Once you started hearing about people putting trojans/viruses on thumbdrives and dropping them in public for people to pickup, use and get their systems infected - you knew that USB drives would never be a good anonymous mass media distribution method.

I agree that inserting one of these into a computer is probably to dangerous to be sane - that said, plenty of people are likely to do so.

Huh... Not a comfy looking chair - now if they had used the chair from the TD commercials....

Organic LEDs are not about being "efficient". They are all about DYING.

Yup, that's right. OLED organic molecules burn out/away.

First, the blue goes away some time between 41 days to a maximum of 5 years depending on how recent the OLED technology is and how much you use it.

The problem is so bad that some adopters have to turn their display off 99% of the time. IE: The Optimus Maximum keyboard. Why? Because they're closer to the start curve where their blue only lasts about 1000 hours.

So why would anyone want to build anything explicitly designed to self destruct? Simple, so you have to buy a new one. The manufacturers will only invest enough money to extend life time to what THEY think you should have. Gone are the days of having a 20 year old TV that still works.

It will be more like paying more than full price to license the usage of a device for a period of time (which may be shorter than they promise). After that, pay again or do with out.

I get the sense that the effective range of this device is "don't stick your finger in here!" So unless it comes with a double dog dare,
I'm not seeing the denial part going on here - let alone any actual area. 5 grand seems kinda pricy for the high tech equivalent of a light socket sans bulb.

Worse, it seems to have a light show stoners might congregate to enjoy - just add a trippy sound track.

Tell me that for 5 grand it's more than a low performing bug zapper you can get for 50$ at a hardware store.

If Multitouch is ever going to avoid being the next SideShow, it has to start showing up on LARGER displays.

First, on 16 and 17 inch laptops, and then on the bigger desktop station displays.

If it doesn't start happening in the next 6 months, it will never happen. Developers will never seriously code for it and users will never even remember it exists. They'll assume when they see it on CNN that its a fancy camera trick like the holographic host.

Which isn't to say that it shouldn't fail. Who wants a screen full of fingerprints?

I will have to see a price before I get excited about anything.

Also, I might be happier if it was just a USB display instead of a crippled computer with a cheap processor and no battery (and for a form factor that demands a battery it seems poorly designed) Again, better if it was just a USB display for 200$.

Still, even if it fails, it might push the market forward.

Seriously? No one noticed this wasn't a documentary but rather an investment pitch?

I've won enough "free prizes" to know when someone is building up to asking me for a distrubing amount of money when I see it.

Revolutionary concept indeed. It's a white CRT tube with a diffused electron gun. I wonder how hot that sucker gets (and if it breaks, just how wickedly high the voltage step up is....) At least the fabrication technique should be easy to figure out - they have only been making them for over a hundred years now.

I would be very interested to see the 4' flourescent tube replacements - ought to be interesting. Esp. if they deliver on the drop in replacement promise.

Seriously, am I the only one who sees the inevitable rolling blackouts and nation wide power failures during the bumper to bumper parking we call "the long weekend commute" covers highways near and far with an endless stream of sunlight blocking cars and trucks instead of incoming photons begging to get funky and liberate some loose electrons?

HP promptly penned off a letter of protest to GreenPeace.

It arrived sealed in an envelope, sealed in a courier pack, sealed in a box, wrapped in bubble wrap, sealed in a larger box, wrapped in 4 layers of plastic wrap, and tied to a palette for good measure.

Currently about as practical as a kick in the head.

Still, it might develop into something interesting just in time to be made irrelevant by the next thing which is more practical.