Best idea for Summer 2008: TechCrunch's Web Tablet For $200

Nik Cubrilovic and Michael Arrington of tech blog TechCrunch.com have launched what I found the most interesting idea for this Summer: "Today at Techcrunch we announced that we are building our own web tablet hardware device:
A web Tablet for just 200$"

"Here’s the basic idea: The machine is as thin as possible, runs low end hardware and has a single button for powering it on and off, headphone jacks, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, and a microphone. It will have Wifi, maybe one USB port, a built in battery, half a Gigabyte of RAM, a 4-Gigabyte solid state hard drive. Data input is primarily through an iPhone-like touch screen keyboard. It runs on linux and Firefox. It would be great to have it be built entirely on open source hardware, but including Skype for VOIP and video calls may be a nice touch, too."

The Best part of it is the TOUCH SCREEN and also the collaborative side of the project:

"The goal is to keep the machine very simple and very cheap. I think this will be a lot of fun, and it may just turn into an actual product that we can use to surf the web and talk to our friends.

We’ll be coordinating the project over at TechCrunchIT. Leave a comment there if you want to participate and we’ll be in touch soon."

I like the idea of this low-profile screen that could be in every kitchen and every shop.

More details also here.

HP launches TouchSmart Pc and I like it.

The Touchscreen is the new trend and one by one everyone is going there.

Check this demo from HP of their new TouchSmart IQ500 Series PC.

It is more a Family Media Center than an office PC but is the first time that I find an HP product with a smart style that also my wife could like.

Good demo ;)

Thanks Mauriz for the tip!

Turn almost anything into a multi-touch interface” with TouchWall

“Turn almost anything into a multi-touch interface for just hundreds of dollars” with TouchWall, the new Microsoft Touch Screen technology!

Just amazing !

Check here a presentation by Microsoft officials:



Check this video from Techcrunch and see how easy it is to use it:





Here is how TechCrunch describes it:

"The TouchWall system presented yesterday consisted of a PC running Vista and Plex, a 4×6 foot plexiglass screen, a rear projector, a infrared camera and the three infrared lasers.

TouhWall consists of three infrared lasers that scan a surface. A camera notes when something breaks through the laser line and feeds that information back to the specific Plex software."

This TouchWall is mores impler then the Surface system also presented by Microsoft a few monthes ago and is a fundamentally simpler mechanical system, and is also significantly cheaper to produce. While Surface retails at around $10,000, the hardware to “turn almost anything into a multi-touch interface” for TouchWall is just “hundreds of dollars”.

What is strange is that : "Microsoft is quick to say that they have no current plans to productize and sell TouchWall."

Can you believe it ? They must be crazy ! Everybody would love to get one of this !

This new technology reminds me that I had already reviewed the much more expensive Multi-Touch Screen by Perceptive Pixel