François Nonnenmacher (EN) | FR

OQO is launching a small PC they call an ultra personal computer (uPC). They have posted a video of it, which amazes me not so much for the product itself than for its first minute of flask-back in computer history, showing a disturbingly high number of computers I've known, seen, played with or owned in the past 24 years. Incidentally, the OQO design team includes people coming from the Titanium PowerBook project team, and besides a few cultural references that I can spot in the video, the OQO has a familiar touch and seems packed with all the trendy technologies.

As a side note, this concept of a small device replacing both a notebook and a desktop computer doesn't click yet with me. There is a gap between my needs for a good phone/PDA combination and my computing needs and the uPC seems to be in between. The trouble is, I don't need anything in between. The phone/PDA combination is already there and it what it needs is autonomy and usability in the smallest form-factor possible. The computer absolutely requires big screen and as much power as possible, and high-end laptops are already coming close to replacing desktops for really demanding environments. With things like the iPod to help carry loads of data between home and office (wait for your portable user account between Macs), I don't need anything between those ends (I'd actually expect the iPod to blend into the phone/PDA side).

[Source: The Register, small review]