Slashdot Mirror
PDA and Subnotebook Killer?
Purdah writes "I found this site with a description of a new type of palm sixed PC. It runs windows and would be great for mobile uses like music and movies (says it can store 3 movies).
Extracts below are from the official website: complete Windows XP wireless handheld computer, cradle to dock with a keyboard and monitor, transforming the OQO to a full feature desktop machine, media player mode with enough memory for 1000 songs or three feature length movies, optimization for cool running and miserly power consumption" Looks a little vaporous to me, as well as thick.
But there's an awful lot of potential if they get it right.
How many times are we going to see this spiffy site touting vaporware posted to slashdot?
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
"a palm sixed computer"
The person who typed this needs a BIGGER keyboard, not a smaller one!
...
this would be awesome... I recently took a 5 day road trip with some pals of mine, in that five days there were 26 hours of driving (eek) with 3 full length movies, it would make the time go by much quicker! however what we ended up doing was taking four laptops, a 1200 watt power inverter, and some wireless cards, made an ad hoc network and played some games
--fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
Maybe I missed it on the site, but what is the power consumption on this little thing? My old Velo 1 handheld kills a pair of alkaline AA's in about 12 hours. I wonder what sort of portable nuclear reactor this thing is touting.
Palm Sixed? I prefer Palm Sex.
That was the quickest /. effect I've ever seen - no page after only 3 posts!
-raph
I could have sworn that this was a story after one of the confrences a number of months back.
Can we not have so many reposts...
http://slashdot.org/articles/02/04/16/1732252.shtm l?tid=137
Ars Technica reported on this back on 04.18.2002....
h iv e-4-2002.html
http://arstechnica.com/archive/newspro/news-arc
Isn't it time for someone to prepare to port the kernel over to it? Seems to me that it will be rather easy to port the kernel on the basis that it runs Windows XP(not the embedded version).
If you read the stuff, the makers of the OQO were from Apple. They kinda left the company to develop this lil piece of hardware. It'll be interesting to see if the device is as intuitive as a mac.
sidenote:
2002-06-23 16:31:28 Fully functional portable PC the size of a PDA (articles,tech) (rejected) -- crap.
You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance.
OQO resources
My team often travels and have to set up office in different places. We all have laptops as our main desktop machines and wireless cards. We have discussed before taking a file/print/web server with us which we travel but we've yet to find any hardware which is appropriate. This looks like it might be suitable.
Someone needs to put a leash on their PR people.
"Introducing the world's first ultrapersonal computer"
Computer: How are you today?
You: Fine.
Computer: I noticed that your morning bowel movement deviated from your mean by 170 grams. What happened last night?
You: Um, you know, I was out with this girl, and... hey, get out of my face!
Computer: Your face has 7,230 pores today.
You: Ahhhhhhhh!
Creepy.
Why not just have a shitload of BLINK tags and be done with it?
That's got to be the most annoying website design in the history of history.
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
Slashdot, slashdot... Twice in two days now.
m l?tid=137
http://slashdot.org/articles/02/04/16/1732252.sht
This one's been posted before back in April, and then it was considered vaporware too.
Apart from being way too big, it's not a cell phone.
I still insist that the ultimate device would be an iPod with a screen that runs the full length of the device with cell phone and pda technology.
sig.
There is an informative article on the OQO "Ultrapersonal" PC at http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/020702/15/304wm.html
Clearly, Apply innovated this idea. I've seen Steve Jobs leave better technology in the toilet after 3 bran muffins and a liter of coffee. Still got the evidence in my freezer to prove it.
Quote from their web page: "ubiquitous personal computing in a wallet sized device". Is this referring to wallet size before or after you buy the thing?
* Powered by Crusoe 0.13 micron TM5800 processor at up to 1GHz
* 10GB hard drive with storage for thousands of songs or three full length movies
* 256MB memory
* four inch, high-resolution super bright VGA color LCD
* Synaptics touchscreen
* Advanced lithium polymer battery
* 1394 FireWire, USB, audio out, OQO-link docking connector, microphone
* Built in 802.11 and Bluetooth wireless networking
* 4.1" x 2.9" x 0.9" / 105mm x 74mm x 22mm; less than 9 oz. / 250 grams
i have a hell of a lot more than three movies on my 10 GB drive. of course they aren't dvd quality, but who needs that? not on a 5" screen!
besides the fujitsu B series looks better than this...
i post'd a msg about dis thang 6 months ago, but da msg didn't go live :(
it's purdy kewl tho. Integrated bluetooth and 802.11b as well! that'd be da shiznit!!
geeks are cats who dig a certain kind of cool
1. fairly large Flash app (read: s-l-o-w ) drives the navigation
2. avoid the hi-resolution image of the device (in hardware, image gallery) as the link opens a 4577-by-3597 JPEG file
"For every right, an equal responsibility..."
Looks like the OQO website is on the verge of being slashdotted, so here is a photo gallery of the OQO.
Short review (reads more like an advertisement, actually) also here.
This company orignally announced this product a couple of months ago. A write-up on it and some pretty pictures can be found here and here. What is really cool is that the company was started by people from Transmeta and notebook designers for Apple and IBM. Their plans are to release this thing by Christmas, and with that kind of background I highly doubt they are just blowing smoke up the public's ass.
This is suspicious, the website is really short on information. Instead of facts they constructed a bulky flash movie that is really no good and the only reason for it's existence is to blow the very small content up beyond proportions. The site wants to be hip but it isn't.
There is no time table, (almost) no tech specs, no pricing info, no ordering,... do I need to go on? It has, however, a category for Investor Relations. These guys just had a nice idea, now they need some money and we'll probably never hear from them again.
Dude, these things look pretty sweet, and I'll be sure to get one....if the price is right.
"It's not available yet, and Oqo doesn't expect to manufacture its devices on its own, so it has said nothing about a ballpark price for the units."
Does anybody have any realistic estimate for what these will cost?
(That quote is from the Forbes.com article here, btw)
I belong to the ______ generation.
.. before it runs *nix? I'm sure it could, it has a Crusoe processor, vga screen (generic vga should drive it if not fbdev. Probably pretty standard... now the question is what is the cost? If it is to much then it will not be worth it. In order to compete with palm / pocket pc it needs to be selling for around $400 - $500. To compete with subnotebooks it needs a slightly larger screen and / or keyboard IMHO.
Only 'flamers' flame!
Company has been working on it since 1999 and the Transmeta processor is very low power consumption combined with a hi-cap lithium battery.....
The point of PDAs are not to replace the desktop, but to be able to work on certain things when between desktops. Laptops haven't even replaced desktops, so what makes it probable that a PDA could do it?
Which of those make this a "high end" portable? Hell, you can get iBooks with better specs than that. It must be the price that makes it 'high-end'.
there is not all that much to think about
transmeta SOC
RAM
hard disk
LCD
battery
so in terms of board layout its nowhere near as had to do a motherboard
the real thing is the battery life and screen because large screen needs more batterys and personally I could not live under 1024/768 if I had to run normal windows
regards
john jones
I say we mod this thing to death. I figure if we use some duct-tape mounted magnifying glasses, a couple rubber bands and a mickey-mouse hat with chicken wire ears we could have the ultimate portable/wireless machine on the market. Heck if you have braces you could wrap some wire around those ears and have the ultimate in surveillance systems. Think the gov't will be strapping those things on all their operatives? Lets hope so. At least then we can spot them a mile away.
----
Woman to Buddhist monk: "What did I do in a previous life to deserve such bad luck?"
Monk: "You must have designed uncomfortable shoes."
If Darwin was right, you'd be dead by now.
old old old story and a repost, and the product is already on the market for approx USD1k.....
;)
w/ a transmetta (TMTA) curusoe chip, it runs WinXP, has built in WiFi and other goodies.... also has a docking station so it can be used w/ a monitor and keyboard.....
IMHO, a perfect balance between PDA portability and laptop power.... i can't wait to pick one up
this is old news, get with it Taco boy.
I discovered this site some months ago and was awestruck. Finally a portable computer/workstation/storage capacity/web browser/music listening device that would make sense for me to buy. I think a standard PC-compatible device like this has the potential to wipe out, or at least replace, the PDA industry. Why bother having a PalmOS device? Why would you need a laptop? What use is an iPod that can only copy one-way? Just have this little computer, with a big enough screen to view a standard desktop with, and bring that around where ever you go.
On the site they mention you'll be able to get a Laptop shell accessory that you slide the oQo into, instantly making it a full-keyboard full-monitor laptop. In the corporate world it may be cheaper to buy everyone one of these rather than buying everyone a full blown desktop workstation, laptop computer, and PDA device.
Also it's built by some former Apple engineers (probably ones who worked on the iPod) which makes me hopefull that it won't be just vapourware.
Well ignoring the first part, lets get some perspective on this:
The OQO is:
- 0.1" higher than the 10 gig iPod
- 0.5" wider than the 10 gig iPod
- 0.06" thicker than the 10 gig iPod
A little thick ? Christ, you have a 256 meg product with a 10 gig HD running up to 1 gigahertz and you're a little worried about it being a paltry 0.15cm wider than an iPod!!??My only concern is the battery life? What do you reckon? 45 minutes tops?
And of course the insane price this will be.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
It's not "NEW"s if it's OLD. This has been floating around for ages. Not only is it OLDS it's not even written up properly. Don't bother posting anymore. Kill yourself.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Xybernaut makes a similar system.
They also sell a wearable.
good
another idiot gone. temporarily atleast
And this is bettern than a Compaq iPaq becuase? Or a Palm? Once again, another company makes a product too big to be a handheld and too weak to be a laptop.
Unless it is priced very competitively against PDAs, it doesn't have a chance.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
http://www.tiqit.com
;)
Did we post this one - I can't remember..
Don't forget to order the optional 9 second battery. 50% more life than the standard 6 second battery!
With the extended life battery you'll be able to view the entire splash screen before needing a recharge!
-=-=-=-=- osjedi uses Debian GNU/Linux. -=-=-=-=-
At least that's the guestimated figure. Add up the price of an iPod, and a top end iPaq, and the oQo's already a good deal.
Now go to news/press, and read the article with a nice high-res monitor. You'll find that the text of their press release is inside a borderless box that doesn't offer a vertical scroller. Instead you have to put your mouse over some up and down arrows, and wait for the text to slowly scroll into the visible area.
It's a nice idea, but if they can't make a usable website, what are the odds that they can make a usable PDA? Anybody who ever counted themself as a Palm user knows that the key to a good PDA is quality interface design, not speed or memory.
I have been drooling and catatonic since I saw this device in April. I will sell the gold caps on my teeth to buy one when it finally hits the streets. From what I saw back then, this thing'll cost around $1000 and is intended to compete with laptops, not PDAs. I would be horrified if this thing doesn't make it out by Christmastime. Glad to hear that someone (I trust) has actually put their hands on one. My question to you: did it run hot? That would be my only serious concern.
Found here yesterday.
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
I know -- off subject -- mod down if you like. I was really interested in the story, but 5 seconds into the website I had decided it was not worth the price.
Flash must die. This website is a good example of why flash is a bad, bad, thing. As a matter of fact -- the only time I see flash as a good thing is for kids games. IE -- PBSkids.org where my kids can play games with cookie monster and such. But if you are a company trying to peddle a product and you build your whole site like this --- the web Gods must strike you down.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
If fou look at this hi res picture of that power pda. You will see that they have installed Qake 2 on it:-).
It looks as if they have a working model (or some very convincing Photoshop artists)
http://www.oqo.com/_images/H.jpg
The image is huge, so get ready.
If you look closley at the high res image, you can most certainly tell that the case is a machined alloy, with bead blasted finis, you can also spo a hair on the unit to the left middle of the screen.
:)
This isnt rocket science guys, its a Transmeta Cursoe proc, right for power consumption, and a 10 gig HD, nothing special there.
I think its slick, anywhere under 1500 I'd buy in a heartbeat.
Beside, you know its real from ONE SIMPLE ting in the high res photo, its got Quake on it, what developer at a company wouldnt just have to see how it quakes
Sig went tro...aahemmm.....fishing........
I think if these guys will get adaptor for one of those cheap folding palm keyboards, it would be a palm killer, just little to bulky... now if anyone can still be as iconic as portable TRS...
now we will be talking, I think Palms came closest. Harddrives do not go well into portables, because portables are "out on the field", so solid state of some sort is sort of make it or break it deal... but with solid state lagging so far behind in speed(not seek time) , density and price I guess we will have to wait a while longer. I heard people dropping their portable TRS machines and still using them after 10 times doing so. Try it with this one!
"I found this site with a description ..."
That site has been covered in all the media about 2 months ago. Too bad you only just found it.
This looks like a pretty exciting device. But as far as the vaporware aspect....NONE of the pictures that I have seen of the device show the screen on, just a dark screen. My guess is there haven't been any working prototypes yet.
"* Powered by Crusoe 0.13 micron TM5800 processor at up to 1GHz"
What would be the equivelant of that 1GHz TM5800 processor in the X86 world?
[alk]
Click on the "Hardware", then click on "images", then click on the "high res" picture, there you see it with the screen turned on, with the default WinXP screen.
This thing is definitely and obviously useless as a PDA.
It would be a cute toy however and might be useful replacement for a laptop if you're going to plug it into external monitor, mouse & keyboard. Assuming it had a decent battery life, it might make an awesome personal media player too.
:) ...you could put a whole bunch of these in the space of like 1 normal PC, maybe make a small rack of them. it would be sorta like the Green Destiny at Los Alamos. this might be useful for researchers who may want fast, instant access to a powerful computing system when traveling. i bet it's pretty energy efficient too.
Geez when they say 'click thumbnail to enlarge' they really do mean it don't they? But honestly this thing does show some potential. They have done fairly well to plug that hole between 'too big to fit in your pocket' and 'too small to put in your breifcase/backpack without it flinging all around the place'. And that, my friend, is its market niche.
WARNING: This sig does not contain a joke
There's an inverse relationship between website animation and reality.
As cool as this device is, I think the project needs to die. If we keep re-publishing it, these ex-Apple people will continue to take their sweet time, as they acquire new investors with the additional publicity. We'll never see an OQO or anything remotely like it if we continue to support companies that have nothing more to offer than poorly-designed hype, gigantic flash movies and gargantuan JPEG stills.
1)__Will it play Quake III?
2)__I'm waiting for them to intergrate it with a
__cell phone.
3)__I've already budgeted that money for the
__Indrema console when it comes out.
.
(I'm sure you all can think of more
.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
when i watch a movie, i want a big screen, not that little tiny thing...for on the go computing this is great, but i'd rather sit in my home and watch a dvd w/ my great sound system and big tv screen....
I don't have a PalmOS device, but I do have a non-Windows PDA (an apple Newton). I wouldn't trade my Newton or a PalmOS device in on this thing. I used to have a Windows PDA, but I got rid of it. Why? Because a PDA needs to be FAST -- not just fast in terms of CPU power, but fast in terms of data entry and fast in terms of the number of "taps" required to do a given task.
My Windows CE PDA was SLOW on these fronts... To get anything done, I had to go to the start menu. To make a note I had to to Start -> Programs -> Note application -> File -> New note, and then after I was done entering the note, I had to do File -> Save note, then enter a filename. To retrieve it, I had to start the application the same way and then do a File -> Open -> [file dialog] -> Ok. People would be giving me information and I'd be saying "hold on --" while going tap, tap, tap, tappity, tap. Plus, the damn thing crashed all the time and had to be rebooted, which is not only embarrassing ("hold on, my PDA froze, I need to reboot") but also required turning the unit over and stabbing at the recessed reset button with the stylus.
I don't know if Windows CE PDAs have evolved since this (CE 2.11) or not, but this device that has such "great potential" is actually running a full-fledged Windows operating system (XP). That's too much going on, too many menus and settings, and too much room for something to go wrong for any PDA I care to carry. I'll keep my Newton.
For replacing laptops... Maybe. It does have an XGA screen according to the site and my eyesight is pretty good... But on the other hand, if you're writing a book, you'll still have to carry a keyboard. And if you're going to carry a keyboard, you might as well carry the entire laptop so that you can get the nice, large screen.
So if I were to buy one, I'd probably end up with FOUR computers -- desktop, laptop, Newton, and this thing. Arrrrrgh!
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
does this link work?
should be painfull and not stupid drag and drop. i hate it. such sites make me sick especially if they try to recreate some wipeout/designersrepublic concepts.
those colors suck, and most annoying is a font size of 6pixels antialiased serifs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Flash must die. This website is a good example of why flash is a bad, bad, thing."
Please STOP BLAMING THE TOOL!
This is like saying "I know this really annoying website... and it's made from HTML, so HTML must suck." You even said in your original post that you have found a great Flash site ("PBSkids.org [pbskids.org] where my kids can play games with cookie monster..."), so what is the problem?
Yeah, the linked site is ugly: puke-green coloring and big blinking annoyances. But this isn't Macromedia's fault. Please stop blaming Flash for bad site designers. Bad site designers will be bad site designers, regardless of the tools you give them.
The best thing you can do is to contact the company's marketing department (obviously without using the webmaster@ email address, as this will likely go directly to the site designer) and tell them that you don't like their site. Instead of saying "it's ugly", give concrete reasons why you didn't want to buy the product: "the blinking text obscured what I was trying to read", for instance. In other words, instead of complaining on Slashdot, complain to someone who can actually do something about it.
*sigh* I have to wonder why this is such a hard concept...
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
oh wait, no, it's idiotic,
2002-04-19 15:25:46 World's First "Ultra Personal" Computer (articles,news) (rejected)
Every time I watch a movie on the small screens in airplanes, I feel like I'm staring through a keyhole. It seems to me that in order for a new product to be successful, (in general, discounting the monopoly and marketing advantages some companies enjoy) it has to offer something better by a noticable factor than previous products.
All the efforts to squeeze video onto palmtops, cellphones, and so on seem to be missing the point that the user experience is really crappy on these things.
The genius of the iPod, imo, is that it makes listening to music easier. Downloading, sorting, and selecting the tunes you want to listen to is easier than with competing players. It might not be by a huge factor, but the accumulation of slight advantages here and there results in a superior product.
Shrinking video down to such a small size may seem akin to putting video games on a Gameboy screen, but I think it's different. Movies are not made for such small screens, whereas Gameboy titles are specifically produced for the screen size used for display.
I'm skeptical that this will ever appeal to anything but a limited audience.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
or three feature length movies, optimization for cool runnings
I can think of a few better movies to optimize a computer for....
But seriously, I like this idea, or at least the direction its going, and I don't think it really needs to be vaporware (if these guys don't do it, someone else will). As tech gets more advanced, smaller, and cheaper, more will be intergrated into a personal device.
Currently I'm happy with my laptop and palm, but I could see buying something like this if all these features were included:
A modern easy to use OS and interface that can read multiple audio/vidio formats, can view and modify standard spreadsheet and text documents, and a simple e-mail client.
A suite of wireless interfaces (8011x, digital cellualar etc) that allows voice and data communications to existing pay cell networks and the growing wireless networks.
Easy and inexpensive docking hardware that allows you to have access to more triditional PC input/output devices.
Decent handwriting interpritation software to take notes on.
Make it small enough to fit inside a coat pocket, give it a realistic 12 hour battery life, and sell it for less then $200, and I'll buy it.
I really expect something like this to come about in 5 years.
The Internet is generally stupid
How about ditching the bluetooth/wifi hardware and put in a micro-CDRW (8cm diameter)? That would make it really usable.
--
Linda
coffee | nose > keyboard ©
4.1" x 2.9" x 0.9" / 105mm x 74mm x 22mm; less than 9 oz. / 250 grams
My pocket diary is 150mm x 85mm x 10mm. Paperback books are larger. And you are calling this thick? On the other hand, paperback books are rather cheaper, and you don't have to worry about battery life (well, unless you're reading them by torch).
Not only that but it has a mini QWERTY keyboard on it. It is not as fast, running a NatSemi 300mhz Geode, but is fast enough to use it as a portable DivX player, and MP3 machine. Not to mention portable network sniffer.
Perhaps my MP3 collection is out of date or substandard or highly deviant, but how can 1,000 MP3 files fill up a 10GB hard drive? At 128 Kbps, most tracks take up appx 3MB... 1000 of them 3GB (I know, I know, not exactly)
Even if the OS takes up 2GB (I don't run XP, so I don't know), that leaves 8GB for media and apps, that's WELL more than 2000 MP3s.
More significantly, why is it that data storage is always (of late) calibrated to the number of MP3 tracks storeable therein? Are GigaBytes that complex?
"The truth has a million faces, but there is only one truth."
Hermann Hesse
I still insist that the ultimate device would be an iPod with a screen that runs the full length of the device
If the screen's that large, where are you going to put the controls?
You don't want an iPod with palm/phone, you want a palm/phone with an MP3 player. Go talk to Sony.
IBM has had one for a while, it's called the MetaPad. See it here
In fact it was being rubbed in the faces of all the OEMs that jumped on the PocketPC spec at Computex several months ago. It was like, here you idiots, this is what you get for thinking MS is your partner. They give you this so-called standard and then they turn around three months later and start talking about tablets and the OQO as the next big thing.
It aint new and it's real. It only makes sense. What kind of fucked up standard would make a device with PC capabilities, but not storage and no way to hook in a monitor and keyboard. That was pretty freakin' lame. This is an obvious move and all the Taiwan contract manufacturing decision makers that are about to flood the market with these PocketPC spec handheld and lose their shorts when they can't sell them for a profit should contemplate that prior to committing suicide.
In the screenshot where they actually show the device running, you can see on the desktop that they've already installed DivX and Quake II. The real use come out! Gaming and movies on the road! Woo!
Of course, that's all laptops are used for anyway.
I'd love to see something like this with a
cell phone on a PCMCIA card.
Maybe it would have a headset & boom microphone I'd wear while the computer clips to my belt.
Then again, with Linux hitting the cell phone market, who would need the PCMCIA part? Maybe my dream computer really isn't that far away.
As cool as this is, I think I'd have more use for a portable phone/Internet than an expensive portable movie player. I'll give them credit though. They realize the hassle involved in syncing up your devices - elimating the problem by only having one device.
You get a laptop you want full function computer.
You get a PDA you want a low cost pocket device.
Remember the days of half sized screens?
The whole reason for the note book computer is so we can have a full keyboard and a full screen.
It's nothing more than a full computer that you take away from the desk becouse where your going you won't have a computer.
The PDA is diffrent. It's a pocket sized device for a low price. A reminder clock note pad and you carry your data with you so you can look it up on the go.
But your not going to be using it for heavy work loads.
You don't want the full processing power of a desk top in a PDA...
The cost of the reduced components added battery power and cramming the reslution into a PDA screen would make a very expensive device.
It's not worth it...
The Pocket PC itself makes a fine pocket sized notebook. It's my opinion that this is the only reason people buy those things.
I don't actually exist.
This is going to have all the same old problems, that every other ultra-small laptop/pda has either the handwriting reconition is lame or carry the keyboard is too difficult. The Palm folding keyboard is nice but almost the same size as this device. The VGA screen probably looks good, but XP is going to be pretty cramp on 640x480, it may run MSWord but by the time the start bar, window header, tool icons etc ... fill the screen ther isn't going to be much room to read or write a document. If you want to watch DVD's get a DVD player, if you want hours of MP3s get an I pod, a VGA screen with hadwriting just isn't going to fly. MS's tablet computers with 1024x768 are going to be expensive ~$2000+ but you could actually use it as a coputer. Don't get me wrong I love small boxes but Windows/Linux can't ever happily exist on such a device. This isn't the first miniPC, there have been lots, but they are too expensive, too hard to use, and when people don't buy the price goes up and the company dies.
Either you need a superPDA (people will still compain abou the cost) and target it at things that are approriate to a small device, MP3, camera, portable video etc... Mini PC will never fly, laptop will always be cheaper and more useful, PDAs SHOULD NOT be PCs, or try and use PC OSs.
right here .
"We are far too easily pleased." --C.S. Lewis
I don't have flash installed on my laptop (RH 7.3 ultra-modified with KDE 3.0 and Mosftet High Performance Liquid w/ QT 3), and I'm using mozilla 1.1. I had no trouble at all viewing the site. I have flash installed on my Linux desktop at home where I also run Mozilla 1.1 and the same modified RedHat, and there the flash works fine.
So IMHO your post is either flamebait, or troll, or both.
My $0.02 will always be worth more than your â0.02, so
if you look at the image gallery you can easily tell that it comes with speakers built in, which is cool, but apparently they are not very good cause the person on the picture is holding it against his(her?) ear... ;)
Who is this Karma guy and why is he bad ??
What I'd like to see is something like the Cappucino get an LCD touchscreen and battery installed on it. This little subnotebook, as far as I can tell from the website, needs to be hooked up to a PC for software to be installed (unless you do it over Wireless). The Cappuccino, though larger and heavier could, with a screen and battery, be an actual fully functioning PC. If you hook a keyboard up. You know.
Tiqit's 83 Palm-held computer. Nuff said.
--
# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
Wait until they make a version that's been tested and optimized for Mira. This is the ideal form factor for pen computing, etc.
I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!
against inventing a term, and then claiming you are the first to have one. "Ultrapersonal computer". Christ, many peoples computers are already as personal as anyone would want. How many have seen the um...side effects...of viewing porn?
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
Maybe I'm odd or something, but all I want in a PDA is something that can hold addresses, remind me of things, play a few games when I am bored, and perhaps run a lisp interpreter or something similar. I have no wish to carry movies around on a little screen everyplace I go, nor do I want something that drains batteries as fast as a full sized laptop. That's what I like about palm devices. My Visor (Manos, the Handspring of Fate) is wonderfuly simple, Just Works(tm), and lasts 2 to 3 weeks on rechargable batteries. Seems like the perfect setup to me...
Posted from the wireless couch.
Bulky, grotesque piece of overhyped fad electronics. Not to mention the atrocious flash animation.
Man if you put this 1 gigahertz in your pocket you'll really get some sweaty balls. My laptop, with a fan cooks my desk and its maybe 5 times larger. I saw no ventilation on the case. Forget sweaty this thing will be just damn dangerous.
They should really try and make their website more annoying.
They have it just right with their use of flash, but they missed <BLINK> and <JUSTFUCKINGSTOPITOK?>
Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting
...but there's still one thing about this sort of site that drives me nuts.
.ps, .pdf, or java in some ways. But you don't generally see ENTIRE pages presented in Java, .ps, or .pdf.
The whole idea that Flash gets treated as some substitute for web standard design. That is, I think Flash can be cool, and used well, but when I go to a site, and a proprietary tool is used to provide all or most of the content, I get pissed. Web pages are supposed to be web pages, not Flash pages.
Yes, I know that you can get free plugins and whatnot, and it's not that different from
This is a bit different from saying that I don't like the way the Flash was used. True, I should email them and say "Please greatly minimize the use of Flash, or provide a non-Flash page"; that's different, though, from saying "I don't like the colors you used, or the blinking, or whatnot". The truth is, I want them to eliminate the use of Flash, or delegate it to serving an auxilliary function, not just improve the appearance of the Flash that's there.
It's true we shouldn't blame Flash for bad designers any more than we should blame HTML for bad designers. But even with bad HTML, it's a standard. It's not so much that I think that the Flash at the site is bad Flash, it's that in this cases like this, the use of Flash itself is bad.
That's what I think the original post was alluding to. The designer could prettify the Flash on the site to the utmost degree, and it would still suck, because it's using Flash as the primary "protocol" that sucks, not the Flash content, so to speak.
I guess this is why I'm getting excited about SVG as a standard. Sure, we could argue all day about whether or not SVG has the capabilities of Flash. But at this point, it represents a standards-based alternative to Flash. If someone put up a page that used SVG to present all of the content, I might disagree with the choice, but I wouldn't get upset, because it is a standard.
Don't get me wrong. I like Flash a lot when used judiciously. It's just that it's gotten to the point where we have Flash pages rather than web pages, and at that point I think things should be standardized. When ENTIRE PAGES (for all practical purposes) are being presented in Flash, that's nonstandard protocol, and that's what bugs me.
No, it's not just the fault of the developers. At some point you have to step back and say, "Who the hell made this abuse possible anyway?"
The only difference between Flash and a BLINK tag is that Flash is worse. It needs to go away. It's fine for sublevels of sites (i.e., games), but hung anywhere on the front of a website it's an abomination of design and common courtesy.
Just because you *can* do a thing (induce seizure in your audience via Flash), doesn't mean you *have* to.
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
Somehow, I doubt you can store 1000 copies of Beethoven's "OdeToJoy.wav" (approx. 30-min each)
TodayTM BillyJoelTM GoogleTMd for StitchTMes due to WindowsTM while RollerbladeTMing with an AppleTM and a PopsicleTM
I want my money back.
fifth sigma, inc.
According to this new (ok week old) dow jones article, the OQO will be out by year-end and range in price from $1200 to $1500
Sign me up!
Imagine it! A room full of these! Un-fucking-believeable!
I think this form factor is a great idea. I started to write an opinion piece that we need a commodity architecture (as is the desktop x86 market) for a Linux computer in the handheld PC form factor even more than we need it in the laptop market.
I didn't find out what processor the OQO is going to use from their rather frivolous website or from the Yahoo article, but I imagine it is using a PIII-M. I'm wondering if it makes more sense (at least for Linux) to go with Xscale instead. True, it doesn't have floating point and probably can't run Windows XP, but Linux/ARM should work great (and people are building prototype devices now - see Tiny SBCs for Embedded Linux based projects).
I was bullish about the Crusoe initially, but now I'd rather have an Xscale which is more efficient for most computing I do anyway. I think I can handle the hit that floating point emulation causes for the programs that need it.
What do people think the best architecture for these class of devices is?
Dara Parsavand
This unit was shown in the Screen Savers (TechTV) months ago. It's pretty cool. And according to the company it runs Linux as well.
Very expensive though.
Whine mode: When I submitted an article on this and IBM's entry two weeks ago it wasn't interesting:
2002-07-03 17:22:22 Your Next Desktop: the Size of a Deck of Cards? (articles,news) (rejected)
There's a teaser at Business 2.0. Another fluffy article is at TechExtreme. The best coverage, on C|NET, came out in April.
Envy my 5 digit Slashdot User ID!
None of the pictures on the site showing anyone actually _using_ the computer, just holding it. I have to wonder if they even have a working model, and if so just how awkward it is to use.
A friend of mine showed me a device that looked a lot like this out in the valley several years ago... they were calling them Hip-Top Computers, I believe. The VCs ate it up, but the prototypes are still in limbo.
There are <b>MAJOR</b> differences, though: hiptops have cellphone/wireless functionality, and are meant to be worn on your hip (hence the name). Apparently they were tying to cut a deal where you are regularly synched over the cell network, but I have no idea how that works.
you must realize this is not going after those with PDAs, you cant slip this nicely into your pocket like a sony clie. this is for those who want to carry a pda, an mp3 player, and a cell phone (there is an option for GMS and GPRS supposedly). with that in mind, many will like this. especially if you get a bluetooth headset and mayby bluetooth headphones to listen to mp3s while this little thing just sits at the bottom of your bookbag or saddlebag or whatever if its under 1500 id probably buy one
I wonder how long untill it runs linux?
It's based on a crusoe processor (no word of which speed though), so basically the ideal OS for it is linux.
the antelope is the ibm meta pad concept... here's the article via transmetazone (http://www.transmetazone.com/articleview.cfm?arti cleID=1166). isn't this oqo information a tad old?
If I can't trust a company to preserve the sanctity of my browser's back button, there is no way in hell that I am trusting them with my schedule and most important phone numbers.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
9 ounces isn't going to fit in my shirt pocket unless I'm wearing a John Popper Geek-o-vest.
The size is slightly larger than portable especially if your're going to drag it to a meeting to do some powertyping.
Once you add all the gunk - uh I mean add-ons you're going to need a gig bag for it.
So here's what I think:
This thing was built to support XP applications. That's it. You need a keyboard and a touch screen because that's how all those XPish applications are written.
It'l be pitched as the ideal mobile platform for people who can't live w/o that business criticial paradigm winning logistical Siebel CRM whatnot application in the field for one muthafuckin degree o seperation. All hail OQOdotnet!!
Or I was cynical which of course I'm not I'd say this is XBox 3.1.
Hey, thanks. That's new since the last time I visited. Still seems like a bizzare way to show off the screen...from the side angle and not head on. And I am pretty sure that that is truly the ONLY screenshot I have seen.... And none of the other sites have screenshots....yet. Thanks again.
Isn't that a partial shot of Lain there on the News/Press page? It looks like her hair style.
The Sony U1 is about the size of a DVD case. They say it is about as small as could be made without it becoming difficult to use. Oh, it is a full computer that can run any OS you want (Cyrix based, I beleive)
[RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
Man, do I hate Flash.
Boloney. Do you work for Palm or something?
This one's got a crusoe in it, just to fill in what you couldn't find ;-)
~Higman
-- [insert sig here]
I truly do. If it isn't vapourware then I will eventually get one. If this actually establishes itself inspite of it's pig ugly design (army meal trays look similar) it has the specs to beat the iPod (same Toshiba drive), iPaq (much better processor and a full OS), and all the PDA's out there in later iteractions. Good on them. The screen alone is amazing in having 200 dpi. What's more Linux will run without any problems on it, and application designers will not have to make specialised PDA versions anymore.
And the size is just right.
I actually know some of these guys: they're serious hardware designers who came up with a cool technical concept and decided to run with it. I don't know the odds of *any* tech startup in the current economy, but the oQo folks have a real design and every intention of getting a real product to market. -D p.s. I happen to know that it *is* intended to compete with both PDA's and laptops.
I'm not saying that the designer wasn't skilled, he just obviously didn't care very much about the user experience - not a very good sign for their product as a whole!
OQO without stupid shit.
Are you sure Xscale is so hot? I heard that they've been a major disappointment and embarrassment for Intel because they aren't performing anywhere near what you would expect for their clock speeds. I believe I read that on Digitimes. From that, I'd assume a Crusoe would be much more interesting.
Whenever I see a unit like this, I think of my garage.
... well generator). I've often wondered why I have to buy three motors, why can't I use one motor and just attach it to the what I need to run at the time. I rarely need to use any three of these things at the same time. (OK Einstein, I know that each has different power requirements, don't go all techinical on me here. This is a metaphor. Remember that from Literature class??)
I'm sure you are thinking, "WTF is he talking about."
Well...let me tell you. I look into my garage and I see a snowblower, a lawnmower, and a generator. Each of these does the same thing, burn gas (petrol) and create mechanical motion. One thing cuts grass (circular motion with a sharp blade), the other throws snow (circular motion with a reel), and and the third makes electricity (circular motion with a
What can't someone make a device that that does nothing except process inputs, store and retrieve data, and play CounterStrike everyday at lunchtime. (I love my job!!!). Why can't they create a keyboardless, monitorless 'computer' with only a CPU, memory, and a disk drive (maybe a small battery so I can move it from one device to another w/o powering down) that I could plug into my desktop, laptop, PDA, or even my cell phone. I would think that would be pretty damn small. I rarely use any of these items at the same time.
Now I can have my high-end video card in my desktop, a small color LCD panel for my PDA, or a smaller B/W for my phone and not have to transfer data from one place to another.
Remember, you saw it here first!!!!
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
Waidaminute, that's no Windows XP screenshot! (Warning really large JPEG) The label of the icons on the desktop have a plain colored rectangle background, something which all version of Windows have, except for XP. Suspicious...
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
I can see vertical market uses, for folks like real estate agents, salespeople, and so on, but it still seems like a technology in search of a use. My guess is that if a fantastic new use for small screens pops up, it will be entertainment-driven.
Someone must have ideas for a killer application of small screen technology. Comments?
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Even obnoxious PR gets the product noticed. And getting noticed is the name of the game.
This is great. Everyone knows that XP sucks unless you have a fast chip. And fast chips run hot. Hard drives run hot. The case is aluminium which should conduct the excess heat really well; straight into my hand. Scalding could replace RSI as the number one computer related OHS claim. On maybe the warmth will encourage the holding hald to grow large over time and create a subrace of PocketXP mutants.
:>
Or more likely, the thing will just overheat and self destruct in a few months. A day after the end of the waranty sounds about right
Not bad in other respects (size, speed, storage, Bluetooth, USB). If it runs something other than Windows, that's good too. I'm not sure that portable HDs are the way to go, though; flash technology is getting bigger all the time, and gives greater speed for much less power.
Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.
Even if it is a screenshot of the OQO in action, I wonder about the visibility. Scroll over to get the size of one of those icons and the compare it to the size of the headphone jack in that monster image. I mean, that's one tiny screen!
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
another device along the same lines. the "83" i believe.... www.tiqit.com