Note that the iPhone has more than just a "processor [that] can run arbitrary code" -- it has a CPU, memory, a general user interface, and could, in the absence of deliberate software restrictions on the part of Apple, be used as a small mobile computer (which happens to have the ability to connect to a cell phone network). This is not as extreme as running NetBSD on a toaster, or repurposing a car's microcontrollers for some other task -- the iPhone has all the hardware needed to be used for general consumer-grade computing, albeit in a pocket sized form factor.
I understand all that.
And the same could easily be said of many other smartphones out there.
But I wouldn't actually call any of them a computer.
Computer: a machine for performing calculations automatically
so yes, all smartphones are computers.. so is the ECU in the car you speak of..
i think your confusing the word "computer" with "user workstation"
Slashdot Mirror
half lion, half radar?
i thought they meant the lack of bewbs
Thanks to BP and Transocean its a Fossil Fuel source
only way to be sure is to link our macbooks to it
or you set your USB stick to emulate a floppy.. we somehow manage to install various MS OS's on our computers and servers with no floppy drives
Great way to get a head in this business
in soviet russia, google searches you
Note that the iPhone has more than just a "processor [that] can run arbitrary code" -- it has a CPU, memory, a general user interface, and could, in the absence of deliberate software restrictions on the part of Apple, be used as a small mobile computer (which happens to have the ability to connect to a cell phone network). This is not as extreme as running NetBSD on a toaster, or repurposing a car's microcontrollers for some other task -- the iPhone has all the hardware needed to be used for general consumer-grade computing, albeit in a pocket sized form factor.
I understand all that.
And the same could easily be said of many other smartphones out there.
But I wouldn't actually call any of them a computer.
Computer: a machine for performing calculations automatically
so yes, all smartphones are computers.. so is the ECU in the car you speak of..
i think your confusing the word "computer" with "user workstation"
AFAIK, nobody can predict the future.
actually, andyone can predict the future. we just cant see it
no more cox on usenet... i'll no longer have to preview the thumbnails
****ronix
Don't Bundy that book