Digital Device Convergence

Digital device convergence is a happening
field. While we are still waiting for our combo phone, PDA, iPod
and mini-browser, with built-in GPS and wi-fi detector, numerous tempting
new combinations are appearing.

One of the more interesting involves an attempt to
bridge the digital divide separating the wired world from the three-quarters
of the planet which is still off-line. Projected to cost $250,
the device will combine a personal computer, wireless networking, TV,
DVD player, telephone and videophone, according to developer Raj Reddy.

Although the article doesn’t mention power supply, our
extensive experience in the third and fourth worlds suggests this is
as much a key issue as the range of functions. Let us suggest AC and
DC, 70-300 Volts, battery, hand crank or bicycle generator, and maybe
an optional solar setup.

Mr. Reddy, a pioneering researcher in artificial intelligence
and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, plans to unveil at the
end of this year his new project, called the PCtvt, a $250 wirelessly
networked personal computer intended for the four billion people around
the world who live on less than $2,000 a year.

Because his low-cost computer doubles as a TV and a DVD player, Mr. Reddy believes
that he will be able to use it as a vehicle to take computing and communications
to populations that until now have been excluded from the digital world.

from the
New York Times