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Information Appliances
An information appliance (IA) is an appliance that is designed to easily perform a specific electronic function such as Digital audio player, playing music, photography, or text editor, editing text. Typical examples are smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Information appliances partially overlap in definition with, or are sometimes referred to as, smart devices, embedded systems, mobile devices or wireless devices. Appliance vs computer The term ''information appliance'' was coined by Jef Raskin around 1979. As later explained by Donald Norman in his influential ''The Invisible Computer'', the main characteristics of IA, as opposed to any normal computer, were: * designed and pre-configured for a single application (like a toaster appliance, which is designed only to make toast), * so easy to use for untrained people, that it effectively becomes unnoticeable, "invisible" to them, * able to automatically share information with any other IAs. This definition o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Appliance
A computer appliance is a computer system with a combination of Computer hardware, hardware, software, or firmware that is specifically designed to provide a particular computing resource. Such devices became known as ''appliances'' because of the similarity in role or management to a home appliance, which are generally ''closed and sealed'', and are not serviceable by the user or owner. The hardware and software are delivered as an integrated product and may even be pre-configured before delivery to a customer, to provide a turn-key solution for a particular application. Unlike general purpose computers, appliances are generally not designed to allow the customers to change the software and the underlying operating system, or to flexibly reconfigure the hardware. Another form of appliance is the virtual appliance, which has similar functionality to a dedicated hardware appliance, but is distributed as a software virtual machine image for a hypervisor-equipped device. Overview ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Typewriter
A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an ink ribbon, inked ribbon selectively against the paper with a Sort (typesetting), type element. Thereby, the machine produces a legible written document composed of ink and paper. By the end of the 19th century, a ''person'' who used such a device was also referred to as a ''typewriter''. The first commercial typewriters were introduced in 1874, but did not become common in offices in the United States until after the mid-1880s. The typewriter quickly became an indispensable tool for practically all writing other than personal handwritten correspondence. It was widely used by professional writers, in offices, in business correspondence in private homes, and by students preparing written assignments. Typewriters were a standard fixture in m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ubiquitous Computing
Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear seamlessly anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing implies use on any device, in any location, and in any format. A user interacts with the computer, which can exist in many different forms, including laptop computers, tablets, smart phones and terminals in everyday objects such as a refrigerator or a pair of glasses. The underlying technologies to support ubiquitous computing include the Internet, advanced middleware, kernels, operating systems, mobile codes, sensors, microprocessors, new I/Os and user interfaces, computer networks, mobile protocols, global navigational systems, and new materials. This paradigm is also described as pervasive computing, ambient intelligence, or "everyware". Each term emphasizes slightly different aspects. When primarily concerning the objects involve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Technological Convergence
Technological convergence is the tendency for technologies that were originally unrelated to become more closely integrated and even unified as they develop and advance. For example, watches, telephones, television, computers, and social media platforms began as separate and mostly unrelated technologies, but have converged in many ways into an interrelated telecommunication, media, and technology industry. Definitions "Convergence is a deep integration of knowledge, tools, and all relevant activities of human activity for a common goal, to allow society to answer new questions to change the respective physical or social ecosystem. Such changes in the respective ecosystem open new trends, pathways, and opportunities in the following divergent phase of the process". Siddhartha Menon defines convergence as integration and digitalization. Integration, here, is defined as "a process of transformation measure by the degree to which diverse media such as phone, data broadcast and inf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mobile Web
The mobile web comprises mobile browser-based World Wide Web services accessed from handheld mobile devices, such as smartphones or feature phones, through a mobile network, mobile or other wireless network. History and development Traditionally, the World Wide Web has been accessed via landline, fixed-line services on laptops and desktop computers. However, the web is now more accessible by portable and wireless devices. Early 2010 ITU (International Telecommunication Union) report said that with current growth rates, web access by people on the go via laptops and smart mobile devices was likely to exceed web access from desktop computers within the following five years. In January 2014, mobile internet use exceeded desktop use in the United States. The shift to mobile Web access has accelerated since 2007 with the rise of larger multitouch smartphones, and since 2010 with the rise of multitouch tablet computer, tablet computers. Both platforms provide better Internet access, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embedded System
An embedded system is a specialized computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including electrical or electronic hardware and mechanical parts. Because an embedded system typically controls physical operations of the machine that it is embedded within, it often has real-time computing constraints. Embedded systems control many devices in common use. , it was estimated that ninety-eight percent of all microprocessors manufactured were used in embedded systems. Modern embedded systems are often based on microcontrollers (i.e. microprocessors with integrated memory and peripheral interfaces), but ordinary microprocessors (using external chips for memory and peripheral interface circuits) are also common, especially in more complex systems. In either case, the processor(s) us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archy (software)
Archy is a software system that had a user interface that introduced a different approach for human-computer interaction, interacting with computers with respect to traditional graphical user interfaces. Designed by human-computer interface expert Jef Raskin, it embodies his ideas and established results about human-centered design described in his book ''The Humane Interface (Book), The Humane Interface''. These ideas include content Persistence (computer science), persistence, Mode (user interface), modelessness, a nucleus with Command (computing), commands instead of Application software, applications, navigation using Incremental search, incremental text search, and a zooming user interface (ZUI). The system was being implemented at the Raskin Center for Humane Interfaces under Raskin's leadership. Since his death in February 2005 the project was continued by his team, which later shifted focus to the Ubiquity (Firefox), Ubiquity extension for the Firefox browser. Archy in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Network Computer
In computer networking, a thin client, sometimes called slim client or lean client, is a simple (low-performance) computer that has been optimized for establishing a remote connection with a server-based computing environment. They are sometimes known as ''network computers'', or in their simplest form as ''zero clients''. The server does most of the work, which can include launching software programs, performing calculations, and storing data. This contrasts with a rich client or a conventional personal computer; the former is also intended for working in a client–server model but has significant local processing power, while the latter aims to perform its function mostly locally. Thin clients occur as components of a broader computing infrastructure, where many clients share their computations with a server or server farm. The server-side infrastructure uses cloud computing software such as application virtualization, hosted shared desktop (HSD) or desktop virtuali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was the List of the largest software companies, third-largest software company in the world in 2020 by revenue and market capitalization. The company's 2023 ranking in the Forbes Global 2000, ''Forbes'' Global 2000 was 80. The company sells Database, database software, particularly Oracle Database, and cloud computing. Oracle's core application software is a suite of enterprise software products, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, human capital management (HCM) software, customer relationship management (CRM) software, enterprise performance management (EPM) software, Customer Experience Commerce (CX Commerce) and supply chain management (SCM) software. History Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates co-founded Oracle in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded software company Oracle Corporation. He was Oracle's chief executive officer from 1977 to 2014 and is now its chief technology officer and executive chairman. As of June 2025, Ellison is the third-wealthiest person in the world, according to '' Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', with an estimated net worth of US$234 billion, and the second-wealthiest person in the world according to ''Forbes,'' with an estimated net worth of US$258.8 billion. Ellison is also known for his ownership of 98% of Lānaʻi, the sixth-largest island in the Hawaiian Islands. Early life and education Ellison was born on August 17, 1944, in New York City to Florence Spellman, an unwed Jewish mother. His biological father was an Italian-American United States Army Air Corps pilot. After Ellison contracted pneumonia at the age of nine months, his mother gave him to her aunt and uncle for adoption. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Humane Interface
''The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems'' () is a book about user interface design written by Jef Raskin and published in 2000. It covers ergonomics, quantification, evaluation, and navigation. Contents The book puts forward a large number of interface design suggestions, from fairly trivial ones to radical ones. The overriding theme is that current computer interfaces are often poor and set up users to fail, as a result of poor planning (or lack of planning) by programmers and a lack of understanding of how people actually use software. Raskin often refers to the computer he designed, the Canon Cat, as an example of a system that implemented the various measures he advocates. The Canon Cat is often considered the first information appliance. Many of the ideas presented in the Canon Cat and ''The Humane Interface'' were later adopted by Raskin in his Archy project, and later by his son Aza. Raskin includes a chapter demonstrating four models ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canon Cat
The Canon Cat is a task-dedicated microcomputer released by Canon Inc. in 1987 for . Its appearance resembles dedicated word processors of the late 1970s to early 1980s, but it is far more powerful, and has many unique ideas for data manipulation. The system is primarily the creation of Jef Raskin, who originated the Macintosh project at Apple. After leaving the company in 1982 and founding Information Appliance, Inc., he began designing a new computer closer to his original vision of an inexpensive, utilitarian "people's computer". Information Appliance first developed the SwyftCard for the Apple II, then licensed it to Canon as the Cat. ''Byte (magazine), BYTE'' in 1987 described the Cat as "a spiritual successor, spiritual heir to the Macintosh". Overview The Canon Cat uses a text-based user interface, without any pointer, computer mouse, mouse, icons, or graphics. All data are seen as a long "stream" of text broken into several pages. Instead of using a traditional command ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
