Slashdot Mirror
Sony Axes eVilla, Offers Refund
Matey-O writes: "C-Net is reporting Sony's dropping of the BeOS powered eVilla internet appliance. Saying it wasn't performing as planned. Am I the only person who LIKES having a small internet terminal in the kitchen/family room?" Apparently, yes. I suspect that laptops with wireless cards are filling the role that web appliances were supposed to fill.
Am I the only one who thinks web appliances are too expensive, too cumbersome and too useless to do anything, even at this point in time? Maybe one day they might be useful, if they're cheap enough and have some actual use to them, but I don't see why I should spend $500 to connect my toaster to the WWW.
icqqm [ICQ:11952102]
My friend's parents have a laptop w/ dialup in the kitchen, my roommate has one in his room/or wherever he is in the apt, and I would have one too if I wasn't so broke. Heck, you can probably pick up an old 486 or Pentium laptop for the same amount as a bulky monitor/keyboard/mouse 'internet appliance' would cost these days.
The failure of the iOpener (NetAppliance) demonstrated the apparent coming of this failure. I think a strategy, arguable, more plausible and not yet tried is the integration of Internet communication with appliances. For instance, my refrig should 'read' the goods I place into the refrig and allow me to instantly generate a grocery list or track the age of foods, produce and beer (beer must be fresh). The same integration could be pursued with electricity usage, TV, cat litter boxes, aquariums and closets so we may more efficiently and better go about our lives :).
"There ought to be limits to freedom"
Apparently, yes. I suspect that laptops with
wireless cards are filling the role that web
appliances were supposed to fill.
Really? I don't. People who buy web appliances are people who don't like complicated computers, not people who want access in their kitchen. Web appliances are a good idea, but they are hindered by the way websites all assume you use a computer: and once you've loaded your web appliance with a full keyboard and all the other bits and bobs you need to effectively utilise a PC-optimised site, you may as well be using a computer anyway.
I'm not sure what the solution is, though -- you could simplify the device, but that would limit its functionality. Or you could redesign web pages, but thats impractical.
$500 seems like quite a ripoff when I can meander
over to egghead.com or any other auction house
and get a nice HP refurb with great features for UNDER
$500...
I mean, I know HP's are not the greatest machine
in the world, but they are still 1000 times more
attractive and expandable to J. Random Buyer
than an appliance.
A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
Has anyone actually used this thing? I saw it at Fry's and it looked pretty slick. Seems to me that with modem-only internet access it simply wasn't flexible enough. I would have loved to try one just to check out BeIA, but that didn't seem worth blowing the money on.
I'm glad Palm bought Be before this happened. No doubt this explains the low price, since I'm sure Be knew what was going on.
Has anyone here actually used it? I'd be curious to hear more about it from an actual user.
D
If you really mean that, and you're not opposed to spending a lot of money for one, check out the iCEBOX. There are two versions, the CounterTop and the FlipScreen.
USA Today wrote a review of the unit here.
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
If I wanted a terminal in my living room, I'd mount a moniter, keyboard, & mouse to an old 300MHz processor to a small little linux box with KDE & Konqueror on it.
You can hide it all in a cabinet, run RJ45 under the carpet to it, making it a nice little kiosk, and all that would still be less than a laptop with a wireless connection....
Maybe even put in a touchscreen monitor instead of the keyboard & mouse.... hmmmmm....
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
eVilla was featured in the Internet appliance panel at SIGGRAPH. It was considered one of the products of the future... doesn't look like that now. It's cost was amazing high and never had a chance to get to a level where a normal guy could get one.
Of course, it looked like a big old Mac classic. If you want a quick terminal in your kitchen, but a Mac Classic from your local University surplus auction, put Open Transport and NSCA Telnet on it, and you can get your e-mail. There are other small computers you can get to do the same thing without the HUGE cost.
Anyway... just a highlight of some of the problems here: the Microsoft guy on this SIGGRAPH panel said something that caused me to have to walk outside and laugh: "The PC has spoiled consumers... we must get them used to paying on a subscription basis and paying more." That's just great. This guy was on the XBox team... same M$ strategy on every device!!
Also.. this panel didn't mention Linux once... interesting since it's such a major player. Maybe they'll choose a linux appliance over something that they have to subscribe to every month...
"Yes.. no matter what the culture, folk dancing is stupid." -MST3K
Phase 1) Get one, cheap.
Phase 2) Scratch the "la" off of the name.
Phase 3) BOMBER PHATZ.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
Hopefully the continuing bad news for these types of Internet appliances doesn't kill any plans for wireless webpads. There is quite a difference between the two, although I'm afraid that the webpad folks will be hesitant to gamble on their products after seeing the failure of the iOpener and eVilla. I'd much prefer a touchscreen webpad to an appliance of even to a laptop for casual Internet activities from the living room if the price was right. But considering that some of the prices I've seen for these webpads are equal to and in many cases higher than the price of a decent webpad, I'll continue to use my low-end, wireless laptop in my living room to connect to my Citrix server in the basement.
M$ considers the X-Box an internet appliance. They sent someone to a SIGGRAPH panel on the future of internet appliance. I talk about it below in another post...
It's also important to note that the X-Box appliance strategy is the same as everything else: get everyone to pay for service every month.
This isn't going to work with X-Box or anything else IMHO... not unless they take over EVERYTHING.
"Yes.. no matter what the culture, folk dancing is stupid." -MST3K
Be stopped development of BeOS and concentrated on BeIA. The only hardware BeIA runs on is the eVilla, which is history, and Palm has stopped development of BeIA. Exactly what did Palm pay $10 million for?
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
I've had the laptop in the LR with both wireless and wired NICs for many years now. It works, but it's not exactly ideal. You always have at least the power cord to drag around. Since wireless doesn't work for me (clashes with my 2.4 GHz DECT phone which there's no way I'm getting rid of), I also have to drag the damn CAT5 cable around. Plus the L-form factor of the laptop, which isn't exactly ergonomic.
What I'd like is a letter-size webpad with a touchscreen, a whopping battery (maybe the whole back a 1/2 inch Zinc-air battery) and 802.11a networking. The screen could be color, but I'd put up with a reflective monochrome job if it seriously extended battery life and was readable enough. The form factor and weight should be such that I can use it heads-up while lying on the couch. I'd really like the whole thing to work like my Pilot: pick it up, turn it on, and it's on instantly where you last left off. Oh, and please leave out any frills (multimedia and crap like that), make it $200 to $300, so I can have several.
The future, however, belongs to devices like the agenda. Why bother with a big old box?
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Indeed, Internet appliances dont' stand a chance against the almighty Minitel.
Maybe one day they might be useful, if they're cheap enough and have some actual use to them, but I don't see why I should spend $500 to connect my toaster to the WWW
Those aren't the kind of Internet Appliances being discussed in this article. The article references Sony's eVilla which is similar to 3COM's Audrey and Netpliance's I-Opener. Most people thought that cheap devices that offered only web browsing would be a hit with consumers who wouldn't then have to buy expensive and powerful machines just to use them as little more than dumb terminals.
Unfortunately these devices were neither cheap enough nor did they offer enough functionality to entice consumers.
Schnapple
Schnapple
I wonder if the fact that Palm is buying BeOS has anything to do with the fact that Sony is dropping BeOS?
science is a religion
They need to be built around "casual" and "passing" usuage. What I mean is, I don't need some computer looking thing in my living room or kitchen (hell, I got a microwave for that).
What I would like to see is something that is wall mounted ala flat panel that I can talk and touch. That technology isn't here yet, or that of which is is too expensive to do.
Regardless, it needs to be unobtrusive (and being able to wall mount it helps, but flat table/desk mounting would be good, and have speech recognition and be instantly ready.
Right now they keep trying to use that damn computer layout everyone already has. Let alone the costs are silly
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I don't see how you can quantify anything about people who buy web appliances - Audrey and eVilla hardly sold at all.
More likely they were just gadget freaks who wanted to play with a new toy. I highly doubt these products ever penetrated to the level of mainstream consumers.
"Am I the only person who LIKES having a small internet terminal in the kitchen/family room?"
I'm sorry, but why would you need an Internet terminal in the kitchen when you shelled out $100 for a refridgerator next to your main workstation?
Hell, when my daughter was in the hospital awhile back I noticed that they had a toilet in the room itself that retracted into a cupboard! That took care of my last reason for leaving my computer!
I hope they use it on their StrongARM based Palms after making appropriate changes to use it on a hand-held device.
It will be interesting to see.
Dr. Clayton Forester bought 10 of the devices just because of the name.
"I'm EVIL!" says Clay. "I would love to live in an EVILla some day!"
"Yes.. no matter what the culture, folk dancing is stupid." -MST3K
Web appliances are wrong on so many counts.
1. They have been a marketing scheme. Rather than sell the devices at fair prices, the vendors have tried to sell the devices at or below cost in the hopes of making a bundle on overpriced, proprietary ISP contracts. Netpliance is the worst example in this arena.
1a. You can't sell them at a profit because they cost $400 or so to manufacture. What little-old-computer-phobic-lady is going to plunk down $600 or more for something that she doesn't really understand or know if she needs?
2. The vendors try to peddle them to people that are put-off by computers. So how do they do this? By selling them in the computer sections of Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. Yeah, that's where I expect to find computer-phobic older people shopping.
3. The computer-illiterate audience to which Internet appliances appeal means that a vendor is looking at tremendously high support costs. Sure, they dumbed down the OS, but it's still a completely mysterious thing to many older users. "Your machine broke my telephone! People call me and get a busy signal I'm not talking to anyone..."
4. Their proprietary OSs and browsers have just about guaranteed that they would perpetually be playing catch-up. Try running a copy of Netscape 1.0 and surf to some modern websites. It's basically useless. Sony was smart enough to recognize that, without active development, BeIA would be just as worthless in a few years. I think that it's unlikely that QNX (the other major player in the Internet Appliance OS market) is going to have the development budget to keep up with Apple, Realplayer, Macromedia, Microsoft, etc. when it comes to releasing browser plug-ins. Thus, many web pages will not work on these devices.
5. There is no growth path. None of the Internet appliance manufacturers have offered hard drives, word processing, spreadhsheet software, etc. for users that want to move beyond e-mail and the web. This makes many computer-savvy people hesitant to recommend these devices to family and friends.
I think that this should be about the final chapter in the history of the proprietary Internet appliance.
"Am I the only person who LIKES having a small internet terminal in the kitchen/family room?"
Apparently, yes. I suspect that laptops with wireless cards are filling the role that web appliances were supposed to fill.
I'm a purist. I've got a DEC VT-100 terminal in my kitchen, and it's connected to my BSD box. The best part is that it has video and genlock input jacks - so it can double as a TV set.
I love that thing.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Actually, I think the failure of these devices is more a product of fubared marketing and lack of business vision than lack of consumer need.
Many if not all of these devices were sold with mandatory sign-up packages, such as the iPaq's original deal where you got the device essentially "free"--IF you signed up for MSN's ridiculously priced service.
The problem is that most of the early adopters for these kinds of devices already have an ISP, so the suposed "savings" were non-existent and the product ended up, in fact, being overpriced and underfeatured.
The second problem is that they viewed their business as selling the razors for a profit to recoup their initial R&D (which is really corp-speak for cutting their losses right from the start, because the muc-a-mucks never really believed they would sell enough of these to make a difference), when they should have been giving the razors away and selling razorblades.
If there was compelling content along with genuinely useful utilities that were offered through an appliance that weren't easily or as conveniently available elsewhere, people would have been hooked. If the model were to make money off a subscription for services, rather than a co-marketing deal to push a useless log-on service, and if the companies were willing to stick with it for the long haul and put some actual resources behind it, it would work. Microsoft often wins simply because they don't give up when v.1 of their products fail miserably.
Too much of shareholder-appeasement corporate culture today seeks the quick cheap hit rather than the long-term bonanza.
Ultimately, the problem is that, like so many technology products, these were created to meet a vendor's need rather than the consumer's.
My bet is that utility companies will be the ones to get this right.
Flout 'em and scout 'em,
and scout 'em and flout 'em;
Thought is free. - Shakespeare [The Tempest]
And while it's nice, the lack of a keyboard is more of a drawback than you'd expect. A downright pain, in fact.
I mainly bought it to use as a drawing tablet, and for that it seems to suffice.
Wireless internet connectivity would be neat, but it's a battery killer (unless I got a cable that would run to a cellphone, hmm...).
Look at http://www.linux-hacker.net for more details.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Ummm, now, I don't know about you.. but this doesn't strike me as handy. It strikes me as a pain in the posterior. Why do I want my fridge to be connected to the interenet? That'll inflate the cost of the appliance at least $100, and it will likely get out of sync with the products I buy - I'm sure as hell not going to waste time tracking food. I buy whatever suits my fancy at the time, toss it in the fridge, and chuck it when it starts getting nasty. End of story.
Internet appliances are all going to flop on their ass. Hell, set-top units are having a pretty tough go of it. It's the PITA factor. If I want internet in the kitchen or bathroom, I'll get a discount notebook and 802.11, problem solved. No subscriptions required, even.
If it's a pain in the ass for me, your average 5-cpu linux hippie with goatee, the odds of a soccer mom buying one of these are slightly below those of Aimee Sweet deciding the pr0n business doesn't pay good enough and moving into VLSI engineering.
..don't panic
Why is this moderated "Offtopic"? Michael said "I suspect that laptops with wireless cards are filling the role that web appliances were supposed to fill." frknfrk responded directly to that statement, and some bozo calls it "Offtopic." Sheesh! I was going to say much the same thing, that my wife and I are using 266MHz PIII IBM laptops that we got for about $500 each on eBay to do anything we could do with an eVilla, but I guess I'd better not or I might get flamed! <asbestos suit> OK, flame away!
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
- Doesn't have loud cooling fans
- Doesn't have noisy disks
- Can be powered off at any time and powers up in seconds
- Can talk TCP/IP over ethernet to my other machines
- Is compact enough that I can leave it on a corner table
- Runs free software (without a month of hacking on my part) so I know I'm not getting locked in to whatever the manufacturer wants to force on me in the future
Things like wireless networking, flat screen, wireless keyboard, TV-video outputs are cool, but they should be options. I'd really like to buy a bare-bones network computer.I don't need a killer CPU or video chip; I'm not going to play Quake3 on the thing. I just want to be able to surf, check mail, stuff like that.
Somebody's got to be able to create a flash-memory based laptop-sized terminal machine with the power of, say, a Celeron 300, for a pretty low price. But mostly what I see are underpowered machines that won't run commodity OSes, and overpowered, overpriced machines that seem to try and replace PCs. Nothing in between.
314-15-9265
Palm has no plan to continue development of BeIA as reported by cnet
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
(1) have something like a 486 single-board computer mounted in a flat-panel display;
(2) be able to boot from ethernet via an optional ethernet card;
(3) be able to boot from optional CD or HD.
(4) use standard wireless keyboard and mouse
(5) be reasonably cheap.
What's reasonably cheap? Since it's INSIDE a flat panel, it would be worth more to me than a standard computer plus monitor. It would FIT! I could wall mount one in the living room to control music, etc, and have a way to check email (if I sat quite nearby...).
Why a 486? cheap, low-power so no fan, and quiet.
I think that if it were priced in the $400 to $500 range for the panel with one option (ethernet or HD) and keyboard, it would sell quite a few units.
See what I've been reading.
Did it ever occur to anyone that the role ISN'T being filled becouse, it's simply not THERE yet?
Personally, being an engineer and a technoweenie, I like the idea, but many out there just look at me and kinda say 'Why?'.
Perhaps the role will eventually be considered as needed, but it may take a LONG time. Look at how long it actually took the PC to be in nearly everyones livingroom and part of every day life? YEARS. Sure, there where many 'toys' out there. Who doesn't have a Vic20 of Commodore 64 in their attic or basement, but these never became the centerpieces that these devices are looking to fill..
I dont forsee these being popular for several years yet. Unfortionatly, I said the same thing a few years back. Heck, in a few years, I might be saying it again. In the meantime, I hope at least one or two vendors survive, simply so I can have MY fix.. 8-P
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
Um... this is Microsoft we're talking about... Taking over everything is probably part of their official buisness plan.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
ROFLMAO!
(And when implemented, my SO would be ROFLHCO? ;)
Actually, what you suggest would be a majorly cool hack. Sounds like all you'd have to do is hook up a PIC to the input device on the Syb, and then use the parallel port (trivial to build, just 8 TTL latches on the PP's data lines - this hardware could be built in an afternoon on a RatShack breadboard for about $5.00) or a USB port (harder/more expensive), then control with software.
Hook that up to the obligatory webcam and some sort of plug-in for an IM client, and voila, no more worries about sex over long-distance relationships.
The real problem is that gadgets like the Sybian are large, bulky, and people are prudish about ordering such things.
> No more, "Honey! Quit Half Life and get in here and satisfy me!"
It's gotta be said. "Sybz with gibz!"
i'm sorry, but i don't want anything in my kitchen or in reach of my kids that simply shouts its bad intentions.
come on, the thing is called EVILla after all..
- Entertaining Bits from the Ancient Kernel Tree
All of the people who think it's a good idea to have the fridge monitor contents and tell you when you need something (and there seem to be many people who think this) are just crazy. The simple task of just knowing what is in your fridge is nigh impossible - things can be hidden, covered in sauces that have leaked from shelves above, be specalty items there is no way to know about. The effort requored to even keep a good list of 50% of the contents would be so expensive it would never be mass market.
What would be useful I think is to make use of telepresence - some sort of fridge cam you could manipulate from work to see if you have some key ingredients.
The other option I can see is to have some sort of "connected" containers or weight-sensitive platforms - since no-one can seem to think of anything but milk or soda/beer to keep track of, why not just have a milk container that could send out a signal when it was low. Much easier than having the fridge keep track of whatever weird container you stuck in and have to use some AI driven chemical sampler to know it is "Milk".
Similarily, a weight sensitive platform could tell how many soda cans were stacked on top and report that.
Sounds like a good use for Bluetooth to me.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This surprises me since BeOS itself on x86 was amazingly fast, and I would think you could put a surplus Pentium III (being given away in cereal boxes nowadays) and it would fly. My guess is that they must have cheaped out on the amount of memory they put in, which is pretty stupid considering how cheap 512MB modules are nowadays.
I did like the idea of the nice and large vertical Trinitron screen, though. That's probably what contributes to the weight. Maybe they would have been better off making the monitor into a consumer product instead of the system.
D
It won't do Flash.
It won't do RealPlayer.
It won't do Quicktime.
The right x86 configuration will- and I don't mean a Windows based box. A PPC might fill the bill, but I can't see MacOS 9 or 10 sitting in a decent sized flash.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
..except almost everything I put in my fridge these days has a UPC code on it (even some produce now). Seems like a possibility to have a barcode scanner in the door or something that you could waive items past as you load the fridge after your trip to the market. I don't expect my fridge to x-ray itself to determine what is hiding in the crisper.
I would love to be able to know when the last time a gallon jug of milk was scanned in (my family consumes bovine lactate products at a fairly constant rate, so knowing that it has been 6 days since the last replentishment would be enough for me to stop on the way home to pick up more. I hate coming home and hearing "oh, we're out of milk, can you run out later and pick some up?")
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
Apparently, yes. I suspect that laptops with wireless cards are filling the role that web appliances were supposed to fill.
Yes, I know my grandma who knows nothing about how to setup such a network would love to buy a laptop (1500$), WAP (500$), 801.11b NIC (200$), and the related stuff for the network -- as well as maintain and understand it. Rather than, say, an 800$ "simple" webpliance she can just use with no more training or help from me. (All prices in CDN.)
Once you realize that for every person who could setup and afford such a wireless laptop setup, you have a few hundred thousand who would go the eVilla route.. you see why Sony just made a silly move. Probably because of fears that the eVilla would work out like the PS2 for their bottom line (they are being sold under cost right now..).
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Yes, I had thought of that - but do you REALLY want to remember to scan everything you put in the fridge? How would it know when the items were really consumed - would you have to remember to scan the empty container before you threw it out?
I don't think you could rely on any kind of time based system as invariably you'd be getting milk before you needed it (which the time based experation might label as gone before you even opened it!) or you might make something with a lot of milk in it and run out days early. Not to mention that it has to be able to index against all of the store and generic brands of X to know that what you scanned really was a container of milk. Some families have a fairly constant rate of consumption but even then I'll bet you'd be off one way or the other - give it a try sometime, mark on a post-it on the door when you buy the milk and then see if you really do have a constant rate of use. Not to mention that if you really DO have a constant rate of milk consumption, why not just put a reminder in your organizer for a few days hence when you buy the milk? Just as easy as scanning it in...
As I said before, why not just a special container that knows when it's near empty? All of these conditions (constant rate of consumption, consistent barcodes [assuming you mostly buy the same brand of milk which is probably true]) really apply only to milk. I'd like a container I could label as holding any liquid with a simple "reset" button for when I refill it and a signal that it had fallen below a certain amount. Much simpler and more practical, all you have to do is fill it.
I know a lot of people who empty milk into other containers anyway, so it wouldn't be much of a switch - I really don't think people would buy into the concept of having to hand-scan everything that goes in the fridge (if you put 24 sodas in the fridge, are you going to scan them one by one - or add a keypad to key in qty after a scan?). What would you do with produce?
If you really want to try the scanner system, just set up a cuecat with a laptop connected via wireless ethernet by the fridge, and then explain to your family about how all milk going into the fridge must be scanned. Good luck!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What would be useful I think is to make use of telepresence - some sort of fridge cam you could manipulate from work to see if you have some key ingredients.
Hey, I have one of these! It's called "House Wife 1.0." I just call up and ask it anything. 9 out of 10 times I get a straight answer. I still have no idea how the damn thing works, though.
Unfortunately, it was considerably expensive, and requires a monthly subscription fee consisting of roughly 80% of my salary...
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
Just get a 3COM Audrey. $89 and for another $30 you can add a USB ethernet adapter.
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
...on a particular niche market:
There is a reason why FoodTV has gotten big and popular, and why Emeril is getting a sitcom (though I think it is a stupid thing for him to do, but hey, it's his life) - people are turning to cooking in the kitchen more!
They are watching these shows, seeing how easy cooking really is (it is, after all, controlled burning at the heart of it - plus having a "taste" for things). I have also read of studies that what people want in a new home are tending toward more "kitchen-centric" areas - dining areas and more functional kitchens. Also, given the recession we are in, people are going to cook at home more, rather than going out, because it is cheaper (provided one cooks the right meals). Cooking magazine sales are also up - new food-oriented magazines seem to pop up everyday.
So, where am I going with all of this?
Well, the one thing I hate about being in the kitchen, and cooking - especially if I am trying a new recipe - is having a usually expensive cookbook open and such, trying to use it while doing things, etc - as well as not being able to search on recipe topic easily (say, oh - show me all recipes involving beef and broccoli, for instance) - it is hard with a lot of books, recipe cards, magazines, etc.
Why not a recipe terminal - with search capabilities, etc?
I have given thought to homebrewing such a device myself - I can easily see an i-opener permanently glued to allrecipes.com - but even that would fall somewhat short.
I can imagine a monthly service and terminal, with a simple interface for navigation, plus maybe some robust detachable foot pedal type device, so that navigation can be easily performed, even if you are stirring a pot, or rolling some dough, or you have your hands dirty. A speech synthesis system could be integrated, so that the device could read you the recipe as you make it - imagine it reading off the ingredient list as you gather them around your kitchen. Remote printer functionality would have to be included - to print off shopping lists, or hard copies of the recipes (to give to unconnected friends). Also ways of using other recipes in a standard format (there is one major standard format for recipe databases out there - that could be used, or some XML system or something), so that new recipes could be added.
This is a market that would buy such a device. It would have to be pretty robust to stand up to kitchen use, have a low power CPU and a bit of memory (it doesn't need to really be a web-browsing type system), a network interface and a compact flash interface (for storage of recipes).
Market the device in Cook's Magazine, Gourmet, Martha Stewart's Living, Woman's Day, and on FoodTV as well (get Emeril to push the thing and it's a shooin!). I am sure a lot of people would buy this device, if it had a low enough price (say, $150-200, and $5-10 dollars a month for service - heck, the price for the device could even be a little higher - get KitchenAid to build it in their color scheme, and people would happily put it next to their mixer)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
What I would like to see is something that is wall mounted ala flat panel that I can talk and touch.
Hmmm. Why mount it to anything? I'd much rather have a webpad (touchscreen LCD, 802.11b), and 3 years down the road a newer one with voice recognition. And then 3 years further on, an IA with no LCD, but an option to beam the image into my retina so that it appears the screen floats in front of my face, and it only comes up when I tell it.
Most of this tech is here, but is rough and cost prohibitive.
But it is definitely NOT too early for a killer IA -- the webpad. CmdrTaco thinks laptops with wireless ethernet are cool. Well rip the keyboard off, add a touchscreen LCD, and a couple of USB ports for add-ons, and you've got a killer net appliance.
"And like that