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Technology

Sony's Wireless Webpad 71

Posted by CmdrTaco from the stand-back-cowboyneal! dept.
John Jorsett writes "cnet news has an article about Sony announcing the Airboard, a wireless web pad with a 10-inch touch screen that also doubles as a television and a remote control for other appliances. The Airboard will be introduced in Japan on December 1. Interesting, but judging by the picture, it's not entirely flat, so it will be more of a counter-top appliance, rather than a knee-top."
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Sony's Wiresless Webpad More

Sony's Wiresless Webpad

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  • Getting close to science fiction (Score:3)

    by Adam Wiggins ( 349 ) on Friday September 29, 2000 @04:34PM (#743583) Homepage
    It's funny, because there's nothing revolutionary here. Combine flatscreen with touchscreen, wireless internet and a TV. And yet somehow we seem to be getting so much closer to the way that computers look in science fiction like Star Trek and Earth: Final Conflict. Dunno if there's any signifigance there, but I suspect in 20 years our TVs and computers (and other electronics) will all look and function pretty much just like this, and we'll look back at the huge clunky boxes that we used at the turn of the century with amusement.
  • And leave my PC unattended? At the mercy of script k1dd13s? Have you no love for the equipment which provides you with endless information and entertainment?

    So I'm going to shave off my 2 week beard, take a shower and head downtown..
    Oh, you have a laptop. Ok, never mind then.
  • I'm gonna check out the first installment of this article, see which posts got the most karma points, post them again here, and watch those karma points fly!

    ...and while I'm at it, I'll copyright them and sue the original posters for Intellectual Property infringement or something. Now where did I leave that Kramer & Kramer law firm's phone number?
  • Hey people, the Slashdot crew is not that clueless. Showing the same company name repeatedly is called "BRANDING".

    LS
  • I've emailed Rob my apology for my contribution to this duplication. I say that I'm more to blame than he; if you've ever been involved in maintaining a web site, much less one the scope of SlashDot, you'd know how easy it is for things to get by you. I can't even imagine what it must be like for the SlashDotters. So take your shots in my direction and cut Rob some slack.
  • why is the same piece listed in the first article and the bottom, once under tech and the other under hardware. Please guys, hire a copy editor.


    1. INTERACTIVE [mikegallay.com]
      1. ENTERTAINMENT

  • On the same subject... (Score:5)

    by graniteMonkey ( 87619 ) on Friday September 29, 2000 @05:22PM (#743589)
    I heard that cnet [cnet.com] news has an article about the same Sony Airboard, which is a wireless web pad with a 10-inch touch screen that also doubles as a television and a remote control for other appliances. The Airboard will be introduced in Japan on December 1. Interesting, but judging by the picture, it's not entirely flat, so it will be more of a counter-top appliance, rather than a knee-top.

    There's also an article on cnet [cnet.com] about the same thing

    Somedays, it just ain't your day.


  • It's still Rob's fault. And zero credit to you for brown-nosing the people who accept articles.
    --
  • Hello? [slashdot.org]& lt;br>
    Speaking of repetiti
  • It clearly states in the top of the CNET article:
    The Airboard, which will be available in Japan on Dec. 1, consists of a portable LCD display that locks into a base station with a TV antenna and wireless modem.

    This indicates that, only for watching TV you need to probably lock it in it's base station :)

    While CT wrote:
    Interesting, but judging by the picture, it's not entirely flat, so it will be more of a counter-top appliance, rather than a knee-top.

    Now, is it me or is CT refering to the base station.

    I can allready see CT's bewilderment with a mobile Phone: "What do you mean mobile; why is it connected to a powersocket then!!!"

  • This is a lame post that does NOT deserve a score of 2.

    Rob doesn't deserve slack for this at all. If he wants to be considered a 'journalist' he needs to take the criticism and learn from it. Sooner or later he'll get a clue and be better for it.

    Get your act together, Malda. Read your own site once in a while.

  • Having manners and taking responsibility for one's own actions is not brown-nosing. I couldn't care less if I get 'credit' or not; SlashDot can accept or reject my submissions as they please.

    One interesting facet of this episode is how many people are ready to complain their asses off that a free service isn't being run satisfactorily. If you don't like it, tough.

    Have a nice day. (Just kidding).

  • Three days after these make it to the market, when someone finally hacks it, we'll finally have the Internet Appliance we've all been waiting for. Touchscreens in the home are limitless in their uses, and will only prove to make the web that much more attractive to joe user. Being able to hit the screen a few times and check your mail while lying on the couch, then throw the pad over to your friend in the lazy boy so they can do the same is alot more convenient than making a special trip to whatever room the computer is in, signing on, going to whatever page, logging in, etc. Suzy homemaker being able to tap the screen a few times in the kitchen to bring up her recipes, rather than fumbling with a flower covered mouse and keyboard is a huge bonus. These devices are going to spurn technological advances in the home we've not yet concieved.

  • Hackers strike again! (Score:3)

    by Black Perl ( 12686 ) on Friday September 29, 2000 @04:37PM (#743596)
    The hackers have set up a back door and they are posting redundant articles. They have also been rumored to be posting trolls, impersonating Bruce Parens, and changing the spelling of random words.

  • Lame (Score:4)

    by bat'ka makhno ( 207538 ) on Friday September 29, 2000 @04:40PM (#743597)
    We've seen it with WAP - a "great" idea developed by people totally out of touch with the reality of their intended market. Just who the fuck is going to use this? Certainly not the mass consumer market the kitchen-white design and laughable features (wireless modem? 10 inch screen running at what, 640x480? hello?) seem to target. The layman might've bought the device two or three years ago, before everyone who has any use for the internet and can afford a computer got onto AOL and started cruising for preteens in the great online community.

    Think about the people you know who have the money to buy not only the appliance, but the various Sony gadgets that the thing is supposed to control. WEGA TV - $1'000+, DVD - $400+, sound system - $1000+. Do you really think that, first, those people constitute a large enough market in the US and, second, they aren't already fully connected and would cringe at the lack of expected functionality in the Sony device?

    This webpad shit is DOA, just like WAP, committee designed by a bunch of Finnish cokeheads who had the galt to believe that people outside of their insignificant socio-economic circle would be willing to pay exhorbitant rates to daytrade and check the delay on that connection at ORD.

    Honestly, there are several basic facts that idealab whiteboarding motherfuckers should get into their heads:
    • Everyone who could connect is connected, in the Atlantic zone at least.
    • People are set in their ways and will expect functionality similar to what they have now.
    • 1% of the population controls 99% of the capital. Just because everybody you know has a Visor with a GSM phone and modem and an mp3 player in their M3, doesn't mean that most people do.

    --
    Violence is necessary, it is as American as cherry pie.
    H. Rap Brown
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • What? Are all moderators (besides myself) humorless bitches? Redundant isn't the proper moderation for this.

    Jeez. Only 150 points or so left to go before I'm under the threshhold. I don't mind that I'm going down, just put me in the right category, 'kay?

    Hint: This one's not a troll, nor is it offtopic. It's FLAMEBAIT. End of lesson. I'll post it at +1 to give a couple moderators a chance to get an education.

  • As you can see.. no.. As you could've guessed I am still online.. and still reading /. I feel that it is pathetic.. but hey, what can you do.. there's not much else to do.. damn By the way, great reply man!


  • serious repetition on this one hey? at least they oughtta include something new. for example, rumor out of universal is that they are looking to make an airboard style play themselves. their tech is related to radio as well from what i understand.


    1. INTERACTIVE [mikegallay.com]
      1. ENTERTAINMENT

  • Slashdot sucks more every day...

    You're absolutely right. Why don't you create a competing service and run it to your liking? Clearly you're someone who never makes mistakes, so it would be great, I'm sure.

  • I've got it! Combine the functionality of a finger-tracing capacity with the knolwedge base of riffs from your favorite band, and you can convert your "Airboard" into an "Air Guitar".
    --
  • People, please don't get upset at CmdrTaco [cmdrtaco.net] and Hemos [hemos.net] as it is obviously not them that is posting the same stories over and over (and over) again. It is the evil hackers [slashdot.org] who cracked their security and installed a bot that takes an earlier story and reposts it. It's nothing but an elaborate version of the many trollbots.

    kc.
  • Oh well, double up on the Sony, but nothing about the new S3(frontpath [frontpath.com]) product called ProGear [frontpath.com] based on Trensmeta's chip....actually aimed at specific markets, but with Linux2.4, X and alot of goodies it it...Price [frontpath.com] is the kicker...."approximately $US1,500"

    Seems a bit steep even for verticle markets. Although it is well configured...I wouldn't mind using one of these for education and presentation reasons. Or maybe as a replacement for this Compaq notebook.
  • *clickity-click*

    Hangon, I'm working on it...

    --

  • Try reading the article....

    ...consists of a portable LCD display that locks into a base station...

    it's flat allright

  • D:C will send them a C&D letter for violating their IP. Sony hasn't gotten one yet. :)

  • Alrighty, return Slashdot to CmdrTaco and the gang. The hacking of Slashdot has gone on too long.

    Too bad we can't killfile articles for being brain headed or redundant.

  • And yet, they still get 1,000,000 hits/day.

    kwsNI
  • Sure, you send me a sprintboard with the remote module and the universal remote and I will do it.

    Put up or shut up!

  • Cool... That'd go great with my "wiresless" mouse.
  • Alright, so everybody must stop development immediately on projects that don't fit into YOUR view of the Way Things Should Be. Yes Sir, Mr. Slashdot Poster sir, I'll get right on it!

    Please.
  • So, we have a wireless Tivo?
  • So-knee-top tv
  • ...this one would deffinitely get a (-1, Redundant).

  • Sony Plans To A New Toy: Airboard [slashdot.org]
    Posted by timothy on Thursday September 28, @11:37PM

    they both link to the exact same article.

  • This is getting silly. (Score:5)

    by emerson ( 419 ) on Friday September 29, 2000 @04:15PM (#743618)
    OK, the previous article [slashdot.org] on this is STILL ON THE FRONT PAGE.

    Guys, proofread. Fact check. Communicate among yourselves. Read your own site. Spell-check ("Wiresless?").

    This, right on the heels of the default-password crack... well, as the dandruff commercial used to say, "that little itch should be telling you something."


    --
  • Just blame it on the crackers!!!!
  • The thing looks like it is probably just on its dock, meaning that it WOULD be a kneetop device... That's what it looks like to me, anyway...
  • I suppose I'll get some people pissed at me for not reading /. 24/7, but just the same: Thanks!

    I rarely have time to read /., even though I simply love to...i.e., there's no way for me to make time.

    When I /do/ get the chance to read /., I don't have time to browse through the archives to figure out what I've missed. I usually end up reading headlines from my windowmaker menu.

    What's the big deal, people? Even though it's not exactly 'hard news', it's still something I would have missed had it not occured. I suppose that it might be a good idea to have something like a 'resonate posts' system in order for people like me to get a chance to read this stuff...Discussions could continue, as well. Yippee.

    I'm in two high-school classes related to this situation: Economics and Journalism. While my Journalism class teaches me that this was something of a dumb mistake, I still appreciate what happened since it ought to have a big impact on Sony's stock. (In my Econ class, a good portion of our grade goes towards simulating working the stock market.) How would I have had the chance to find this out, otherwise. If the stock market has anything to do with 'luck-of-the-draw', it has to do with random factors indirectly connected, such as what's happened here.

    (Was that offtopic?)

    In the mean time, I'm going to look at this product, since it might be interesting to use one for things such as a way to take notes in class(audio, text, and video...my old BW Quickcams still work. What better way to draw a diagram that photograph the blackboard?), and coding when I find time.

    Hmm..This was my first post to /. in about two years...wonder what'll happen?
  • with a few different features it looks like the i-opener with a seriously jacked up price. but with sony's SDMI crap, i wonder how it would react to MP3's and things of that kind. it doesn't say anything about a HD or any hardware specs. but i'm thinking it'll prolly be the same situation too -> hours after it's released, someone cracks it and sony throws a fit. I still wouldn't buy it becaues it's Sony [slashdot.org].
  • That's not as bad as this [wpi.edu], when Hemos posted the same story, twice. The double stories stayed up for quite a while, until finally someone took the second one down.
  • Think he's mixing nyquil and dayquil? I certainly have been..

    -----------
  • The 'countertop' comment was mine. You might be right, but it looked fancier than the docking cradles I've seen for other devices. When the thing is shipped, it'll be interesting to see who's right. I've thought web pads were cool ever since I saw my first picture of one. If it's truely flat, I wouldn't mind having one.
  • cnet news has an article about Sony announcing the Airboard, a wireless web pad with a 10-inch touch screen that also doubles as a television and a remote control for other appliances. The Airboard will be introduced in Japan on December 1. Interesting, but judging by the picture, it's not entirely flat, so it will be more of a counter-top appliance, rather than a knee-top."

    I just wanted to make sure everyone knew about this.


  • Two short comments.

    1. Such a device would be great in places which have a strong wireless network and cannot afford/need full blown computers (can anyone say Africa.

    The developed countries haven't had a need for creating strong wireless networks (other than for mobile phones and they are severely speed limited anyway). Whereas Africa because of its lack of infrastructure jumped straight to wireless. If only Sony et. al. can get the price per unit down this might be the perfect vehicle to connect the 3rd world.

    2. Who the hell needs this in the developed world. Are we going to see teenyboppers walking around staring into a handheld slate? It seems like just another marketing ploy for those in the developed world.

  • In regards to #2:

    I dunno...But I certainly wouldn't mind increasing my 'geek' appearance by checking my stocks during econ class...

    But then again, I'm also the only guy at my 1700-student high-school that wants to end up with a job in the dark recesses of some university with money, time, and research at my disposal...

    Sig?
  • The webpad is actually a webpad as it says. The picture you see is it in the docking station. I see you didn't even bother reading the first paragraph in the C|net article "consists of a portable LCD display that locks into a base station with a TV antenna and wireless modem. " Defining the new digital culture [redune.com]
  • Maybe instead of releasing toys, webpads and countless other pieces of crap, they should concentrate on getting one good piece of hardware out in decent quantities....


    It's all about the PS2s, baby!
  • Now, if you'd gotten your head out of your defensive insecure little ass before reading my post, you would've perhaps understood that seeing companies like Nokia or Sony and their foolish investors pay the price of working on projects that don't fit my view of the Way Things Should Be can only make me happy. So keep developing bullshit technologies that you and your friends will drool over in your circle jerk, just don't expect the rest of us to give a shit about your products.
    --
    Violence is necessary, it is as American as cherry pie.
    H. Rap Brown
  • Interesting, but judging by the picture, it's not entirely flat, so it will be more of a counter-top appliance, rather than a knee-top.

    If you are refering to the part behind the actual pad, i think that's just the cradle, life for a palm...could be wrong though :-/

  • Staff meetings are kind of hard when the staff live on opposite sides of the country, with some inbetween.

    And really, honestly, what does it matter if it was posted twice? Big deal. I see more bitching about the double post than I do about Slashdot getting cracked.

    Brought to you by Slashdot User-ID 2430.
  • I wonder what the EULA on this one will be like...

    ....Use witin 50 feet of a napster client violates the warrenty.....
    ....Conecting a :CueCat to this device will cause it to exlode with a hightly leathal anti-personel charge.....

    -
    Even notice that the first part of :Cuecat is :C ?



    Defraggle
    Head monkey
    Dynamic League of discord POEE Cabal "Monkey"
  • LOL
    Toronto here. Oh, I played mini golf
  • Yet another example of how bad slashdot is getting. No spell checking, no proof reading..Hell how about reading the damn front page for once? I have been getting a little tired of the same stories posted day after day but this takes the cake..By the looks of things we only actually have to read the page once a month..Stories will be the same..Hell a lot of the time they likely will still even have the same links from a month ago at this rate..Have a clue guys. Don't you even care about the quality of the web site? Elrond
  • Yes, I can not spel

    Defraggle
    Head monkey
    Dynamic League of discord POEE Cabal "Monkey"
  • Grammar-check too. I'm still trying to figure out what "Sony Plans To A New Toy: Airboard" means.
  • Oh now let's go easy on Rob. He's had a hard day. What with being cracked last night and everything.

    However... I think it's obvious the term 'staff meeting' is lost on the /. editors.

    Might wanna consider doing that guys.

  • Oh, the irony!!! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Let me make sure I'm following you: it's not okay for Slashdot to post the same story twice, but it *is* okay for you to post the same comment that twenty-three other people already have?

    Nope, still doesn't make sense.
  • The article says that the product "consists of a portable LCD display that locks into a base station with a TV antenna and wireless modem"

    Sounds to me like the screen comes off for carrying... not just another internet appliance

  • If someone gave me $7 million in Andover stock and 90 grand a year to run my website, I'd get a spell checker and make sure not to run the same article twice on the front page.

    But maybe I'm just a bit too detail-oriented.

  • E-mails that you guys will never see (Score:5)

    by Frac ( 27516 ) on Friday September 29, 2000 @06:15PM (#743644)
    Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 14:43:29 -0400
    To: malda@slashdot.org
    From: marketing@cnet.com
    Subject: Low banner views
    ----------------------------

    We didn't get enough page hits from that Sony webpad article last night. In fact, it was pretty damn pathetic. You guys better do something about this. Otherwise I might have to write that scathing article about VA Linux, Andover.net, and CowboyNeal being in bed with Scott McNealy.

    Respectfully yours,

    CNET Editors

  • Groundhog day (Score:4)

    by Frac ( 27516 ) on Friday September 29, 2000 @06:17PM (#743645)
    In the world of /. editors, EVERYDAY is a Groundhog day.
  • like, deja vu to the third power even.
    all of these deja vu experiences are getting a little disturbing. i guess it's time to pull out the Jung again.
  • John Jorsett wrote:
    The 'countertop' comment was mine. You might be right, but it looked fancier than the docking cradles I've seen for other devices. When the thing is shipped, it'll be interesting to see who's right. I've thought web pads were cool ever since I saw my first picture of one. If it's truely flat, I wouldn't mind having one.

    The first sentence of the article is "The Airboard...consists of a portable LCD display that locks into a base station."
    So not only do you not read Slashdot, but you post evidence that you don't even read articles you submit. If I were you, I'd post right now that you just got an e-mail from Nohican && {}. : )
  • If that's what he wants, then yes... Although I'd strongly advise aganst it!
    -----------
  • You know, not that I'm a karma whore or anything... But being mod'ed down for the same comments as everyone else is posting... Mabye I should've mentioned Linux [indybox.com] and/or Perl [perl.com]

    Must whore myself... at least that way I'll at least get laid tonight... =)

    -----------
  • The Springboard has a remote module, how does that compare to the new Sony or the $200 remote that they advertise in the airline catalogues.

  • i'm glad somebody pointed out what's been driving US ALL crazy for so long...it's not just enough to get rid of ONE wire, you have to get rid of ALL the wires. hence my kudos to the cmdr for announcing the wiresless device. kudos kudos kudos. the zany continues here. [mikegallay.com]


    1. INTERACTIVE [mikegallay.com]
      1. ENTERTAINMENT

  • go read the faq dude
    .oO0Oo.
  • they really make your forearms ache and clicking little links is a pain, you finger prevents you from seeing what you are clicking on

    i know cos I've got one - one of those pc's from airplane seats (it' a 486 but i run vnc on it and ue it just a an input device/display)
    .oO0Oo.

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