Incredible Shrinking PC

Lawrence_Bird writes "Reuters is reporting that IBM is set to announce next week a prototype PC called a 'metapad' 5"x3"x0.75". 128Mb Ram, 10GB, and an 800 Mhz cpu. Understand this is a module that can be plugged into other devices, such as a LCD screen or docking station. "

Comments

A 10-gigaBIT hard drive?

[pomakis]

The article actually claims that the unit has a 10-gigaBIT hard drive. I wonder if that was a mistake, or an intentional marketing ploy to make it sound more impressive than it actually is.

MetaPad??

[tonywestonuk]

MetaSearch=Search a set of search engines

MetaModerate=Moderate a set of Moderations

MetaPad=Pad a set of Pads???!!

Can 'Meta' prefix a Noun, rather than a Verb?

Re:MetaPad??

[screwballicus]

From www.m-w.com:

Main Entry: meta-
Variant(s): or met-
Function: prefix
Etymology: New Latin & Medieval Latin, from Latin or Greek; Latin, from Greek, among, with, after, from meta among, with, after; akin to Old English mid, mith with, Old High German mit
1 a : occurring later than or in succession to : after b : situated behind or beyond c : later or more highly organized or specialized form of
2 : change : transformation
3 [metaphysics] : more comprehensive : transcending -- used with the name of a discipline to designate a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one
4 a : involving substitution at or characterized by two positions in the benzene ring that are separated by one carbon atom b : derived from by loss of water

Looks like 'meta', as a prefix, can mean a great deal of abstract things. Presumably, the idea of transcendence is what they're looking for here.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

[Slothrup]

"We've taken the PC down to where you can take it home and finish your work," said Kenneth Ocheltree, manager for next generation mobile at IBM Research.

...because pagers and cell phones haven't completely succeeded in making our jobs be 24/7.

MetaPad ... with Wings?

[Chiana]

MetaPad sounds WAY too much like a super-absorbent feminine hygiene product.

Bizarre article, interesting device

[PhotoGuy]

I think this is an excellent idea. I move back and forth between work daily, and it always seems wasteful to carry a laptop, when all I really need is my data/os/environment moved, and not all the peripherals, screen, keyboard. I'm not using them in the car.

I realize this was for Yahoo Finance, and not exactly aimed at the SlashDot crowd, but seriously:

that runs at 800 megahertz, or 800 million cycles per second.

Sheeesh. Like explaining that 800 megahertz is 800 million cycles per second is going to clue folks in with such valuable information. "Gawrsh, that's a lot of cycles per second." :-)

And IBM's statements seem weird:

Ocheltree said IBM doesn't have specific plans to sell the prototype, which could be ready for market in few years.

Ready for the market in a few years??? In a few years, this thing should be *way* obsolete, with tiny pocket computers more powerful than our desktops of today. This thing would be useful and interesting today, not a year from now.

IBM is talking to computer makers and customers about how it could be used, he said.
``We're trying to understand how people would use it and interact with it,'' Ocheltree said.

I thought IBM had top notch people in usability, market research, laptop design, and so on. It seems strange to hear them say "we have this cool technology, but we're not sure how people would use it." I can think of a dozen ways it could be turned into a useful product. I guess it's good that they're asking the industry, but it sounds like these guys are a bit directionless, and will end up deliverying too little, way too late.

Too bad, I'd likely buy one of these if it were available today.

-me

Re:Can you imagine...

[JabberWokky]

It's solid A4 paper sized!! Do you put your laptop in your pocket????

Actually, it's 3x5, i.e., the size of a small stack of 3x5 cards. It'll fit in a pocket, but more importantly, will fit in most organizers/office supply holders. It's a known format.

And to the person who said "imagine tryng to type on this thing?" - Well, imagine trying to type on a Pentium chip!!! Because that's what this basically is - only mugh higher level. It's the processor and storage in a modular block. Realistically, I'd love to see it become standardized and OSes support it - pop one into a "empty" laptop, and you have your data. Pop one into a "empty" desktop, and you have it there - or pop two in, and you've got twice the diskspace (or maybe just mirrored), and twice the processor power. Is your game too slow? Pop in two more.

As stupid as it is, the phrase: "Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of these" almost makes sense. Well, not Beowulf, per se, but personal clustering on a shared bus.

HAHAHHAHA! I just realized - after 25 friggin years of moving towards PCs and peer to peer, we may be not only be going back to minis and mainframes storing data (accessable via a wireless, pervasive network), we *may* just go back to a neutral backplane - can you say "S-100 bus"? Hehehhee....

--
Evan

Where are *your* priorities?

[Tenebrious1]

Bah, that's a load of BS. Where are your priorties? If you want to spend more time with your kids, then do so, don't sit there and complain about being too busy.

I get paid way less than I should because I turn my pager off on weekends. I don't put in any overtime unless it's critical. Yeah, I'm not living the high life, and not going to have much when it comes to retirement funds, but the important thing to me is that I enjoy my time with my son, NOW. Once he's grown, I'll probably have to work much harder and longer to make up for lost time, but that's just money. You can't make up lost time with your kids.

I don't have a GHz computer at home, I don't drive a Benz, I don't own a big house, I can't buy the latest gadets. But I do take my son out hiking and camping on weekends. That's where my priorites are. Think about yours...