For a while now I've thought that someone should create portable computers that could use a larger machines features (screen, mouse, keyboard, etc) when plugged into a larger box. Turns out (as usual) I wasn't the only one thinking about this.
Meet BlackDog. This little machine, while it doesn't come with an interface it can handle the "symbiotic" relationship I mentioned earlier. Plug the BlackDog into any host machine, authenticate using your finger or thumb, and you can start using your Linux-based portable server.
Now as you may have realized, this is only helpful if you have access to pre-existing laptops or desktops that can host your BlackDog. However, BlackDog's symbiotic relationship isn't terribly intrusive, so the host machine is really none the wiser. The host doesn't even need to reboot.
Two things I think BlackDog lacks that it would be good to acquire in the next 6 months are input and output devices of it's own (making it a full fledged PDA) and a much larger hard drive (256-512 mb) pail in comparison to the iPod nano's 2 to 4GB range.
It's an excellent start and decently priced at $199. It's certainly something that will take off among "geeks" and "techies." The rest of us are likely to wait until it reaches a higher level of ubiquity.
Now if they could make their BlackDog Linux version installable on an iPod nano.... :)
Posted by TheIdeaMan at October 18, 2005 02:47 PM | TrackBack