The Next Big Thing… Is An Appliance
The success of some gadgets seem obvious in retrospect. From mp3 players to netbooks, you never know when something is going to expode. Or do you? I think the next potential explosion will live in our livingrooms.
I recently started exploring home theater computer systems such as LinuxMCE and Boxee. I had a vague sense of what I wanted before I started looking. These applications were interesting, but not the experience I was looking for. I wasn’t searching for a TV replacement. I did want to consume media, but that’s not all I wanted to do. It came to me while Nino’s mom was visiting. I fired up the Wii so Nino could show off Raging Rabbids. Meanwhile, I found myself playing with the news and weather applications. I sat there watching the view jump around a map of the earth while related news items were shown at the bottom. That was the trigger that brought it all together in my mind.