Next Gen PCs

Each year, Microsoft and the ITSA organise a design contest to come up with new concepts for the personal computer. The theme of this year is passion; how can computers help humans to pursue their passions? The picture below illustrates some of the interesting designs. The first concept - the Napkin PC - supports creative professionals in their collaborative process. This PC would support any number of napkins that members of a team can work with, all designs are then sent to the base station.

The PC in the form of a necklace, Momenta, can be used to 'record' your exciting moments of life. It measures continuously your heart rate as a trigger to know when it needs to capture everything in the environment. All that is recorded can be easily shared with your friends. The exterior of the PC can be adapted with the use of personalised skins.

As a last example, Harmonious, supports social software experiences. It resembles a traditional Chinese jade jewel that stands for harmony. The PC aims at connecting with your friends by any means: blog, chat, mail and display any information about friends like change in location.

A fascinating observation is that the PC will transform into a real lifestyle device that can take many forms. We should only work with the ugly PCs at work and perhaps even there we might see the entrance of new forms. You can check out all designs at the website, definately worth a visit!