING). I feel like it's always a pain in the ass to go boot up my laptop if I want to get away from the desk and lie around somewhere while I'm reading documentation, or just surfing /. or whatever. If I could have a portable RF hooked monitor with touch screen for my Linux box that would be a dream.

    Hmm. I wonder what chip they're running on. If it really is doing Win32 I bet there's a good shot this thing could run Linux. Then with Multihoned XFree86 maybe my dreams could come true.

    bnf

  • There's no computer here, folks... it's just a stupid web browser in a box. I doubt it does telnet or ICQ or IRC or any of the other stuff that makes the world *really* great...

    Don't throw your computers away yet!
  • From the frequency, I suspect they're using a Wireless LAN system, probably IEEE 802.11

    If it is 802.11, the transmit power limits are +30dBm (1 Watt) in the US, +20dBm (100 milliWatts) in Europe. These are the maximums, though, so the device might not transmit quite that much power.

    On the other hand, 2.4GHz is near a peak of water absorption -- think microwave ovens (2.45GHz)!

    Of course, exposure to risk is a matter of personal choice. If you're worried about mobile phones, you'll probably be worried by this. Me? I play with mobile phones all day. :-)
  • Found this awhile back at Sandbox Technologies.

    Folio at SandboxTechnologies [sandboxtech.com]

    Excerpt from site :- It provides similar functionality to that of other small PDAs like the 3Com PalmPilot. Unfolding the Foldable Computer once doubles its size, providing the ability to take notes and respond to email. Unfolding the computer a second time transforms it into a book form factor, suitable for web browsing and other electronic book documents. Completely unfolded, the display screen is 8.5" x 14", and suited for large, complex information. Moreover, at this size, the computer can be attached to a keyboard, powered from a wall outlet, and used like a traditional desktop computer.

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