What can they be thinking at Turbolinux?

[mogui]

Is it a PDA? Is it a bootable flash drive? Is it a media player? Is it a portable apps environment? Or just possibly an ebook reader?

The Wizpy is a product of Turbolinux, a Japanese company that is a big name in Asian language support on Linux. Their new product the Wizpy:

Wizpy is a new generation device which realizes a new concept of "PC2.0" by unbundling the OS from the hardware. With Wizpy, the OS is no longer tied to the hardware. This 50-gram, small device can be carried around with all your OS environment, applications and data. You can conveniently carry your Mail, Bookmarks, OS settings and History with you and these are accessible at all times whether you are at home, school, office or any other place with access to a PC. Important data such as passwords and credit card information may now need not be left on the PC but can be stored on Wizpy, thus preventing your personal information from being compromised. Wizpy thus has features to support next generation IT solutions. Apart from the portable OS, which is a novel concept, Wizpy also provides multimedia features such as audio player, video player and FM radio, making it a very user-friendly product. For more information, please visit:
http://www.turbolinux.com/products/wizpy/.

Buried somewhere in their literature was the word "ebook". When the Wizpy is used standalone, it functions as a media player and also has a text viewer function. Apparently this is the ugly minimal reader feature not unlike that found on MP4 devices. I even saw the magic word "Skype"!

I was still wondering what this device could possibly be, when I discovered Engadget was way ahead of me.

Wizpy came out in Japan in February. It went worldwide in June. You can expect it to be running the English version of Turbolinux when it hits your neighborhood. There is a review, of sorts, here, and a marginally better review here. And for the truly ensorceled, there is even a Wizpy Club! Ah, here at last is the review we wanted to read!

Lest you go mad with lust, remember that, for the same price almost, you can buy a Sony Reader. The cute girl gets five "thumbs up", but I give the Wizpy two "ho"s and a "hum".