Technology:

A true advance in personal computing:

So again, in lieu of more substantial content while I continue working on the promised posting about free speech, I will offer a litle bit of fluff.

If you have never heard of modular computers, check out OQO.com. Essentially a modular computer is one that functions as a portable device and a computer. Think of it as a step down in size from a laptop computer, and a leap up in capability over todays more common PDAs.

The truly exciting quality of these machines is not their size, however, but the potential applications when one combines this sort of pocket-computer with a wearable display (see this Wired article, and this article from USA Today). The potential here is that one can carry around a simple 'box' that funcions as the CPU while wearing an eye-piece to function as the display, thus freeing current devices from the power-hungry displays and granting a longer abttery life to the computers themselves. Consider that instead of the 3-5 hour battery life of most laptop computers, one could potentially double this time by removing the display and replacing disc drives with card slots compatible with compact-flash cards or SD cards (both mediums have long since surpassed the 1GB benchmark). The potential to truly liberate computers from table tops is an intriguing concept.