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Tiny PC Article Misses The Point
from the different-than-a-Libretto dept
Last week we wrote about the OQO handheld that is actually a fully functional PC. Wired News has finally caught up with the story, and they get quotes from tons of people saying it has no chance. Whether or not it has a chance is certainly open to debate - however, the article is very misleading. Almost everyone they quote says there's really no market for "small" computers because everyone wants a big screen or a big box to be their computer. They use the poor sales of Toshiba's tiny Libretto as an example. What they never mention is that OQO has actually solved that problem. As almost every other story pointed out, what's actually cool about the OQO is that it comes with various "docking stations" that turn it into a laptop or a desktop machine as needed. So, yes, while people generally don't want a tiny computer to be their main computer that they always have to use, if the computer change shapes and sizes to fit their needs it seems to me to be a much more compelling sell. I don't think the value of the OQO is the tiny computer itself - but it's ability to be the right size at the right time.
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Wireless Monitors + Tiny Computers = Coolness
Didn't I read somewhere that some companies are working on wireless monitors that don't have to be physically connected to a computer? If all monitors were like this using something like bluetooth, then we could all carry our tiny computers with us and connect at just about any monitor.
Couple this with some more advanced form of wearable display and you've got the end of desktop computers as we know them.
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Re: Wireless Monitors + Tiny Computers = Coolness
Oh man. Sign me up. :) I've been asked to go check out another company that's making tiny computers later this week, so hopefully I'll have a report on some more cool (really) portable computers soon.
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Re: Wireless Monitors + Tiny Computers = Coolness
Does Bluetooth have anywhere close to the bandwidth you'd need for a monitor? Some quick math:
800x600 pixels * 8 bits/pixel = 3.67Mb
So, with bluetooth (1 Mbps), a 256 color monitor at 800x600 resolution could be updated a little over once every 4 seconds. If you jump to 802.11b, then you could update a little less than three times per second. 802.11g will bring you up to 6 times per second.
Hmmmmm.... I don't think I'm going to get too excited too soon...
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