[ Thanks to Matt for
this link. ]
“It’s getting harder to tell the difference between the hardware
in the living room and the den. Devices for playing music and
movies and for storing and displaying photos are beginning to
resemble personal computers, and vice versa. This so-called
convergence just took another giant leap in the fall at two Asian
trade shows–one for the PC industry, in Taiwan, and the other for
consumer electronics makers, in Japan.“Both shows promoted proud little boxes with big hard drives and
fast microprocessors. They can store and play back hundreds of
hours of video, make DVDs, archive digital photographs, play music,
e-mail, access the Internet and more. All this can be done using a
remote control and, the makers claim, without having to read the
manual. These boxes are ushering in the day when PC shoppers may
figure they no longer need a PC. The screen in the living room will
suffice…”