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Meet the Laptop You Will (Won't?) Use In 2015

robert2cane writes "The Compenion concept notebook, designed by Felix Schmidberger, eschews the familiar clamshell design in favor of two superbright organic LED panels that slide into place next to each other, making the notebook just three-quarters of an inch thick." Really this page is just some renderings of some concept computers that are pretty far out of practical production reach. Some interesting ideas, but mostly a whole lot of 'Yeah, right.'

58 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. The laptop that fits into a steering wheel, great! by damburger · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lets just hope car AI has been perfected by 2015 or we are all going to get mown down by someone who just has to check their facebook profile.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  2. Uhhh OK. by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >Really this page is just some renderings of some concept computers that are pretty far out of practical production reach. Some >interesting ideas, but mostly a whole lot of yeah right.

    Then why is it on /.?? Slow Monday morning?? Whatever happened to the "stuff that MATTERS" part of the slogan??

    1. Re:Uhhh OK. by Kokuyo · · Score: 5, Funny

      You must be new here...

    2. Re:Uhhh OK. by canUbeleiveIT · · Score: 4, Funny

      Some interesting ideas, but mostly a whole lot of yeah right.

      Actually, mostly a whole lot of 500 Internal Server Error.

    3. Re:Uhhh OK. by hesiod · · Score: 5, Funny

      Meet the web server you won't use in 2008.

    4. Re:Uhhh OK. by timster · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oh, come on. "Stuff that matters" used to be 90% case mods. That's why so many sites were "slashdotted" back in the day -- they were all people's personal Web sites where they had posted their leet case mods.

      --
      I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
    5. Re:Uhhh OK. by canUbeleiveIT · · Score: 4, Funny

      Meet the web server you won't use in 2008.

      Just what I wanted, a Diet Code Red Mountain Dew sinus rinse and keyboard wash.

    6. Re:Uhhh OK. by mikael · · Score: 4, Informative
      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    7. Re:Uhhh OK. by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Meet the web server you won't use in 2008.

      Indeed, the whole site appears to be 403 Forbidden now. It looks like freehostia.com has yanked it for being too popular.

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    8. Re:Uhhh OK. by mikesd81 · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Google Cache.

      Now scroll down and see the date is: This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 9:26 am and is filed under future design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. That would ....2 days ago not a month.

      --
      That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
  3. I bet... by God+of+Lemmings · · Score: 2, Insightful

    that Felix Schmidberger looks at his fingers while he types.

    --
    Non sequitur: Your facts are uncoordinated.
    1. Re:I bet... by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Funny

      that Felix Schmidberger looks at his fingers while he types.

      Hah, onlu dumb peopke meed to look ar their fongerd ti write.

  4. The future - same as today ... by trolltalk.com · · Score: 4, Funny

    Internal Server Error
    The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

    Please contact the server administrator, support@freehostia.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

    More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

    Apache/1.3.33 Server at future-design.freehostia.com Port 80

    BTW: You can have my keyboard when you pry it from my cold dead hands!

    1. Re:The future - same as today ... by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ways To Know You've Failed As A Comedian:

      1) You need to point out your jokes.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    2. Re:The future - same as today ... by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yup, the site is pretty overloaded. Coral cache to the rescue!

      (Not that the site is really worth the effort...)

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:The future - same as today ... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

      Ways To Know You've Failed As A Comedian:

      1) You need to point out your jokes.

      2) You are posting your jokes on Slashdot.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:The future - same as today ... by duckInferno · · Score: 2, Funny

      5) You're replying to a temporary meme thread on slashdot, each post of which is decremental in funny score to the last.

      --
      Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, watch it -- I'm huge!
  5. Tactile response by Swizec · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So what's the tactile typing response on those advance touchscreen keyboards of the future?

    I bet there will be a lot of disgruntled programmers/novelists/actual-users-of-computers in the future.

    1. Re:Tactile response by paradxum · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I love that argument! Simply because the answer is so obvious. Most (newer) laptops have bluetooth integrated in them. If you just NEED a keyboard (really, nothing wrong with that... I NEED one for what I do) just get a bluetooth keyboard for when you are "working" ... there are even roll up ones to take when you are traveling.

    2. Re:Tactile response by Jurily · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oblig.

      First of all, the E70 has a full keyboard, not some shitty stripped down, tap-and-pray smudgy piece of shit. Nokia uses a technology that's even more advanced than the iPhone's tap screen, allowing you to actually feel the keys you press as you're pressing them! The technology is called "tactile response," and it allows you to do things like dial a phone number without staring at your screen like a shit-chucking ape. In fact, every other cellphone ever made has this technology, sometimes called "buttons."

    3. Re:Tactile response by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Interesting

      With a little luck, and some help from engineers, they will still have tactile feedback. I'm actually rather anxious to try one of these Nokia "haptic" screens.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    4. Re:Tactile response by clickety6 · · Score: 3, Funny

      microscopic ray guns built into every pixel that fire tiny repulsor beams into your fingertips as you type, creating the illusion of feedback. Plus tiny speakers also built into each pixel that creates the sound of clacking springs. the deluze model has miniature tractor beam guns bulti in for those who want that "spilled the coffee / ate a doughnut over the keys" slightly tacky feel...

      --
      ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
  6. 2015 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, well. It seem that 2015 will not be the year of the Linux desktop.

  7. old news by hansraj · · Score: 3, Informative
  8. I already have it by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have a Sony Vaio 280p Micro PC. I bought it in 2007, though it came out in 2005. It's small enough to fit in a jacket pocket and I can walk and browse at the same time. It's got wi-fi, bluetooth, 2 cameras, a USB port, a fingerprint reader, et al. Granted, it still has XP on it, but I'm going to put Ubuntu on it one of these days. I'm not about to go back to a full-size laptop, no matter how much cooler it looks.

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    1. Re:I already have it by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hopefully they'll get their act together and actually adopt a standard everyone else uses for once instead of making their own.

      Sony? You must be new here. And by here I mean Earth.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:I already have it by Orion+Blastar · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hopefully they'll get their act together and actually adopt a standard everyone else uses for once instead of making their own.

      Sony? You must be new here. And by here I mean Earth.

      I am from Regina in the Deneb sector, and even I got that joke.

      --
      Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
  9. New machines need new operating systems... by ClaraBow · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hardware designers may come up with some beautiful and innovated designs, but there needs to be a new OS to go with the hardware which will take advantage of the machine's unique design. The iphone works because the software and hardware work together and provide a good user experience. I say this because I noticed on the screenshots that these new amazing machines were running Vista. I know they are just rendered images, but nevertheless, it takes away from the hardwares' appeal. Tablets could have been a great success if the hardware manufactures had used a better OS than XP with some extensions.

    1. Re:New machines need new operating systems... by Tom · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually, one of the screenshots had a clearly visible logo of XP. That's interesting, if it's meant for 2015...

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    2. Re:New machines need new operating systems... by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually, one of the screenshots had a clearly visible logo of XP. That's interesting, if it's meant for 2015...

      That's because by 2015 Microsoft still won't have an operating system better than Windows XP.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  10. 'Futurism' reflects the current age by Langfat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok, not all of it, but most of it.

    Case in point? Look at the holographic shark that jumps out of the cinema and bites Marty McFly in Back to the Future II. It looks so 80s because, well, it was made in the 80s. It is likely that even 7 years from now there will be technology which hasn't been invented yet that will be incorporated in every computer -- that is, assuming notebooks are even considered reasonable any more... i personally expect things to go more the way of the iPhone/Archos for portable computation.

    1. Re:'Futurism' reflects the current age by that+IT+girl · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Mod parent up for mentioning Back to the Future, which I don't think I'm far off the mark in saying is the best movie ever. :) Seriously, though, you are quite right. By 2015 it's possible that the traditional idea of the laptop/notebook will have been forgone entirely for a whole new design we haven't thought of yet.

      In speculation... although I enjoy typing, I'd like to see some voice recognition in place for dictating (useful when on the road, if you must use your computer there) rather than the usual manual entry, at least for things like emailing or putting together a speech. But, as with everything in the future, all we can do is wait and see. And create.

      --
      10 FILL MUG WITH COFFEE
      20 DRINK COFFEE
      30 GOTO 10
  11. Obligatory conversion by Knx · · Score: 2, Informative

    Because there are still a few countries which haven't yet adopted the U.S. customary units (just joking, hey ... but go ahead and start bashing me now): three-quarters of an inch is approximately 1.9 centimeters. Which is not *that* thin, IMO. At least for a 2015 laptop, I mean.

    --
    The problem with Slashdot memes is that YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
    1. Re:Obligatory conversion by Slashidiot · · Score: 2, Interesting

      According to wikipedia, African male elephants are about 3.64m tall, so that would be 0.005234 African male elephants.

      Just FYI, it would also be 0.00635 African female elephants, or 0.0127 zebras.

      Actually, when expressed in these units, it definately looks a bit too thick for a laptop.

      --
      Tis women makes us love, Tis Love that makes us sad, Tis sadness makes us drink, And drinking makes us mad.
  12. No touch screen keyboards please! by jabjoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why on earth would I want a touch screen keyboard? You can't feel the keys! I touch type solely on the feel of the keys. Why would I want to have to go back to looking down? If I using my hands to input, having to look at them as they do so is wasting my time. Yer they look good on a set of star trek, but in reality that ship would have been destroyed long ago but villains with keyboards they don't have to look down at to press fire. Until the touch screen raises where buttons are, you are using one sense less while working, and if you aren't using that touch screen to look at, what is the point?

  13. Too Much Touch by Tom · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm a big fan of multitouch, and in fact am an early adopter, and one of the probably 2000 or so people who bought a TouchStream (the first multitouch keyboard on the market, many years ago, long before TouchStream went bancrupt and was then acquired by Apple...)

    But exactly that experience has taught me one thing: You can't beat tactile feedback for keyboard input. As long as your display doesn't have tactile feedback, multitouch sucks and won't replace a regular keyboard.

    What multitouch is great at is analog input, i.e. the stuff we use the mouse for right now. Dragging stuff, resizing stuff, drawing shapes (for gestures or graphics, or to select, whatever) all that kind of things. But when it comes to typing text, you don't want to do that on surface that doesn't give you tactile feedback. FWIW, I can type more error-free with my eyes closed on a regular keyboard, than with my eyes open on a touch-keyboard.

    So if those designers could shed their fanboyship of multitouch surfaces for a while, and do what designers ought to do for a change, namely look for the meeting point between form and function, they'd find a lot more and better applications for multitouch displays than keyboard replacements.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  14. Same old same old by neokushan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Every year we see all sorts of concepts for computers that we'll be using in 5, 10 or 20 years time. Yet 5, 10 or 20 years ago, the devices we used then are still largely the same.
    Sure, they're faster and have more memory, as well as maybe more colours on their screens, but ultimately they don't look all that different.
    I very much doubt any of these concepts will see the light of day unless they offer something truly useful and innovative.

    --
    +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
    1. Re:Same old same old by neokushan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      None of what you mentioned, apart from the touch screen, has changed what the design of laptops or computers in general look like. I already said they got faster, more memory, clearer screens, etc. but when it comes down to it, they're still pretty much the same kinds of machines we used a decade ago.
      Optimus keyboards? That's still just a keyboard, it may be a keyboard with fancy lettering on it, but it's purpose and use is identical to the IBM keyboards of the 1980's. 3D Displays? When was the last time you actually seen one of those on a laptop? Even in "real life" situations, nobody's PC or workstation has a 3D display, nearly everything of those that we've seen are just concepts like any other and the production models that DO exist aren't very practical.
      When it comes down to it, mobile devices have made the biggest leaps in the last 5 years, mostly because of miniaturisation of existing technology, but nothing really revolutionary has hit us yet. The touch screen you mentioned has been around for a good 10 years or so, but only recently have they become all the rage on the iPhone/iPod touch - how many people do you see with tablet PC's running around, as useful as they are?

      --
      +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
  15. Rollable displays and virtual keyboards by backpackcomputing · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future but in terms of display technology, I think rollable displays will be common by 2015. The rollable screens have an obvious form factor appeal. The devices will probably be cylinder shaped (think paper towel tube, but a bit smaller) with a virtual keyboard. There are already early versions of both rollable displays and virtual keyboards in existence, see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/technology/06novelties.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin and http://www.virtualdevices.net/Products.htm, respectively. By 2015 rollable displays will have full color, etc. and virtual keyboards will hopefully have haptic attributes. This is just my best guess before my morning coffee! http://backpackcomputing.com/

    1. Re:Rollable displays and virtual keyboards by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Rollable makes little sense because you'll just look like you have a donkey dick in your pocket. It needs to be something that folds up. The ideal interface would just locate your eye and shoot a laser beam through it, some nice people at MIT built some glasses that used lasers mounted to them, that is just the next evolution. When your cellphone is capable of just painting a reality overlay on your retina, you're going to feel stupid carrying a roll of toilet paper around in your pants (especially when everyone is using the three seashells anyway.)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Rollable displays and virtual keyboards by Shaitan+Apistos · · Score: 4, Funny

      Rollable makes little sense because you'll just look like you have a donkey dick in your pocket.

      It already looks like I have a donkey dick in my pocket, you insensitive clod!

    3. Re:Rollable displays and virtual keyboards by TuringTest · · Score: 2, Funny

      The ideal interface would just locate your eye and shoot a laser beam through it

      What can I say? Your ideas about the ideal interface differ from mine.

      --
      Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
  16. you're missing the main point! by thermian · · Score: 2, Funny

    Its organic!. Therefore it's obviously better for you in every possible way!

    Or does that mean its steeped in unprocessed manure?

    I always get those two mixed up....

    --
    A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
  17. Free Hosting? by miakeru · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did Slashdot really just link to a page with the words 'free' and 'host' in the URL?

  18. Rejected technology by just_forget_it · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Tactile response is a huge reason we have keyboards. The technology that can replace them is here now, and has been for quite a while. But nothing can beat the practicality of a keyboard. Replacing it with a touchscreen is just impractical. There's no tactile response, and banging your fingers on a hard, unyielding surface is going to cause typing fatigue much quicker. Then, there's the fingerprints and smudging you have to deal with, along with scratches.

    There are plenty of technologies that came along that were poised to replace something but never quite made it. Remember the "push button transmission" in the mid-50's Dodge models? Of course you don't. It was supposed to do away with that antiquated lever system used to switch gears. But people LIKED the lever, and with the push button controller you could do something that the lever didn't allow you to: place your car into reverse directly from drive, which is obviously extremely dangerous.

    Then in the 1980's we saw another phenomenon: the digital dashboard. Instead of using those antiquated analog dials, automakers started using digital readouts instead. It was all computerized and cool and futuristic...and was gone by the early 1990's. People wanted the old-fashioned dials.

    To predict that the keyboard will be gone in less than 10 years is like predicting the steering wheel will be gone by then, too.

  19. just like phones, cars and televisions by petes_PoV · · Score: 2, Informative
    When a human-interfacing technology gets past the experimental stage, the major aspects (size, weight, function, layout) tend to remain static. Partly because that's what people expect - and there's a cost to having people change their habits, and partly because they work well.

    So it will be in the laptop of the future. Keyboards won't get any bigger or smaller, same with screen sizes. So the LotF will be the same size as todays (and 10 years' ago's, too). Functions will probably be similar, also: documents, games, media, communication.

    Yes, they'll be faster, but all the extra DRM and security features (such as having everything encrypted) will take away most of the gain. Disks will be gone - hello SSDs - but that's an easy prediction, as is wireless connectivity. the O/S and applications will be so transparent to the user that who owns/makes them will be irrelevant.

    The only major change I can foresee is the need for personal identification and possibly a built-in payment mechanism, for all the media - whicj will have to be paid for, before you can view it.

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
  20. Moving parts? In 2015?? by ThePhilips · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope by 2015 notebooks would have no moving parts - no sliding things either.

    I just want a normal notebook. Just normal notebook from Sci-Fi: no physical parts, voice interface, 3D projector and virtual keyboard. All that packed into watch.

    Google can't find images - but something like it was in Heroic Age anime.

    --
    All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    1. Re:Moving parts? In 2015?? by ThePhilips · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Privacy (esp in public places) is interesting point.

      But honestly, my first association with notebooks somehow now is "desktop replacement". I use right now laptops at home and in office. (And frankly, have no wish to carry one around - I get enough of computer everywhere else. YMMV.)

      What we do right now with laptops and more importantly how we do it, would change in coming years. Think of text/image/video-blogging - that is mostly public activity anyway and doesn't require privacy. Though yes, lack of physical entity has implication for privacy and security if such is needed. (e.g. Wi-Fi didn't yet sorted out all the problems with misuse and abuse - and all they did was to move from physical material media (wire) to immaterial media (radio waves).)

      One can imaging devices now under development which try to project image right into ones retina. And - OMG - they already have wikipedia page:

      A "virtual retinal display" (VRD), also known as a "retinal scan display" (RSD)

      Should be nice solution to privacy problem. (If it doesn't burn out one's eyes, of course.)

      For corporate lappy, privacy is must. Do not see solution other than having "physical laptop." Do not want my manager to see what I am really doing with my time in office ;)

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
  21. Re:The laptop that fits into a steering wheel, gre by bhima · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm pretty sure that future is here now.

    --
    Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
  22. Re:SCARY by Atti+K. · · Score: 2, Funny
    Just imagine:
    "Drivecar.exe has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down."

    Or...

    "Inflate airbags: Cancel or Allow?"

    --
    .sig: No such file or directory
  23. Re:The laptop that fits into a steering wheel, gre by damburger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They will, because facebook will be one of the four web sites you can actually access through your entry level 'internet' package.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  24. 113 Comments... by GradiusCVK · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've been trying to access TFA since about 8:50 and it's been down the whole time... yet there are already 113 comments on this story, 13 of which are rated 4 or better. I love Slashdot, I really do :-)
    *reflects on the hypocrisy of this post*

    1. Re:113 Comments... by PReDiToR · · Score: 3, Informative
      --

      Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
  25. Re:The laptop that fits into a steering wheel, gre by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's already bad enough getting rear-ended by some asshole at an intersection who can't wait until he gets home to ask his daughter how her fucking math test went, or ending up in a pileup because some exec suddenly realizes he's not checked his email in *over 2 minutes* as he's driving along the interstate at 70 mph.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  26. Re:The laptop that fits into a steering wheel, gre by damburger · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We won't have a choice, that'll be part of the whole Trusted Cognition(tm) package

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  27. Re:The laptop that fits into a steering wheel, gre by damburger · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Seriously unlikely you are alone; its just socially unacceptable to dissent. It doesn't fit in with the whole, happy-go-lucky Friends coffee house aesthetic that everyone seems to have accepted.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  28. Monthly BIOS license fees, DRM enabled login by heroine · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The laptop you use in 2015 will require monthly BIOS license fees, monthly service plans to log in, & fall apart in 3 weeks. It'll be made by 5 year old slave kids in Kazakhstan. All data storage will be through wireless networking to the giga corporation & monitored by the FBI for signs of the word "republican" or negative comments about the giga corporation.

    However the display will be made out of organic LEDs.

  29. Re:The laptop that fits into a steering wheel, gre by fellip_nectar · · Score: 2, Funny

    In 2015, I won't be too concerned about being mown down by an 'old road car'...

    I'll be much more worried about being landed on by a flying DeLorean.

    --
    Worst. Signature. Ever.