I’ve been doing a lot of talking about the coming information age and how it depends on access technology that is as cheap and easy to use as our cell phones (and applications of it that are as appealing as people find their cell phones). But I’ve been slow to mention the MIT Media Lab’s [...]

Posted December 4, 2005 by Casey
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information, Technology. Tags: $100 laptop, digital divide, hardware, information age, laptop, Mary Lou Jepsen, media lab, mit, mit media lab, portable, portable computing, Technology, ubicomp, ubiquitous computing. 2 Comments.

Via Engadget I found mention of the LeapFrog FLY, a pen with embedded computer that reads your handwriting. Need a calculator? Just write out “2 + 2 = ” and hear a response from the pen computer’s synthesized voice. Need to schedule something? Write out the date.
It’s targeted at kids, and the company has released [...]

Posted November 7, 2005 by Casey
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information, Technology. Tags: computer, edutainment, embedded computer, fly, fly paper, handwriting, leapfrog, optical sensor, pen computer, pen-based, pentop, pentop computer, special paper, tutoring, ubicomp, ultraportable. 6 Comments.

Via Gizmodo, we make money not art, and The Engineer: spray-on computers.
The idea is to develop computers about the size of a grain of sand (though they say a cubic millimeter here), give them sensors and networking capabilities, and completely change our notion of “computer.”
From The Engineer:
Each Speck will be autonomous, with its own captive, [...]

Posted October 27, 2005 by Casey
Categories: Technology. Tags: computational networks, computer, computers, computing, computing fabric, computing project, idea, information appliances, information processing, nano-computing, nanocomputing, networking capabilities, smart appliances, specknet, specknets, specks, spray, spray-on, spray-on computer, spray-on computing, sprayon, ubicomp, ubiquitous computing. Be the first one.

My week with the Pepper Pad is over, and the UPS van just drove off with it, but I’ve still got a lot to report.
My testing ran into problems when it turned out that the WiFi network in the library was on the fritz. I did some netstumbling today and found that only two APs [...]

Posted October 5, 2005 by Casey
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information, Technology. Tags: computer, fond farewell, good bye, internet access, pepper, pepper computer, pepper pad, portable computer, portable computing, post pc, post pc device, ubicomp, ubiquitous computing, ultra portable, web access, web device, web pad. 5 Comments.

Pepper Computer
Buying a Pepper Pad at Amazon
Pepper Hacks
Victor Rehorst has been blogging about his Pepper since he got it (a few days ago)
Pepper Pad stories at TeleRead
Other Pepper Pad stories here at MaisonBisson

tags: links, pepper, pepper computer, pepper links, pepper pad, portable computing, ubicomp, ultraportable

Posted October 2, 2005 by Casey
Categories: Blink, Technology. Tags: links, pepper, pepper computer, pepper links, pepper pad, portable computing, ubicomp, ultraportable. One Comment.

The Pepper Pad (available at Amazon) has a very clean out of box experience. There’s nothing to assemble and no questions about what order to do things in. Just open, unwrap, plug in, startup.
I attempted running through the configuration in my office, but the WiFi propagation is very weak there and Pepper Pad couldn’t catch [...]

Posted September 30, 2005 by Casey
Categories: Technology. Tags: computer, internet access, pepper, pepper computer, pepper pad, portable computer, portable computing, post pc, post pc device, ubicomp, ubiquitous computing, ultraportable, web access, web device, web pad. 4 Comments.

The Pepper Pad’s technical details — a lightweight Linux powered device with an 8.4-inch SVGA touchscreen, Wi-Fi auto-configuration, Bluetooth device support, multi-gigabyte disk, full QWERTY thumb-keypad, stereo speakers, and more — are already well reported. But I’ve been arguing that attention to such details runs counter to the purpose and intended use of the device. [...]

Posted September 29, 2005 by Casey
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information, Technology. Tags: computer, internet access, pepper, pepper computer, pepper pad, portable computer, portable computing, post pc, post pc device, ubicomp, ubiquitous computing, ultraportable, web access, web device, web pad. 4 Comments.