Single-Lens Laptop
Having more than once had to jam a briefcase stuffed with a notebook computer, camera, PalmPilot, and cell phone into an airplane's overhead compartment, I'm all for convergence. The Sony Vaio PictureBook does its part by taking the digital camera out of its case and sneaking it into the laptop. Mounted above the display, the swivel camera eye shoots stills or video, while preinstalled software lets me quickly manipulate images and slip them directly into email or documents. With all the slimness of the popular Vaio 505, the $2,299 Win98 PictureBook weighs only 2.5 pounds and lets everyone from interior designers to presentation-producing execs capture on-the-spot digital images without the extra hardware hassle. It's already a hit in Japan, where it quickly became the top-selling ultrathin notebook.
Release: March. Sony: (888) 531 7669, www.sony.com.
Sky Map
Private pilots know that keeping maps for navigation is often a pain - literally. They have to twist around to pull charts from under the seat in a cramped cockpit, sometimes causing back injuries. To the rescue comes FlightDeck Organizer CT-1000, a tablet computer that fits on the instrument panel and displays maps from CD-ROMs.
Cell Computing, maker of the smallest Pentium motherboard, teamed up with Regan Designs to create the powerful 200-MHz navigation tool, which they claim can resist underpressurized cockpits and coffee spills. According to federal law, private pilots must carry frequently updated paper maps, called Jeppesen charts, but with FlightDeck Organizer CT-1000, a disc containing local airport and landing-area updates arrives every 56 days. For now, pilots still must carry the analog version, but at least their main navigation aide will be stain-free and close at hand.
Release: late spring. Northstar Technologies: (800) 628 4487.
Disney on Demand
Dinosaur videos are no longer a busy parent's only ally. Now you can also let the kiddies play Disney CD-ROMs by downloading the software and forking over a small pay-to-play fee. The service, provided by Media Station, will be available through cable and DSL connections.
As its day job, Media Station is a game-development studio behind three of the top 10 best-selling family games: 101 Dalmatians, Ariel's Story Studio, and Pocahontas. But CEO and president Jim Maslyn says the company also wants to develop better delivery methods. The new system lets you play software over your Internet connection as if the disc were sitting in your CD-ROM drive. The software is encrypted as it comes over the wire and allows you to use it anytime during a 24-hour period. Offerings include home reference titles, children's games, and girl-friendly titles licensed from various companies.
Of course, there are more arguments against Media Station's plan than spots on a dalmatian. Analysts at Forrester Research, for example, are skeptical that mass audiences will sign on for fat pipes, despite the buzz surrounding broadband's slowly growing subscriber base. Still, the fact that AOL is eyeing cable partners gives this industry a real boost. And although its connection is no faster than a sluggish 2X CD-ROM drive, the company has wisely targeted a type of software that's slower paced than the frenetic blood-and-guts games that its only competitor, Arepa, plans to offer. And in delivering CD-ROM content, Media Station is more realistic than others, like broadband-developer Intertainer, which plans to deliver video by Internet. In the end, a Disney game after dinner might just guarantee broadband's mass appeal.
Release: late spring. Media Station: www.mediastation.com.
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