http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
Very true. And y'all over here JUST thought of it?! That's scary. I thought it would've been picked up during Ballmer's 3 Screens propaganda.]]>May 26th 2010 5:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
But Thanks, JT, for spelling it out! Hopefully they'll get moving on it ASAP!]]>May 26th 2010 5:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/The idea isn't that new. But I think the answer that's being worked on right now (mostly by Google) isn't mentioned in this article. Google is moving more and more applications to the web. If you envision a world where all applications are on the web, then the Continuous Client could just consist of syncing opened tabs. The Chrome browser already lets you sync bookmarks, settings and themes, active tabs would just be a slight step from there. Chrome OS would obviously do this as well and I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to include Android in this as well.

Wouldn't that be an acceptable and realistic solution, Josh?]]>May 26th 2010 5:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/Sounds like the path that Google may be on. The whole "push to phone" button in Chrome, for example. Obviously there is a lot more to it than that, but it's a step in the right direction.]]>May 26th 2010 6:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/Interesting idea but it poses some huge challenges for sites like this. If I'm browsing page 3 and I want to continue where I left off later page 3's content may now be on page 4 or 5. However this should be simple enough within an article since the URLs are distinct.]]>May 26th 2010 6:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
I think the answer is Continuous Client as a service, but the service must be standardized across platforms and implementations, not 'bastardized' by each company.. ]]>May 26th 2010 6:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/Good luck trying to get Apple to allow session syncing between an iPad and your Chrome browser. :-P

I kid, but not really...otherwise I agree with you, Google has made some steps towards this.]]>May 26th 2010 6:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
@Joshua Topolsky
One day, we will look back on this post and mock our past-selves.

We will have systems that do this and so much unbelievably more in ways I can't even describe because it hasn't become a problem yet, let alone necessitated a solution.

It will be just like "Thread 500" - one of my fave reads..
]]>May 26th 2010 6:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
"Now a Continuous Client can potentially be three things: the first would be an operating system, the second would be an application available across multiple OSs, and the third would be Continuous Client as a service."

How about a device the size of a smartphone that docks inside a tablet and or a laptop. Moving the session from smaller screen to larger screen and back without a hiccup. No need for any service, or OS. ]]>May 26th 2010 6:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 6:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 10:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 10:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/I'm pretty sure this is called X-Windows.]]>May 27th 2010 9:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
Yup, check out this live demo of iPhone to PC session handoff implemented by Cisco WebEx: http://bit.ly/c67BMQ]]>May 27th 2010 1:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/Jun 19th 2010 12:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/I'll try some ideas I have for this. Thanks for a great project idea]]>May 26th 2010 5:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
I'm diggin the green engadget too. ]]>May 26th 2010 6:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/how about we just cut the bullshit and stick overclocked i7's in everything from phones to microwaves. "now i can encode hd video on the go". ]]>May 26th 2010 9:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/]]>May 26th 2010 5:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 7:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/There's also something similar for graphical applications called "xmove"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmove

]]>May 26th 2010 10:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/A closer parallel could be drawn with Kindle I think, right? Doesn't it sync what page you're on, etc across all Kindle apps (the actual device, iPhone, etc)? I don't know for sure because I don't use it, but that's how I thought it worked.]]>May 26th 2010 6:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
Another similar function of this is what Joshua referred to as the 'eject button' that gets your work area ready to load on another device. When I'm done reading on my iPhone, I go back to the home screen of the Kindle app and it immediately starts to sync my updated page with the Kindle cloud at Amazon. It's simply genius.]]>May 26th 2010 7:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/Ah, aren't you basically describing VNC? VNC was developed in the 90's by Olivetti Research Laboratory. I believe it's original use was geared towards medical personnel, allowing them to roam around a hospital and bring up their "desktop" instantly on any PC/terminal.

Sure, it was not built around the limited real-estate of a modern mobile device, although there are VNC clients for many mobile platforms. However, a bit of tweaking may be all that's necessary to satisfy your desire to have a continuous client.
]]>May 26th 2010 5:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
I understand that VNC has its limitations. I don't believe there was much development done beyond the 90's. However, with a bit of work I believe it might work.

At a minimum, you'd need a profile for each type of device, and a mapping for basic controls.
]]>May 26th 2010 5:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
That was more than 10 years ago. Thin client computing did not catch on for mobile users back then because wireless connectivity was not fast enough nor ubiquitous enough.

I believe we are almost there now. Handheld devices have the necessary CPU and display prowess now. Always-on network access is fast enough and reliable enough. True mobile computing as described in the article is on the verge of becoming reality. Someone just needs to pull the existing pieces together.]]>May 26th 2010 5:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
There's also the issue that VNC can be difficult to set up (especially in a secure manner) without a pretty solid knowledge of computer networking. You have to either know your machine's IP at all times, or understand how to set up dynamic DNS. For most setups, port forwarding would also be necessary. While Josh didn't specify, I get the feeling that the ideal implementation of this idea would not require the user to actually understand what's going on behind the scenes.

And as Nilay pointed out, VNC-ing to your computer with anything with a significantly smaller screen requires you to use a full PC-type interface on a device that is less than optimal (to put it mildly). That's why Josh's suggestion is more concerned with the data/content, instead of the exact pixels on the screen.]]>May 26th 2010 6:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
What you want is already available. For email. It's called IMAP.

It has puzzled me for sometime why I have to endure each device not knowing my rss feed.

For me what you describe is service based, only a little bit above IMAP or facebook knowing what I've done. Now they would know where I was. Almost just a cookie but a "known user" one. Can see a basic API written that websites use. privacy complaints anyone?

The other idea though, sort of like vnc, though I understand it isn't. That would require at the easiest a "lowest common os" approach, meaning we all end up with the mobile phone os spreading up. Most engadget readers seem appaled at the idea, unless it's android.

Reality is though computing as an appliance, the consume and use device is upon us in full force. Dev and server devices won't be doing this continum thing though, for many reasons, for that vnc and it's decendants will be the ongoing solution.]]>May 26th 2010 7:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 27th 2010 6:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/1) Foremost is a cloud based strategy since the cloud acts like a centralized store for data and state.
2) Second is proximity based where hand-off occurs in an ad-hoc manner between devices in proximity of each other.

I think #2 should be used when #1 is not available or if both #2 and #1 are available based on the requirements for transferring the state the underlying system (not the app) should figure out which one to use.]]>May 26th 2010 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
Kindle does this too between it's various client via Whispernet.

The route for this is definitely Cloud services syncing. Though I'm not sure I'd always want a sync. I might have my work machine and my iPad and i don't want the same thing on both.
]]>May 26th 2010 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
]]>May 26th 2010 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/1) the Lenovo Skylight pad which syncs essentially all your documents across the Linux and Windows OS.
2) The ability of Steam to carry save games from one computer to another (Although atm its restricted to only a particular OS i.e. Windows to Windows and Mac to Mac)
3) The future(& demonstrated) ability of Xbox 360 games to be played from the TV to your Windows 7 phone.

Unfortunately, it cannot be done without agreeing to standards which in turn are impossible to implement because what is a Saved state for one program cannot be applicable to a saved state for another program so the question is how do you carry states across.
The only obvious solution is to move to the Cloud which IMO is not practical for a bunch of programs and situations. The need is obvious but IMHO the solution is not so clear as you make it out to be.]]>May 26th 2010 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 6:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/May 26th 2010 5:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2010/05/26/firefox-home-coming-soon-to-the-iphone/
http://mozillalabs.com/sync/2010/02/05/weave-sync-new-apis-and-resources-for-developers/]]>May 27th 2010 5:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/a-modest-proposal-the-continuous-client/
@Spiny Norman - you are describing a remote desktop which in turn would require a central "server", doesn't sound like a great solution.
]]>May 26th 2010 5:37PM