I don't get it

Why can't road signs, building signs, be consistent and be correct? Constitant placement, icons, language, sizing...

Why don't I have a credit card that sends an email to me so I can slot every expense into a category... for my expense report, for my personal taxes, for my budget...

Is it me, or an I just the freak that buys the same stuff, goes the same places, and calls the same people over and over? I want an online grocery that has the stuff I buy on my shopping list. OJ, Milk, Bagels, Beer, there must be 25 things that make up 80% of what I buy.. is this so simply stupid.

Why don't conference bridges call out to get eveyone onto the bridge that has not dialed in?

Why don't browsers have some basic cookies available to any web site such as time zone and zip code?

Why doesn't Google provide a contact vcf to be dragged onto my contacts, or provide a click to call via my choice... based on mypreference, my cell for example?

Why don't conference call systems send SMSs that ask if you want to add a Con Call on your Ourlook calendar?

How about a credit card the fixes the credit card fraud problem by making me approve all puchases.. send my a SMS and I will say ok, before the approval system is allowed to approve the transaction... if over an amount, or out of an area, or if for certain kinds of retail genre?

Why don't web radio, Google news, Yahoo, etc. track surfing and interests to coorelate interests... if someone is looking at the stuff I am, maybe I would be interested in the same things?

Why doesn't my bank send emails if I haven't paid a bill I regularly pay each month?

Why when I look at a mapquest map or a Yahoo map doesn't it end up as a location on my nav screen on my Nav system in my car? How else would I get there?

Is there a way to broadcast music over my homenetwork so all my devices have the same thing?

Is there a random montage of pictures and videos for my plasma screen to display stuff randomly?

If call logs show up on my computer, in Vonage, or from my mobile phone, why can't I get it to show a vcf to add to my addy book?? I mean, how often do I have to look up the same freakin pizza ship?

If browsers can have autocomplete, why can'f phone complete phone numbers?

Thin is in at home and the office

But thin doesn't mean weak. My idea of thin means clean, crisp, elegant, not a gaming machine, but it would support Windows XP, Office 2003, and TV/tivo functions

What I want is a better monitor. I want a 19" with better speakers, a built in mic ( I have it in my notebook) and a built in video camera. The mic would have a BOM of around $2, and the video camera around $20. and the speakers... which could include an jack for a sub maybe (this would have a cost of perhaps $10, include the wireless mouse and kyb thing, and lastly a couple of USB connectors and it would clean up my world!!! Fewer wires, less cost, cleanly done.

• 19" 4:3 and 16:9 ... use top of the line LCDs
  - and bigger screens.... its just plastic after all !!!
  - after all, if I have a 42" over my mantel, I really want it to be stand alone... and if the cost is an extra $1000 or less, why not?
• useful speakers... enough volume for music, TV, and video conf
• USB ports on edge
• wireless mouse/keyboard sending unit
• microphone
• video camera
• The BOM for all would be under $50, and the retail postioning would be premium and yield an up sale of $100 to $150

Then allow multple ways to mount.

• From the top (as in under cabinent)
• From the bottom (as in sitting on the desk)
• And from the back (mounted to the wall)
• And from a boom

Then the next would be to put an IPX computer and HDD in case, adding one inch to the case. The power would be provided by a seperate brick. VIA runs at 1.3Mhz, with a 7200 rpm SATA 2.5" 80 G drive, 1 G of DRAM, built in 802.11G, and no CD/DVD ROM (and external drive is avaiable in the market)

Tech Directions

The home PC is stablizing-- only gamers push the envelope

• There is potential in cases... quiet, small. Imagine a PC that is thin... as thin as a laptop without a screen, mouse pad, or keyboard... screw it to the botton my the cabinent, add a TV tuner, and you can check the mail, weather, calendar, tasks, pay bills... where you used to. In the kitchen... oh, and use it to set the thermostat, sprinklers, and security system.
  
• Why is there no mainstream monitor with a video cam built in.
• What about a monitor/TV that mounts in the kitchen... with a microphone, video cam built in. Better have a red blinking light when the camera is on!

The automobile is the next bastion

• Auto TIVO for the car
• with GPS, location based services, concerige push... with a client in the home, or where ever people want it.... a new applicaiton. Call your friend, get directions... just tell him your IP address
• Software runs as a server at home. Collecting stuff for your car, and caching it there. How? the autoPC is has a couple of USB ports, a couple of PCMCIA ports allowing commodity networking via Bluetooth (the phone in your pocket could sync files), the autoPC could sync via any 802.11 AccessPoint, and use GPRS and 1X. In fact, with 1X, GPRS the server could push information based on rules. Traffic, weather, voicemail, call logs, alerts.
  
• All the hardware exists
• Software is missing 1) unfied call log 2) portal for pushing 3) heuristic content collection (all clicks and reponses in the car would be feed for analysis 4)
  
• Who wins? PC manufactures, Networking companies, Wireless operators (a whole new source of account (making accounts sticky), Retail (Best Buy, Radio Shack), Content (iTunes, Yahoo, MSN), software, concericge services
• imagine integration with fuel gauge giving favorite gas station reminders (how does it know the favorite) GPS... it knows where you frequent

We are getting there

I've seen the Nike bluetooth enabled MP3 player and the personal media devices. Now we need the functionality inside a cell phone.

My vision: Walk up to PC, look at My Computer, Click on your folder (its there because your Bluetooth phone is in your pocket or you have connected your phone via USB), enter your username/password and the desktop, My Documents, Favorites, Address Book... is all available. VPN onto the office network, no problem....

The problem is that you likely will have no way to install an application, so the application would have to operate as a Java program executing in a browser. Interestingly, it wgould also intelligently store selected browsed content.... spend more than a few seconds on MapQuest and the image gets stored on the phone storage, look up a phone number on Google and a vcf is added.

Security? By combining a key in the phone with the phone esn, your username, and your password strong security would be enabled. The system would allow you to log into your environment even though your home computer is off, and your work computer is in your briefcase by syncing selected, and recently accessed files on a routine basis. This would work then only if it is offered by a service provider with storage.. and with Google, Hotmail, and Yahoo all giving 2G in storage. And storage costing less than a $1 per G, this seems doable. I have big drives, but I am certain I would have a problem selecting 10G of content I would look at if I excluded all video, all music I have not listed to for 1 year.

What I really want is stuff I regularly access. Stuff I have recently been working on. And much of this type stuff could fit on the Flash in the phone anyway.

 

I was at my 6th grader son's school's open house last night and marvelled at the fact that every class room at an digital projector. No more TV's on a cart. No more teacher walking in front of the Overhead projector. School announcements were being broadcast from some office... I was impressed. It was more advanced than the office.....

But then I looked in the back of the science classroom and lined up very neatly (is was open house) were 6 pc's on individual tables each with a 15 or 17" monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and a CPU unit. None of these were bolted down... The problem I had with this was simply the space, the exposed cabling, and the potential for something to drop on the floor or walk out the door.

It seems like you could take half a notebook, screw it to the bottom of a table, drill a hole in the table for cables, and put a CD/DVD R/W in the base of a monitor and have a cleaner appearing solution, with more work space, eliminate damage and theft, and increase reliability. ...... Dell meet SteelCase..

How about a way to put a limit order into ebay?... ie, instead of searching for a Sony Vio PCG-R505TSK and searching the list entries... assume there is one description and multiple sellers... and then build an exchange where you match buyers and sellers... like a stock exchange. Like everything else there is probably 1000 items that make up half of ebays volume, why not make a std description of those items and match buyers and sellers
Kjotis@Swbell. Net: do you blog?

not sure if that is poss - seems like someone will always have something a bit different - different color, size, age etc need to account for condition of the item unlike a stock which are all the same.

Net: ... but lots of ebay is new... what i find is everyonce and a while there is a deal ... like something closes in the middle of the night... so this 'service' could arbitrage that anomily
Good points!

... and with the SIP server and media server.. I could have residential email !

And what about using one of the telemetry radios that run over the WANs for home security, and for a On-Star like feature. .. and combined with Digital AM radio and GPS... there could be a very cool offer.

If someone had a SIP server at home, what would have to be offered by a service provider other than gateway services?

Will personal servers become DVRs?
Or will DVRs become personal servers?
Will servers become reliable enough to never require a manual reboot. Will the become smart enough to reboot themselves?
Can and should the server reside inside a desktop machine, perhaps on a PCI SBC?
Will we have servers in the car?
Will we run VoIP/SIP servers on the personal server? All the features of a PBX, no bill... All you have to do is purchase gateway access?
Search indexing on the server.

VentureBlog: Consumer Electronics & Gadgets

SIPphone Inc.