It fits in the palm of your hand. It plugs into a wall socket. It runs Linux. Plug a USB drive (or more) into it, fire up your browser of choice, and have an instant storage hub. Heck, it even won a PC Magazines Editors’ Choice award! It is full blown computer… appliance!
And all this for under $100!
Does anyone out there remember the first Compaq “portable” computer? It wasn’t much smaller than a PC of that era, but you could pick it up and “lug” it with you.
Since then, companies have been making computers smaller and smaller. Normally, so that you pick it up and take it with you. While not meant for potable applications, the Pogoplug appears to be the current culmination of a computer-as-an-appliance in an extremely compact size.
There is a 26 year gap between the above 2 pictures. Just imagine what might come about in the next 26 years! A chip inserted under your skin? ooo-EEE-ooo! Science fact meeting science fiction?
PCPro has the low-down on such a device being readied for sale in the UK. And PC Magazine has the low-down on the Pogoplug.
I could be very wrong here, but it seems at some point, personal computer software will become obsolete. Everyone will have that chip-under-their-skin and those chips will all communicate with a central server hub(s). IBM will rule once again!
It could happen, you know.
Thanks to Urmaster for bringing to my attention the PCPro article.
