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.
"a palm sixed computer"
The person who typed this needs a BIGGER keyboard, not a smaller one!
...
http://slashdot.org/articles/02/04/16/1732252.shtm l?tid=137
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.
There is an informative article on the OQO "Ultrapersonal" PC at http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/020702/15/304wm.html
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?
Damn, the mods are pretty rabid today ;-)
I almost got excited. I went to the page and thought "oh, yeah, this has been here before. But hey - maybe they're shipping now. Um, then again...maybe not."
I was just pointing out that nothing has changed but the snazzy graphics.
Mod this one down too, I'm just posting again to be annoying.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
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.
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.
Found here yesterday.
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
Thats because slashdotters *always* read the site before posting...
"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!
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
Barely similar. There is a huge difference between 128 MHz and 1 GHz. Also a huge difference between 32 MB RAM and 256 MB RAM.
If this oOo thingy is real, I'd really be interested in getting one as it would actually be useful as a general purpose computing device.
The reason I've never bought a PDA is manifold:
1. I don't want to be locked in to some else's idea of what my computing tasks are or should be;
2. I want to be able to use the software of my choice and upgrade/change it as I need/want too;
3. I don't want to take a big performance hit in exchange for size.
So, I've just been waiting for the technology to catch up with my requirements. This little box could do it!
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
fast forward 18 hrs... Aww... how nice of her! Of course, then she forgets that she responded to me and three hours later I get:
Hmm... well, okay.
When I grow up, I want to have Christopher Walken hair.
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!