Comments on: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Theoretical Technology Edition

By: LifeOfAnInvestor

LifeOfAnInvestor — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:53:53 +0000

I have thought a very similar thought before. I have often begrudged the fact that I have to cary a GPS, PDA, MP3 Player, Phone, etc. Although many of these items are beginning to come together, you are right, they are still not here in one form. I have bought 2 pda’s in my life and I rarely used them because they were a pain to carry around. I have had several mp3/video players, but again, pain. Check out Modu. It’s interesting.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:34:01 +0000

Sounds like an iPhone + tablet labtop sized about like a steno notebook.

By: Erica Douglass

Erica Douglass — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:50:14 +0000

Hi Trent,

Have you checked out:

– Nokia N810 (not a cell phone itself, but tethers to any phone with Bluetooth. Has all other features)
– HTC Touch Pro (http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/04/the-htc-touch-pro/)

Both of these sound quite similar to what you want, and are available today (N810) or next month (Touch Pro). You can summarize what you want by saying “Internet tablet.” ;)

-Erica

By: the weakonomist

the weakonomist — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:18:00 +0000

@macinac

bond holders will be winners, as this is what the Chinese primarily hold. Their fixed income market rallied big time after the announcement.

Our federal govt should also get a return on their investment.

Current holders of preferred and common are screwed, those that bought in on the crash Monday might get themselves a good return, but this would be years away.

This is not an endorsement or opposition of what was done, just stating a fact.

By: Nefretete

Nefretete — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:13:40 +0000

Check this out: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/30/update-on-the-techcrunch-tablet-prototype-a/

It’s not all that you want but quite a lot. Plus the story how it comes to life makes it worth bookmarking for future checks imho.

By: Mizzle

Mizzle — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:33:04 +0000

The new version of the One Laptop Per Child project (it’s not there yet, but I’ve read announcements) sounds a lot like what you’re describing.

It might not look professional enough, though – it’s geared at children in third-world countries, although there are plans to allow consumers in first-world countries to buy two: one for themselves, one for a child somewhere who could really use one.

Worth looking into, perhaps?

By: Ryan McLean

Ryan McLean — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:12:37 +0000

This item sounds really really cool.
It does everything.
I am after an iPhone for my personal needs of notetaking, web browsing, calendar and phone.
his comes pretty close to what you are talking about though it is little too small.
Thanks for the round up

By: mdlpda

mdlpda — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:12:18 +0000

Trent, the theoretical device you seek already exists.
I’m using one now.
The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

Details:
http://europe.nokia.com/A4568593
RSS reader,PDF reader,GPS,WiFi,Bluetooth,Skype, slide out thumbboard or on screen handwriting recognition,
Runs Linux and the GUI is fantastic.
Software:(Mostly free, a few donation ware apps)
http://maemo.org/downloads/OS2008/
FBReader for Project Gutenburg etexts,Gutenbrowse to find them,Maemowordpy for posting to blogs-blogger or wordpress,gpodder for podcasts,panucci player for audio books

Check it out.

I’m posting this from mine right now.
-Mdlpda

By: Mark Nelson

Mark Nelson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:15:15 +0000

Credit cards get way too many people in trouble. They are a great tool though. The key is that you have to be disciplined in how you use them. You can get a false sense of being able to buy what you want.

Keep watching your budget.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:38:40 +0000

Agreed, this is why I recently invested in a Palm Z22, it’s about the cheapest PDA you can get, has good software (I owned an original Palm with 128k, and the task list/notes/etc are all basically the same, clean, well designed) and more importantly can synchronize with Google calendar/contacts/etc. if you spend $30 on the software. This device falls woefully short of what I ultimately want in my dream device, but it’ll do in the meantime, and it was cheap.

By: Macinac

Macinac — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:51:29 +0000

I followed the Fannie-Freddie link, and found that they are silent on the bonds. Are holders of these going to be winners or losers?

By: J

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:41:14 +0000

Sounds a lot like a Tablet PC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_PC

The missing features can be filled in with PCMCIA cards and/or USB devices.

One of the “problems” is that people can wait for “the perfect thing”, rather than getting one that’s “good enough”. I’m not advocating running out and immediately purchasing a tablet PC by any means — but sometimes you need to just jump in and make do with what’s out there, rather than continually waiting on “the next big thing”.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:15:32 +0000

Kris makes a GREAT point about the consequences if such a device malfunctions for some reason.

By: Kristine

Kristine — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:25:12 +0000

Brilliant. I will come up with my own dream list of features- but yours is close. I would add-can function as a large button calculator, or one of those old-fashioned shopping click-tallies. And as a sketchbook saved as JPEGs.

My graphic design friends cannot understand why I am still happy with my G4, and CS2. Among creative types- computers are the biggest keeping up with the Jones’s there is.

By: Madame X

Madame X — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:17:18 +0000

thanks for the mention…

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:23:23 +0000

By your description, it sounds like a notebook computer with a couple added features.

By: Kris

Kris — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:21:06 +0000

The problem with having an all-in-one device is that when something goes wrong with it, now you are without your phone, GPS, e-Book Reader, MP3 Player, PDA and whatever else it does. Where now if my iPod goes out, I still have a working cell phone and a working PDA… I am not instantly “blinded”. Though to be honest, I would like a device that does all that too, but smaller than the tablet PCs that are out.

I always find it funny how these studies are done showing human behavior ( such as spending more with a credit card ) and then everyone denies they behave like that and instantly insist its the other guy. You should view these studies as warnings, just like the studies that say smoking causes cancer… not everyone gets cancer, but the danger is there and is undeniable. Not everyone spends more money just because they use a credit card, but the danger is there and should be undeniable.

By: K

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:16:13 +0000

There actually is something out that is a lot like what you have described. It is a laptop (thicker than a paper), but after you open the screen, you can twist and close it upside down and it turns into an electronic tablet. A friend of mine has one for work because she needs to fill out electronic forms and then also get people’s signatures and take notes by hand during meetings with clients. The cool thing is that you can store your hand-written notes as they are, or convert them to text (the computer recognizes script). I don’t think it has a GPS or cell phone, but I suppose you could use skype if you had one of those universal wi-fi
receivers. I’ll try to find out the name of it.

As a side note, I think that you sometimes overuse the word “stellar.”

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:13:41 +0000

“If you find yourself spending more with a credit card than you would with cash, you shouldn’t be using a credit card.”

I would amend this to:

If you find yourself spending more with a credit card than you would with cash, and if you’re having trouble meeting your savings, debt-reduction, and other goals, you shouldn’t be using a credit card.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:05:19 +0000

There is a fine line between device size, power and usability for something like that. The iPhone does some of those things you mentioned well, but not others. Apple would make a killing if they could make a tablet like device like you mentioned. Make it small with really good battery life. Wouldn’t care so much for processing power. A 1ghz dual core processor would suffice. 512mb ram would be fine. A decent screen would be a requirment for myself. The ability to use 3G or evdo on the go is nice and for it to be able to use it when your not actually using the device (i.e. downloading a season of ER on iTunes in the background while you walk to the park).