Techno lust!

[elfs]

In my dreams I own a Unified Personal Data Object-- it's about the size of my current Palm, hardened against the environment, DRM-blind, is as easy to use as PalmOS but will play MP3s and even videos on its tiny 320x320 pixel screen. It has an 80GB hard drive that's cryptographically secure. It speaks bluetooth and I can use it as a writing desk with a small portable keyboard. The battery lasts 8 hours playing audio, 30 hours just using the e-book reader. With a bluetooth earpiece, it's the hub of a communications center based on cell phone technology.

And it has two additional pieces of software: contact-context sensitivity and location-context sensitivity. Contact-context sensitivity lets me know if a friend is "within walking distance" and alerts me to certain details: "Remind me when I'm within walking distance of Fred that I have to return his keys."

Location-context sensitivity is similar. "When I get home," "When I get to the office," "When I pass by the hardware store."

The last has been written. It only works in Treos and it's based not on GPS but on what cell tower is closest, but it's a step in the right direction.

Another geeky toy I love to contemplate is the new Rockford Fosgate DMP1 Digital Mobile Player, an in-dash car stereo player that plays MP3. Not so cool-- there are a few of those. But when you pull into your driveway at home, it shows up on your home wireless network as a storage device, and you can drag-and-drop MP3s to and from it just like any other storage device. Now that's way cool.

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

One assumes that it also has camera and audio recording.

We're getting there. (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_detail.do?storeName=storefronts&landing=storefronts&category=handhelds&subcat1=ipaq_phone&catLevel=2&product_code=901430)

but it's really not too rugged. And the display is 240x320

I've got a lesser model that doens't have cell capability. And while the 80GB isn't here yet, I have an SD card that's 1 (one) GB that holds a ton of books with lots of room.

[(Anonymous)]

Your post inspired me to go looking. I eventually found another location based media gizmo that looks a little more rugged:
http://www.nodeexplore.com/hardware_nodeexplorer.shtml
I've never seen one, much less used one, so take this with a grain of salt, but it looks like it has most of the requested features aside from the cell-based stuff, the contact-context, and the 80gb drive. Too big for a palm, though. However, it's primarily designed for a tourist/commerical setup, rather than an individual private user.

[(Anonymous)]

"DRM-Blind" may already be a lost cause, but I'd settle for not being locked into a single DRM system, and giving my work the same DRM protection as the megacorps get.

Insert a rant here about not even being able to ensure my name stays attached to something I create. It's not just the money.

The PDA of the future...

[murbin.livejournal.com]

What you want sounds a lot like the personal devices described in MIT's Project Oxygen.