“The Silicon Valley company that designed Palm’s slender Palm V
has developed a wireless Internet appliance based on Transmeta’s
Crusoe microprocessor, Transmeta’s chief executive officer said on
Thursday.”
“CEO David Ditzel showed slides of the prototype device,
designed by Ideo Product Development, during a dinner presentation
here sponsored by Microprocessor Report. The “Web slate,” as he
called it, is about the size of a paperback book, has a wireless
Internet connection and, like the Palm, uses handwriting
recognition to input data.“
“The device also features a high-resolution, 8 inch screen for
viewing Web pages and DVD movies, a small camera for on-the-road
videoconferencing, a global positioning system for navigation, and
embedded speakers for playing digital music files, according to
information on Ideo’s Web site.”
“The Web slate was designed to be more portable than a laptop,
and it offers a larger viewing screen than a PDA (personal digital
assistant), Ideo said. Transmeta commissioned the design to show
off the versatility of its new chip. That means Ideo probably will
not offer the Web slate commercially, but other manufacturers may
sell something similar.”