MSN and c|net are having something of a torrid affair, I guess. Here’s an article they collaborated on. It’s about PCs that fit a room’s design.
At the end of the article they link to another one.
Is that a Media Center PC–or an end table?
My hand hurts, so I don’t feel like retyping all the crazy thoughts these articles gave me. Instead, I’ll just paste part of my chat with Brooke. Sorry for the laziness.
me (15:02:27): I’m reading some articles about designing furniture to hide PCs
me (15:02:43): there was a show I saw YEARS ago where someone had designed their living room to be a home theater
Brooke (15:02:48): oh yeah? neat!
Brooke (15:02:54): I’ve seen those; they’re really cool
me (15:03:04): and all the electronics and stuff was hidden behind beautiful wood panels
me (15:03:11): but my favorite part was the coffee table
me (15:03:16): it had built-in controls for EVERYTHING
me (15:03:27): with like a mini LCD screen or something
me (15:03:52): I’m thinking it would be nice to have a specially designed coffee table with a fold-up section that would reveal a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse
Brooke (15:03:56): oh NICE
Brooke (15:04:00): heheheheheh :-)
me (15:04:06): you know, it doesn’t have to be especially fancy
me (15:04:15): just so it looks nice, and hides the peripherals ;>
me (15:04:26): you know what I also think would be cool…a recipe PC
me (15:04:29): for in the kitchen
me (15:04:39): of course, this is more silly
me (15:04:55): but it would have its own little printer so it could print recipes on 4X6 cards
me (15:05:05): and also a little LCD screen if you just wanted to look at it on there
me (15:05:20): and I think it should be able to access web databases of recipes…maybe through a subscription service
me (15:05:24): surfing the web would be too dangerous for that
me (15:05:32): you wouldn’t want to get a virus in your dinky little recipe PC
me (15:05:41): it wouldn’t even really be a PC, more of a function box
me (15:05:45): is there a word for that?
me (15:05:49): :>
Brooke (15:06:11): there’s one, now……. ;-)
Brooke (15:06:17): recipe pc
me (15:06:24): it could be connected to the house’s server, and all the recipes and things could be stored there
me (15:06:33): so basically, I’m thinking it would be a dumb terminal
me (15:06:53): man, there are so many cool things you can do with computers
me (15:07:04): I’d like to integrate them better into my lifestyle
me (15:07:14): right now if I want to do anything on them I have to come into the office
me (15:07:24): I’d like to have more convenience for tasks that I find useful elsewhere
me (15:08:30): “The design company’s other prototype is a wall-mounted system with a removable 12-inch LCD screen; it can be managed from a distance with a remote control, or the screen can be detached to function as a tablet for someone relaxing on a couch. Becker said the idea is to have a display option suited to traditional PC tasks such as e-mail and Web surfing, tasks that are often clumsy at best when executed via the screen of a TV set.“For the most part, Media Center is geared toward media,” he said. “The idea with this is that you can also bring some of those common PC functions to the couch.””
me (15:08:32): see, that’s kinda neat