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ASUS shows off its Open Cloud Computing with a dash of sci-fi, teen angst (video)
ASUS has been touting Open Cloud Computing as the glue that unites its new devices at Computex, but it hasn't been very specific as to what that meant. Rather than just give us the dry details, though, ASUS has chosen to sum it all up in a slightly surreal video illustrating how its cloud solves the travails of friends and family. Web storage comes up often for sharing files across the Internet -- apparently, by reaching through clouds -- and is joined by Open Help for sorting out frustrated parents, Open Link for helping woe-is-me teenagers finish high school projects on their Padfones, Vibe for sharing media and Waveface for coordinating a thank you event with everyone. Apart from being a bit trippy, the promo has more than a small dose of science fiction: although we've seen some future product concepts from ASUS before, we're pretty sure there's no holographic watches and virtual assistants on the short-term roadmap. If you can reconcile that with practical reality, you'll be ready for the video after the story jump.
ASUS' Jonney Shih talks tablets, Chrome OS and the (eventual) demise of netbooks
We've gotta say: after witnessing the ASUS press event at CES this year, we have a whole new love for the company and its outspoken Chairman, Jonney "megatrend" Shih. The man, myth, legend recently sat down with Silicon.com and talked a bit about his own brand of the future. Apparently ASUS has slate PC prototypes in its labs, along with netbooks running Android and Chrome OS, but there's nothing he's convinced is ready for market yet. For slates specifically, "Content is still not attractive enough today to the customer," according to Shih. He expects there to be content stores from Apple, Google and Microsoft to obtain content tailored to touchscreen tablets, and plans on waiting until there is such a compelling use case before bringing something to market (though those color e-books sure look raring to go). Another potential category that ASUS is hedging its bets on is the smartbook. He likes the price advantage, but isn't sure users are ready to abandon Windows yet. "When people talk about cloud computing, unfortunately it's still not there yet," he says, but: "as time goes on you will see more advantage of being always connected." The solution to all of this madness? WaveFace, naturally. A post-netbook era, perhaps five years from now, will diverge from the "regular, dull PC roadmap" and put more emphasis on portability, wearability and intuitive use. A couple of concept renders doesn't have us convinced ASUS is positioned to deliver this, but we're happy to watch and find out.
ASUS Waveface concept line shown off during our lifetime, might be available after it (video)
ASUS is back at it again with the crazy concept designs, and this time around it's brought the lustworthy Waveface collection to look pretty behind glass. There are three different concepts in the lineup that aim to redefine computing in almost every way imaginable. First up is the Ultra, which is a wearable computer / mobile phone based around a flexible OLED display and can be controlled through hand gestures in mid air or by touching the display. Next is the Light, which is also based around a folding OLED, but will have some sort of physical keyboard that pops up when folded up into the laptop form factor. Lastly, the Waveface Casa, a television-esque home computer that will also be controlled through gestures in the air. We wish we could show you how said gestures would work -- or how any of this would work, really -- but these were really nothing more than empty shells filled with displays. Clearly this tech is a far ways off, but it's good to know that ASUS still has quite the imagination -- and hopefully the knowhow to maybe make it real someday. %Gallery-82289%
