Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Equipped with a full GB of memory and 16GB of NAND, the Tegra 2 based Atrix 4G has one very unique feature: it can be docked into a custom ultra thin notebook chassis and used to drive the notebook. Motorola calls this its webtop dock:"

I figure I have to made the token comment about how this smells a lot like the Palm Foleo, an idea that was pretty widely ridiculed when the idea first came out. I also probably need to make the token mention of the RedFly Mobile Companion. The idea apparently seems more popular now, and with the huge increase in computing power over the past few years, a SmartPhone's capabilities may translate, at least in part, to the notebook format. I still have to wonder about many of the concerns raised back when the Foleo and RedFly were just out of the gate. The cost for something like a specialized dock compared to a netbook must be a lot lower to compel people to make the right choice and unless the dock is universal across several devices, it seems like a bit of a nightmare. As for the Atrix specifically, I really wonder why the phone has to be placed behind the screen, where you cannot see it! All I can say is that if I am using a notebook form factor, I would probably prefer notebook levels of performance, not just an enlarged smartphone screen. Does this tempt anyone?

During some of my past reviews of power saving devices, I've used my Kill-a-watt to measure the power draw of a variety of my devices. One of the biggest frustrations has been my cable box. I had a Comcast/Motorola DCT 6200/2005 that constantly drew 29 watts regardless of it was on or off. This is one of the main reasons I've been using the Bye Bye Standby to cut power to my home entertainment system when it is not in use. Of course this presented its own problems since every time the cable box looses power, it looses all of the guide information and takes about an hour to re-download it after being powered up. But, by powering it down for 18 hours a day, I'm saving around 190 kWh per year in electricity that would have otherwise been wasted. Read more...