JLG: The Internet Appliance Does Not Exist

Jean-Louis Gasée explains why "IP-on-everything" is an elaborate hoax propagated by the very corporations that stand to lose the most from the reality of the internet appliance... and indirectly why Be, Inc., with its Stinger internet appliance operating system, stands to gain the most.

The "IP on Everything" assumption means most objects in our daily lives, from phones to refrigerators to cars to watches, will end up with some kind of Net connection, with or without wires. Besides being merely amusing, the Thing+Web game is instructive, for when we line up all of our fantastic devices (the WebPencil, the WebRiceCooker, the WebPadAtEyeLevelAboveTheUrinal), we see that the "Internet Appliance" label is, simply, a checkbox. Net connection is a feature, not a "thing". And, despite some shared DNA, the thing it mostly is not is the PC.

The WebPadAtEyeLevelAboveTheUrinal creeps me out.