Computers have been getting smaller, but phones and tablets aren’t the only beneficiaries. ASUS has come up with a nifty little computer in the form factor of a stick you can carry in your pocket. It has 2GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage, a Bay Trail Atom processor, and two USB ports, making it effectively a Windows tablet or notebook PC without the touchscreen built in. It apparently has an HDMI plug to plug into a TV or other display as a monitor (though the Gizmodo article is a little unclear about that). And WiFi, of course.
At $130, it’s more expensive than the Raspberry Pi, CHIP, or other pocket-sized PC projects we’ve covered, but it’s also more polished, and capable of running a full-fledged Windows operating system. It’s a little underpowered for gaming, but promises to be a great PC for getting some work done or streaming media. If you use a Logitech unifying dongle for your mouse and keyboard, you even have a spare USB port for plugging in storage. Hopefully the HDMI port on your TV is somewhere easy to reach.
In many countries of Latin America, a vivo is a con man, a charlatan, an unethical person, a flim-flam artist. That may or may not predict market success in Latin America.
This technology is coming on fast. Soon you will carry your computer with you in your pocket, and just hook up to any display, keyboard and mouse that is available. You can have Windows, I can have Linux and she can have Apple, we won’t be stuck with someone else’s choice. Libraries, coffee shops and schools won’t have to worry about their computers getting hacked because they will just supply the monitors and people will bring their own computers.
I have a library of about 3,000 digital books that I carry on a usb hard drive. Anywhere I can find a Linux computer, I can fire up Tellico and browse through my digital catalog. But once these little puppies get to the point of having half a terabyte of internal storage, (won’t be long) I will be able to carry my library in my pocket.