I found something neat at CES

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

And that brings me to a second complaint. The network and USB ports should be on the same side as the power cable. The power cable will be oriented to the wall, and usually a network cable runs on the wall or in the wall. Wouldn't it be good to have the 2 cables lying next to each other rather than one coiling around?

Given the intent of the device, there are a number of designs that could accomplish the same thing, and be just as unobtrusive (which is obviously a point to the design). Myself, I would've designed a device shaped like a isosceles trapezoid, designed to sit on the floor and lean against the wall larger-face out, with the power, usb and network connectors on the smaller face facing the wall.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sorry for being dense, but what is a "wall wart"?

A wall wart is a plug that converts AC to USB so you can plug a USB cable into it.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I don't have a use for it yet, and I don't like the design. It shouldn't look like a wall wart; or at least it should be at the end of a short power cable (so it doesn't block the other outlets). And I don't like that it only has the one USB port; firewire would be a better choice.

Looking like a wall wart is likely just a coolness matter. The key to the PlugComputer is getting a complete system into that form factor. The wall wart design is just packaging. If this takes off, I suspect we'll see other designs.

And I don't see possibly obscuring an outlet as an issue. I doubt this puppy is aimed at the consumer market. Like yourself, most home users won't have a use for it. It might do very well in a commercial/industrial environment, where the space it would be installed in would have outlets designed to be places to plug it in.

And I don't think Firewire would be a better choice. USB is ubiquitous. Firewire is not. Firewire still holds an edge on speed over USB 2.0 due to architecture, but that edge requires Firewire on both sides, and for a variety of things you might want to connect to a Plug, that won't be the case. Think of a Plug as being a very smart controller connecting to peripherals over a net work, rather than as a general purpose computing device, and I think you'll be far closer to the intended mark.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A wall wart is a plug that converts AC to USB so you can plug a USB cable into it.

A wall wart is an AC to DC converter. Plugging a USB cable into it is only one of many possible designs.
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Dennis

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

A wall wart is an AC to DC converter. Plugging a USB cable into it is only one of many possible designs.
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Dennis

As I say, Dennis, just a case of it being an unfamiliar term; they are called "mains adapters" in the UK.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Looking like a wall wart is likely just a coolness matter. The key to the PlugComputer is getting a complete system into that form factor. The wall wart design is just packaging. If this takes off, I suspect we'll see other designs.

Here is something similar:
http://www.norhtec.com/products/xcore/index.html

For $90+shipping you can get the system board that Nohrtec is using for the Gecko, its $200 laptop. It has 4 USB, 2 SDHC card slots, a 2.5" IDE socket (for hard disks), VGA out, and more.

I'd love to build a rack out those.