Small Supercomputer, XPC, Notebook, and Gaming Thingy

kidgenius, SpinnerBait, and anonymous readers wrote in with four fun tales of small devices doing cool things. IBM has built a supercomputer the size of a TV, using 1000 PPC-based CPUs. Shuttle recently began shipping their AMD Athlon 64 based XPC, the size of a breadbox. Sony has a new 0.4" thick VAIO notebook (scroll down). And a European company is about to introduce the Gametrac, a handheld WinCE gaming gadget with 3D, Bluetooth, SMS, MP3 playback, MPEG4 video playback, camera, and -- interestingly -- GPS tracking. "The system allows the parents to establish 'fences,' which, when entered by the child, cause a notification to be sent to the parents in the form of either an SMS message or an email." Hmmm.

Comments

GPS tracking

[El]

"Alarm is sent to parents when device is carried outside of prescribed zone." Uh, won't that simply teach children to set the device down before wandering off?

Re:GPS tracking

[product byproduct]

Yes, smart children will set the device down, but *geek* children will wrap the device in tin-foil and continue to play with it.

allows parents.

[happyfrogcow]

it's one thing to be pissed about a government tracking you, but if parents want to track their children, so be it. don't make it sound so big brotherly.

however, i don't think it would be good parenting (though, really.. who am i to judge) to use tracking like this as a first, second, or even third option. a little trust goes a long way.

Tracking me

[Hi_2k]

I have parents. I have a love of techno gadgets. I have a real problem, however, with my parents using my techno gadget to tell where I am. Sometimes people want privacy, especialy when they're playing games.

Zodiac!

[Cpt_Kirks]

Damn, that thing looks like a Zodiac.

BTW, Fedex says they are delivering mine this evening.

Now, we do the dance of joy! Hup! Ho! Hay!

Thank god

[Lord_Dweomer]

""The system allows the parents to establish 'fences,' which, when entered by the child, cause a notification to be sent to the parents in the form of either an SMS message or an email." Hmmm."

Thank God. For a second I was a little scared. I mean, my parents need me to program their VCR to stop flashing 12. My dad thought his shift key was broken, when in reality his entire keyboard wasn't working. My guess is that the kids are going to be able to either change the "fence", disable it, make it so it doesn't notify the parents, or simply not take it with them.

Just goes to show, digital rights management isn't the only easy thing to crack, organic rights management is too.

Re:Thank god

[aliens]

Of course they could just ya know, turn the power off too.

Tracking children

[Space cowboy]

How is it that adults can never seem to remember just how elusive they were themselves, as children :-)

Here's a hint to the parents - they'll leave it at home if it gets them into trouble :-))

Simon

Re:vaio not so thin

[mikehoskins]

"...the size of a TV..."
"...the size of a breadbox..."
"...notebook..."

I know exactly what the size of TVs, breadboxes, and notebooks are! Good thing were talking about precise, scientific dimensions here -- unlike NASA's problem with converting standard to metric.... :-)

Was that a 13" black and white or a 57" HDTV rear projection supercomputer?

GPS Tracking and Fences

[Tim C]

So, let me get this straight - I buy one of those things for myself, set up a fence at some appropriate distance from my house, and it'll automatically notify my house when I'm at a certain distance away on my way home?

So, for example, a PC at home could switch on lights/heating/whatever, or my gf would know I'm nearly home (so she can start dinner, or knows that I'll be there soon to take our daughter off her hands and/or will be able to go out soon, whatever).

These gaming systems are a godsend!

[teamhasnoi]

As a member of the Hysterical Mothers Society of America, we've found these game systems to be worthy of our highest honor - Five Golden Slaps!

Please think of the children, and purchase one immediately!

Signed,
Cindy Lou Anderson, High Screamer

More Info on IBM Machine

[obsidianpreacher]

There's more to the story than the simple Reuters blurb that the CNN/Money article above shows ... internetnews.com has got a more in-depth article about this.

Also interesting to note is that IBM says this is the same processors that will be in next-gen consoles from Nintendo and Sony that are due out next year ... but I thought that wasn't gonna happen ...?

Re:Size of a television....

[Daniel Dvorkin]

I think 1 televion ~= 0.0012 VW Beetle.

Tracking

[El_Smack]

I'm generally against this type of thing, but any parent who has been enjoying some late afternoon intercourse on the living room floor only to be surprised by their child coming home early from a friends house will see this for the godsend it truly is.

And no, that's not a hypothetical situation above.

Re:Tracking

[El_Smack]

"Maybe if you have kids that could barge in on you you shouldn't be having sex in your living room? That would be a much more sensible and much more correct way of stopping it. Not to mention the last time I had sex, I wasn't exactly about to glance at a computer screen in the middle of it."

I am willing to bet the last time you had sex, you were ALREADY looking at a computer screen.

OK, that was uncalled for, and I'm sure you are a nice guy, but the straight line was too much to resist. Hope I didn't hurt your feelings. :)

Re:vaio not so thin

[Anonymous Coward]

Was that a 13" black and white or a 57" HDTV rear projection supercomputer?

The breadbox was a WinnaBagel 9000, with fold-out dinette and a tow-bar for your SUV.