Surfing on a Surfboard

JamesD_UK writes "The BBC is running an article about a surfboard developed by Intel with an embedded, solar powered, wifi capable, laptop with web cam attached. It features a 1.7GHz processor and a 80GB hard drive. The camera is able to create videos and transmit them through an access point located on the beach. Jools Matthews of Gulfstream surfboards designed the board itself and pro surfer Duncan Scot helped with the design of the board to make sure that the board still performed well with the extra weight. The board debuts at the Gold Coast Ocean Festival 2004 from 18 to 20 June at Croyde beach in North Devon."

Comments

Real world application

[doodlelogic]

Seems to be a very good testing ground for durabl touch screen displays. Sun, sand, water and salt. Gotta be more fun than testing for resistance to these things in a lab.

I'd laugh if it didn't work when they got it out of the water though!

Photographer's dream

[mrn121]

While I am not a professional photographer/videographer, I do know that photographing and videotaping surfing is largely restricted due to the problems related to having lots of expensive equipment in the water. Currently, a lot of the video/pictures you see of surfers are from land, and they aren't nearly as cool as the shots from the water, inside the tube.

While most people seem to be passing this idea off, this really could lead to some cool photos/videos coming from the water. Granted, the technology would probably need a lot of tweaking. It may not seem all that worthwile of a product to develop, but I do think there is slightly more use to this than most people seem to be giving credit for.

Plus, I am a geek, so I will probably be the one on those beaches trying to get onto the wireless networks that they are using.

-mike