Sometimes it's tough to separate fact from fiction from wishful thinking at IDF
(Intel Developer Forum) but you have to try or you'd swear that tomorrow you're
going to go out and buy an ultralite notebook with a battery life of days that
you could use just everywhere. Intel unveiled their new dual and multicore processors
that made yesteryear's Big Blue iron pale by comparison. It was pure coincidence
that AMD also announced their technology the same week.

But the new notebooks have big screens to die for. They have wireless connectivity
to your home, office, neighbor and beyond. You can put it into your car - think
MTV's Pimp My Ride - or your rented spaceship. You have the power to multitask
to your heart content at the office and then still go home and make movies, watch
TV or go visually online to talk to friends around the globe.

The new processors are great but something is missing. Oh yes, an operating
system and applications. Longhorn is "coming." Applications are "coming."
Barrett and his team probably spend more time pushing and encouraging partners
to step up to the plate than they do to keeping pace with Gordon Moore's 40-year-old
transistor law (doubling the number of transistors on the chip every 12-18 months).

Today we've got web commerce, messaging, video, audio, wireless computing and
implementation in every phase of life and commerce. While IDF sessions spent
a lot of time talking about the enterprise, everyone's heart is set on mobile
computing and the digital home.

Wireless and mobile are huge in the Pacific Basin. It's getting big in Europe.
In the Americas we're still living in a "what if" world. Intel spends a lot
to drive technology by funding standards groups - WiMAX, WiFi, storage, digital
home, storage/storage management and probably dozens more you never hear about.

It is coming. It has to. We're doubling our digital data and content every
12-18 months. We need a seamless way to grab, share and store all of this stuff.
But the implementation of these seamless PnP standards and applications is still
painful years away.

Problem is MS wants the standards their way. Apple wants them their way. Linux
folks want them their way. SCO wants to sue them all.

Digital Home, Digital Entertainment
Intel and the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) talk at a fever pitch to
show that the digital home and digital living room is here - almost. All of
the PC makers are working to convince us that their solutions will be the focal
point of entertainment in the home (Figure A) - music, video, photos, TV, web
surfing, etc.

The new notebooks make a strong case for this solution, especially in Asia and
Europe where homes are small and space is at a premium. But in the Americas
where homes sprawl there is less interest.

In addition, even though we have surpassed more than one billion computers in
the world, the number is way less than half of the global population.

Truth be told, normal people and the computer challenged don't even want a computer…especially
in their living room! They want an entertainment center (figure B).

If they have a computer in the house, they want it back in the home office.
They want them back in the kids rooms where they can download music and burn
CDs. Where the kids can IM with friends and share study notes. They want to
set theirs up on the kitchen or dining room table so they finish answering emails
or finishing projects.

The home network is still that...a network connecting computers to shared peripherals
and connecting to the outside world.

The momentum/interest in the entertainment/media center has jumped dramatically
in the last year. By the holidays we'll see some very attractive (and attractively
priced) products. Part of the solution everyone overlooks is the need for huge
centralized HD/CD/DVD storage/access. Then layered on top of that will be portable
flash and small HD storage people take with them like Store 'n' Go.

Connecting your refrigerator, stove, lights, heating/air to the network? It's
already done! Just ask Steve (Jobs), Bill (Gates), Michael (Dell), Larry (Ellison)
who replace these appliances in a heartbeat. The rest of us may get there in
five - ten years. If the appliance has to be replaced!

But entertainment at home - and everywhere - is the sweetspot. Intel and AMD
know it. MS, Apple, Sony and the others know it. Home theaters are on the leading
edge of being a huge business. Home/mobile entertainment solutions still have
to get easier to set up and easier to program/use than a VCR.

Security? That's a whole other issue that the Ciscos, Jupiters, Broadcoms and
RSA focused firms have to solve before governments step in and "solve" for us.

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