Keeping it simple

TechCrunch, a blog about Web 2.0 products and companies, has come up with a simple Web tablet

While the desktop PC is the workhorse of computing, road warriors will swear by their laptops-and both will agree that there is nothing like a mobile phone to keep in touch on the go. But the place where all of us hit a roadblock is when we try to figure out the in-between device-something that is low cost, simple, and easy to use.

Many have come up with devices that fit this sector. Options range from smart phones with large displays to net books, which are among the few hot selling tech items today. One such item has been floated by a blog about Web 2.0 products and companies called TechCrunch.

Of course, since TechCrunch is not exactly a manufacturing company, the prototype has taken time. The idea of a simple Web tablet, called the CrunchPad, was first mooted by Michael Arrington way back in July 2008.

Prototype A was built in August 2008, and Prototype B of this concept product has only been launched in January 2009.

While we could have done without the delay, the product appears interesting. Some smart phones have cramped interfaces, while net books have small keyboards, but the CrunchPad has eliminated all this by doing away with the keyboard altogether and giving a large screen with a resolution of 1024u00d7768, which means that you can see most sites without scrolling too much.

In his blog posting, Arrington says, "It fits perfectly on your lap while you are sitting in front of the TV, so you can look up stuff on Wikipedia or IMDB as you channel surf." This would be a great way to add to your TV experience-it is 7:55 PM on a Saturday night and many movies are going to start at 8 PM, so what do you watch? Booting a PC will take too long, so you could use the CrunchPad to check out IMDB and figure out what movie is best suited to your tastes.

But this doesn't mean that the product design is perfect. Right now, it runs on Ubuntu Linux, and naturally, as time goes by, people will want more features-and this is but a natural tendency. If this is properly managed, then it will be a great product. Otherwise, feature creep, the tendency to add features that replace elegance with bloat ware, may undo the CrunchPad.

But over and above this, it is interesting to note that such an interesting concept has been put together by a blog site. One is not sure if they have the expertise to mass manufacture something like this, but if the manage things right, then, just as free software has become a viable alternative to commercial software, similarly, more bloggers may soon put together products that act as alternatives to mainstream products.

QUICK TAKE
>>TechCrunch's Web tablet is a simple product
>>The product is cheap because it uses low end hardware
>>The price could be between $200 and $299