Rodent Regatta

Look at what David Coursey had to say about his travels:

On one recent business trip, for example, I carried a laptop, not one but two PDAs, a GPS device, my iPod, my everyday cell phone and another that I’m testing, and the metal flashlight that airport security almost didn’t let me on the plane with… Each one of those devices has its own unique power supply. (And often I carry a second one in case the first one dies.)

Now look at something Ray Ozzie said:

But in the meantime, the PC has become a powerhouse: cpu, gpu, storage, price. The Great Conversion to notebook computers is well under way, and it’s now clear that the most wildly successful wireless mobile productivity device won’t be the 3G phone, or even the BlackBerry, but the ubiquitous and inexpensive WiFi notebook. In a shape and size to suit every need.

Do you see any connection?

It’s difficult to imagine the thing we call today’s laptop morphing into the single device we carry. But imagine for a moment that a device similar to those Ray points to could be as functional as the list of devices David carried. Let’s call the ”ubiquitous and inexpensive WiFi notebook” a UWIN (for ubiquitous WiFi inexpensive notebook).

If your UWIN could truly replace a handheld GPS, your cell phone, your PDA and your current laptop, you’d be dealing with only the power issues of that single device. So much of this problem seems to boil down to an industrial design problem. Sure, there’d be some habits that have to change; but, essentially, we’d all be carrying a UWIN that we could count on.

I’m all for research and development in the power arena. I wish one of my cell phones didn’t think it had a 10-minute battery; rather, I wish the battery didn’t think it has a 10-minute life! But, for an optimum solution, I’d simply prefer fewer devices. UWIN!