Re: [NTLK] Tablet enclosure

From: Dylan Stewart (rxs015500_at_utdallas.edu)
Date: Sun Mar 30 2003 - 18:26:29 PST


Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! It seems that Dylan is about to ramble A
LOT!

Well, if it a new Newton type device, the only thing stopping it from
playing video on the go would be a possible lack of software. Of course,
this is Apple we're talking about. If it is a Newton, it will probably have
all sorts of streaming media capabilities built in.

Mostly, I am wondering about connectivity. They might have internal
AirPort, but perhaps not. Same goes for Bluetooth. With a port bank as big
as this has, they could easily put a PCMCIA interface (or even two) into it.
In fact, I almost expect them to. I can't think of what four ports would
take that much space other than PCMCIA.

On that subject, what ports would it need? FireWire, of course. A separate
power port, probably, unless it has a charging cradle. Probably USB because
there are so many USB peripherals (printers and memory, in particular).

Now, let's look at a different final product. With a hole in one face that
is that large, I really don't see how it could be anything but a screen.
Perhaps it could be simply a video iPod. I quite sincerely doubt that that
is all it is. Supposedly, the larger hole on the back is for a battery.
Why would a video iPod need a removable battery? Also, if it has enough
processing power to display video, then it is be trivial (compared to
engineering the entire device) to add multipurpose computing capabilities
similar to what modern PDAs are. All that it would really require is an
operating system. Programming an OS when you already have several is much
easier than engineering an entirely new device.

Now, let us consider that it might be some sort of portable terminal like MS
"smart displays". That would also require plenty of computing power, but
not nearly as much. If it was based on something similar to Soybo, then it
would just need to have enough power to run a web client (at least, that's
what I understand from the Soybo thread). However, if it can run a web
browser, there is very little reason for it to do that and that alone. Why
not throw in some more processing power (processors aren't _that_ expensive)
and some persistent storage (like, say, a 40 GB Toshiba hard drive)?

What else could it be? Perhaps a digital photo frame? If that's what it
is, then why have a battery? It's not like a digital photo frame wanders
the house on its own.

Digital camera? Where's the lens? The circular opening was described as
"very small", so it's probably not a lens.

 Dylan Stewart AC5ZH

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