Small Supercomputer, XPC, Notebook, and Gaming Thingy

kidgenius, SpinnerBait, and anonymous readers wrote in with four fun tales of small devices doing cool things. IBM has built a supercomputer the size of a TV, using 1000 PPC-based CPUs. Shuttle recently began shipping their AMD Athlon 64 based XPC, the size of a breadbox. Sony has a new 0.4" thick VAIO notebook (scroll down). And a European company is about to introduce the Gametrac, a handheld WinCE gaming gadget with 3D, Bluetooth, SMS, MP3 playback, MPEG4 video playback, camera, and -- interestingly -- GPS tracking. "The system allows the parents to establish 'fences,' which, when entered by the child, cause a notification to be sent to the parents in the form of either an SMS message or an email." Hmmm.

GPS Tracking and Fences

[Tim C]

So, let me get this straight - I buy one of those things for myself, set up a fence at some appropriate distance from my house, and it'll automatically notify my house when I'm at a certain distance away on my way home?

So, for example, a PC at home could switch on lights/heating/whatever, or my gf would know I'm nearly home (so she can start dinner, or knows that I'll be there soon to take our daughter off her hands and/or will be able to go out soon, whatever).

Re:almost a good design

[mfago]

It is not really 0.4" thick either - but a wedge. With that kind of logic a manufacturer could sharpen the "wedge" into a knife-edge at the front. I can see the new marketing slogan:

It slices, it dices, it runs XL, Word, and Halo.
The only laptop that's one atom thick!

That's marketing drivel for you. Nevertheless, other than the keyboard placement, it does look pretty nice (and thin).

GPS tracking

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone who's used a GPS knows you have to work with it for it to work. If you walk around with a GPS in your pocket, well, it won't get a signal and you won't be able to track anything.

So you'll have to teach litte Johnny to walk around outdoors with a clear view of the sky for it to work.

Re:allows parents.

[Anonymous Coward]

As a parent of a 4 year old, I would put a gps tracker on his person if it was available and not too inconvienent. Now, I don't think I'd keep it on him during his teen years (to whom this product is aimed), but I'm not the parent of a teen so I can't really say. Maybe by that time, I would welcome such a device. If some parent doesn't want to use it, then don't. If some parent does want to use it, that is their choice and I doubt they will consult /. before buying one.

As far as the government tracking you, can't they already track you using your cell phone?

Re:GPS tracking

[El]

Uh... call forwarding to a disposable cell phone? Of course, if you call mommy back, and she checks the caller id, you're screwed. By the way, the article never says this device encorporates a cell phone, although it does support SMS messaging, which is strange -- if you've already got the transmitter and receiver for SMS, isn't adding cell capability pretty cheap?