This laptop was shown at a “mobility” conference…
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2007/05/hp_20inch_hdx_dragon_laptop_re.html
I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel lugging a 20″ flat panel with a full keyboard and media center remote around is mobile. Its more like transportable like the first Compaq portables (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq) which I can tell you from first hand experience were also not enjoyable to lug around campus[1]. When I think of mobile I think “zing! I am running out my door with something easily in my hand”, my 17″ laptop doesn’t even fit that category. Heck my 15″ work laptop doesn’t fit that category really. I am a decent sized person (6’1″) and it still takes up a good portion of real estate in my carrying capacity. My candy bar Sony-Ericsson phones[2], now those are mobile, they slip into my pocket and I sometimes can even forget I am carrying them.
Here is an idea that if anyone decides to take and build and run with, just remember me and send me some checks… How about a smaller laptop, say a 12″ with a decent keyboard and a pair of glasses that you can put on if you need more than 12″ screen. You specify via software how big in size you need the screen to be and when you put on the glasses and look in the direction of the laptop, you virtually see that size screen. Outside the borders of that screen, you see the stuff you would normally see around the screen if it were real, say like the dog over in the corner or people on the plane or whatever. You have the ability to place the screen anywhere in the virtual view. Now if you want to get real slick, you can add a second (or third, fourth, fifth) virtual screen so say you want to have a full screen DOS app or movie or something playing off to the side. Depending on the screen sizes, if you look in one direction you see the first screen, if you turn to the side a little and adjust your gaze you see another screen, just like if there were two REAL screens there. I know something like this should be possible because I have seen some pretty incredible virtual reality stuff. It could be tough with the whole mixing of the real world with the virtual screens blotting out part of the real world but I think if someone worked in that direction they could pull it off.
Also think of the security benefits, you could be sitting in a room with your competitors and have your most secret corporate secrets up on the virtual screen and they couldn’t see them but you could. It would be great for people doing presentations as well since they could have everything they needed in front of them while talking to the crowd.
I just see all sorts of cool uses of something like that, however I am not a hardware guy and haven’t the slightest clue how to pull it off. Doesn’t mean I can’t come up with an idea like this and it not be a good one though. ;o)
joe
[1] I was at MSU and a “rich” friend of mine had one though he had no clue what to do with it so it was pretty much my toy.
[2] Yes multiple… I need to write about that some time, it will make at least two of my friends roll over and over laughing out loud. This is because I am not a phone person yet the current count of good working mobile phones I have in my possession is 5 with 3 mobile numbers. 2 of the phones are Sony-Ericsson candy bar style phones, one is a Sony-Ericsson slide style phone with a candybar profile.
