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Intel Hardware

Everyone Needs a Personal Server 220

Posted by michael from the chicken-in-every-pot dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Intel Labs is prototyping a potentially revolutionary new 'personal server'. The tiny device -- smaller than a PDA -- comprises a hard disk, BlueTooth, a Web-DAV enabled HTTP daemon, and other technologies enabling the user to access and modify their files from any enabled PC within their "Personal Area Network." In theory, this would allow the worker to access their own data -- essentially to have their own PC -- at any suitable workstation as long as the personal server were nearby. This article at LinuxDevices.com provides background on the personal server concept, explains how the device will enable a truly mobile experience, discusses the basic technologies involved, and provides an architectural block diagram of the prototype, which is based on an XScale Processor running at 400MHz running an embedded Linux OS."
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Everyone Needs a Personal Server More

Everyone Needs a Personal Server

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  • Security (Score:5, Interesting)

    by staili ( 200478 ) <ville.vataja@gmail.com> on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:05AM (#6886373)
    Sounds interesting, but how secure that kind of device can be?

    • Re:Security (Score:5, Funny)

      by Pros_n_Cons ( 535669 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:12AM (#6886385)
      but how secure that kind of device can be?

      In my life time I have lost 12 pairs of glasses.2 wallets and 5 remote controls, Losing a web server is going to 0wn

      • Re:Security (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        There might just be an IT job opening in the Oz governmen for someone with your kind of ambition.

    • Re:Security (Score:2, Informative)

      by MoonFog ( 586818 )
      AFAIK Bluetooth struggles with security issues, so that could cause problems.
      But apart from that, this appears to be just a really small version of a regular computer, meaning the security would be just as good as any other Linux/Wireless system. It's just smaller.
      • Look, Bluetooth has about a 10 meter (10 yard) radius if you can't keep intruders out of your house or the cubes right next to you, you have more important worries than your PAN server security

        Me, I want a PAN server asap. Great idea.
        • " Look, Bluetooth has about a 10 meter (10 yard) radius if you can't keep intruders out of your house or the cubes right next to you, you have more important worries than your PAN server security"

          What you fail to realize though is that 10 meters is a sizeable distance. Its not just the people in the cubicles nearby or your house. What if you live in an apartment building. I don't know how Bluetooth handles through floors and ceilings, but that could be a potential issue. Or what if you're on the bus?

          • You missed an important application: computer labs.

            I know I live in the dark ages, but at my university there are several rooms on the main campus with general access terminals and jacks to plug in your laptop. Using a Bluetooth personal server, what is to say I can't access the personal servers of the 25 other students within five meters of me?

            But that becomes irrelevant, since even a simple secure login or encrypted connection should clean it up. God knows you wouldn't leave your stuff on a public sha

    • Re:Security (Score:5, Interesting)

      by slittle ( 4150 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:41AM (#6886443) Homepage
      I'd be more concerned with the security of the host I'm using, rather than the fact that the unit is wireless. If the host terminal isn't mine, it can easily be trojaned/sniffed by h4x0rz, employers, The Man, etc.

      If I were using this to interface with public machines (like at a library) I'd want the ability to re-image it with a known clean copy of the OS after every use. Removable media to keep my data out of public eyes wouldn't hurt either.

    • Instead of laptop. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by spectrokid ( 660550 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @07:03AM (#6886567) Homepage
      I carry a laptop from home to work. I have a port replicator in both places and kbd, lcd,.. is basically dead weight. If you could make a PC the size of a laptop with a desktop processor (cheaper) but no screen, kbd, mouse then I would definitely be in for this. You would have to guarantee backward compatibility on the docking station so don't need to buy new ones every time I upgrade. You would have to do carefull weight/price/lifetime calculations for deciding what goes in the brick and what in the docking station (power supply, cdrom?). This would also work in these "floating" offices where every employee does not have a fixed desk assigned (very popular in Brussels right now, how about your place?). What they describe here just seems like another expensive add-on. I would look for sth which replaces my current hardware store.

      • Re:Instead of laptop. (Score:4, Informative)

        by LetterJ ( 3524 ) <j@wynia.org> on Saturday September 06, 2003 @10:24AM (#6887324) Homepage
        Have you looked at the Cappuccino PC's? They don't all have "desktop" processors, but are closer to what you're looking for than most laptops.

        http://www.cappuccinopc.com/espressopc.asp
      • On some of their laptops, Dell is (only) offering a USB "Port Expander" instead of a docking station.

        This would probably be standard enough, but you'd still need to plug the monitor in too.
      • Why more the whole computer? Just move the disk drive! For about $25 you can get removable-drawer technology for standard disk drives. Plug in whatever current 3.5" disk drive you like, and use desktop PCs at both ends. Or get a USB2 or Firewire external drive - either a large one with 3.5" technology or the 2.5" laptop-drive types that are typically intended for MP3 jukeboxes - and just plug it in at each end. Costs a bit more, but it's a lot more rugged.

        If rewriteable DVD technology standardizes en

    • A personal relay would be a better idea. Basically, an 802.11 device that hooks you up to the net (assuming that by the time these things come out we'll have the world blanketed in wifi) that hooks you up to some kind of storage server. All the other devices you wear will be low power bluetooth and simply use the 802.11 device to actually connect to the net.

  • Instant beowulf on the subway? (Score:5, Funny)

    by sandgroper ( 145126 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:10AM (#6886378)
    Brings a whole new meaning to mobile computing ;-)

  • I misread the title (Score:5, Funny)

    by gowen ( 141411 ) <gwowen@gmail.com> on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:10AM (#6886380) Homepage Journal
    I thought all developers required a personal Saviour. My first thought was
    "That's strangely religious for /."
    My second was
    AHA! A gap in the market for "What would Linus do?" bumper stickers -- special Segway version available
    • AHA! A gap in the market for "What would Linus do?" bumper stickers -- special Segway version available

      One of these days you are going to be one of those people who has the idea and becomes very rich. It isn't today though, sorry. ;-)

  • Still? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Knunov ( 158076 )
    Yep, they thought the same thing on May 4th [slashdot.org].

    And michael posted that story, as well.

    Yet another dupe from Team Slashdot.

    And these tits actually want the readers to pay...

    Knunov

    • Re:Still? (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by NanoGator ( 522640 )
      Yet another dupe complaining of dupes. Never mind that the frequency of dupes has gone way down lately...
    • Its not a dupe....its a "feature".

  • Yet Another Intel Ref Design (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Looks like an also ran to DaveNetworks design here: http://www.davenw.com/main.html

  • boot failure (Score:3, Informative)

    by turkeyphant ( 648612 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:15AM (#6886388) Homepage Journal
    Smaller than PDA-class devices and without traditional input/output (I/O) capabilities such as a keyboard or display
    Even though it's not running Windows, surely some sort of display would be semi-necessary? I'd hate being stuck with a useless paperweight after getting haxored or whatever...

    • Re:boot failure (Score:5, Informative)

      by zakezuke ( 229119 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:27AM (#6886421)
      Even though it's not running Windows, surely some sort of display would be semi-necessary? I'd hate being stuck with a useless paperweight after getting haxored or whatever...

      Not really... routers do quite well with aux ports and or web management, true *nix boxes do perfectly well with remote access / console ports. Dedicated devices often don't need displays. Though if you zap the roms on any device, it's going to be a paperwight unless you can get replacements.

      • Well yes you can but it takes a mechanical or electrical failure to do it. ROMs stand for Read Only Memory. You can not overwrite them. What everyone seems to bet talking about is FLASH RAM. Or maybe EEPROMs. BTW the best solution to the FLASH being overwriten is a ROM. Have a reset switch that boots the device from a simple bootstrap rom. Then have it use a USB connection to a host computer to reload the OS into FLASH.
    • It will have a display that says "Keyboard Error - Press F11 to continue" whenever you try to restart it.

  • where's the belt (Score:5, Funny)

    by moodz ( 514621 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:16AM (#6886393)
    what you want me to lug my phone, pda, mp3 player, digital camera and now a server as well.
    Robin hand me my utility belt and a bandolier of batteries.

    • Re:where's the belt (Score:3, Insightful)

      by imsabbel ( 611519 )
      Well, think big:
      With this device your mp3 player and camera dont need more than a little ram anymore, so you can integrate the mp3 player into the earphones.
      Your digital camera can now be included in you cell phone, which has bluetooth already, and sends it pictures to the server.
      Considering the fact that the server has a processor, your pda can be a dumb client, so you could just integrate a hud in your glasses and a wireless keyboard for input.

      I think it is quite useful to concentrage storage space and p

  • curious about Apple's move (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dJOEK ( 66178 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:16AM (#6886394)
    an iPod is already 2/3s of that
    add wireless and http and presto!
    • Presto! Expensive multitool that now does half of everything you want and only does it half as good as it could.

      All-in-one solutions aren't exactly a great idea. For a portable music player, most people want it to be as inexpensive, small and lightweight as possible, but to still have the features they want in a music player. I'm afraid wireless file/web serving is not on that list for the majority of users.
      • I don't know, lots of mp3 players already data storage capacity, and I don't see why it should complicate anything. Think of a usb memory key, it doesn't even *have* a UI, you just plug it into the USB and whammo, storage. Personally I'd rather load mp3s onto the player simply by seeing it as a filesystem.

        Wireless seems like a natural progression from having to carry a wire around, except I wonder if wireless could ever be fast enough.

    • The next iPod (Score:2, Informative)

      by iCat ( 690740 )
      If Apple added wireless & http to the next iPod and marketed it as a must have because of the free, built in iServe software, it would be massive! On launch, ensure it works with Macs and Windows then watch them fly off the shelves!
      • If Apple added wireless & http to the next iPod and marketed it as a must have because of the free, built in iServe software, it would be massive! On launch, ensure it works with Macs and Windows then watch them fly off the shelves!

        Apple has a cordial relationship with the recording industry right now, enough for them to dell downloads of songs. Can you imagine what would happen if Apple started selling devices specifically optimized for distributing music to everyone in the same room, for storage on
        • Yes I could imagine... but this is not likely to happen given that iTunes only allows one to "stream" - not "share" - their music. This being said, I think being able to view/stream playlists of other laptops/ipods around you would be a usefull feature,

    • Re:curious about Apple's move (Score:5, Interesting)

      by artemis67 ( 93453 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @07:47AM (#6886710)
      Actually, I think that not having wireless on the iPod is an advantage over this Intel server.

      If I put all of my personal files on a wireless hard drive I carried around with me, I would always be worried about people around me trying to hack in. Can you imagine going into the mall a few years from now, when everyone is carrying one of these? It would be a hacker's dream to wander the mall, seeing what info he can pick up!

      Or, can you imagine a worm in that same mall, jumping from person to person as they pass each other?

      No thanks, just give me the security of the wire. I might support wireless if there was a hard switch on the unit that physically disconnected the wireless hardware, making it impossible to be turned on via software.
      • Or, they could just add a button to turn the wireless on or off. Then all you need to do is make sure there are no 1337 hackers within ~30 feet of where you're actually using it.
      • I don't think that such a device would be broadcasting 24/7. You'd have some button or such to push when you want it to make a link. Now how you protect your connection while you're working is another thing.
      • "If I put all of my personal files on a wireless hard drive I carried around with me, I would always be worried about people around me trying to hack in."

        You know, while you make a point....I think it lacks the bigger picture. Of COURSE you're at risk from the people around you. But you're at a much bigger risk when you're on the net at home/office. There its not just the people immediately around you that can try to hack your server, its EVERYBODY ON THE NET!

        I personally would much rather be at risk

  • Already have part of it / Need something different (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zwoelfk ( 586211 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:18AM (#6886398) Journal
    I travel a /lot/ -- and I have a need to have my data accessable from anywhere in the world whenever I want it. I have servers in 3 countries connected together for most things, but for very large files (or sets of files) this is really impractical and can get very expensive. So I carry two 120GB USB drives with me wherever I go. These drives are pretty bulky, but they do allow me to do what this "personal server" is promoting - access my data from any workstation.

    I don't really need a webserver with me, since that is better placed on a server that I don't unplug. This feature is pretty useless for me. Nor is bluetooth really practical to me, since USB is much wider supported than bluetooth on the machines I might sit at.

    What I really need is are smaller portable harddrives with bigger capacities (200GB to start would be nice) that are network-aware. Just plug in an ethernet cable and mount it.

    • Network Harddrive (Score:5, Informative)

      by zwoelfk ( 586211 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:40AM (#6886441) Journal
      What I really need is are smaller portable harddrives with bigger capacities (200GB to start would be nice) that are network-aware. Just plug in an ethernet cable and mount it.

      The Snap Appliance Server 1100 [dealtime.com] is pretty close. It's a little large, but not too bad. It's something that's much more useful to me than this "personal server". But the cost is outrageous. About 800USD for a 120GB networked drive? Considering I can get a 160GB USB drive in Japan for under 200USD now, the extra 600USD does not justify the cost of adding ethernet.

      I guess I'll just have to wait, someone's bound to come out with something. For now I'm just thinking of picking up one of those brick-PCs and mounting my drives to that (especially as I need more) and just connecting that to the network wherever I am.
    • The Ximeta NetDisk 80GB [envynews.com] looks like what you want.
    • So I carry two 120GB USB drives with me wherever I go. These drives are pretty bulky, but they do allow me to do what this "personal server" is promoting - access my data from any workstation.

      Wow, I didn't realise anyone placed such high importance on their porn collection. Adds new meaning to "personal server".

  • Different implementations (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:18AM (#6886402)
    Sun: Introducting Cobalt Qube [unixreview.com] (not very consumer friendly, but it gets the job done; discontinued)

    Linux/BSD: We had this for years, but it takes a rocket scientist to figure out how to secure a small server and maintain it; not consumer friendly but effective)

    Microsoft: Introducing .NET (access your files anywhere, anytime. One catch - your files are not your property)

    Intel: Lets build a box for the regular Joe so he can access their files anytime, from anywhere, if he has an always-on connection.

    Linux community: Lets hack together a working alternative that works out of the box and runs of dirt cheap hardware and even grandma can use it. Just like we did with MythTV and other lesser known PVRs

    Apple: Introducing iPersonalServe

    SCO: It was our idea all along!

  • Easier (Score:5, Funny)

    by clinko ( 232501 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:19AM (#6886405) Journal
    I have a great idea. You can transport your files from one computer to another. i think i'll call it... WAIT! It's been done! it's called A fucking disk!

    if you want to be tech wiz, you could even buy a USB memory card. WOOO!

  • I hate myself for saying this (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SmallFurryCreature ( 593017 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:19AM (#6886406) Journal
    but what the hell is the point?

    Sure the idea has merits. If they ever can the installed base of the ground. Say that every PC in world is enabled in this way. Then yes I could take this light device with me and while waiting at the airport work at a supplied terminal. While in the aircraft use the PC in the seat to work. Then while at the client use their PC's to hold my presentation.

    Slight snag. This is not likely to happen. Most companies don't even like their own employees to attach hardware to the network let alone complete strangers. Let alone a black box device. We all heard the horror storie about people installing modded consoles in the walls to comprimise security at big offices. This make it even easier.

    It sounds to me like kermit. To those of you who do not know what kermit is it was a mobile phone that only worked in hotsports. So it worked for a few years while everyone used payphones or carphones until cellphones became cheap. Just as now everyone will use something like a USB pendrive/iPod style/external HD device or pda/laptop. The first are cheap and light and will usually work. The second are expensive heavy but at least can work on their own.

    Perhaps this will work for big companies in highly specialized situations. I just can't think of any where existing tech like the ones I mentioned wouldn't do just as well.

    Can anyone else perhaps point out what I missed?

    • Can anyone else perhaps point out what I missed?
      See my comment [slashdot.org] above.
      I don't know if I'm exactly the market they're looking toward, but I need things like this because I have networks I need to connect to (physically) around the world and have access to large amounts of data. So yeah, I think there is a use simply because no network is faster than sneakernet when you're talking about a couple hundred of gigs of data.

      Perhaps this will work for big companies in highly specialized situations. I just can
    • Details, details..... my vision for a device like this is that it is an accessory for all display devices... be they PC, Console Game device, PDA, Laptop, Cellphone. Of course what needs to happen is for a standard to evolve through a standards body for authenticating hardware, attached storage. Bluetooth has a method... it may work... though at the moment it is adhoc and p2p, with absolutely no auth server involvement, ie: no central auth database.

      Just reiterating some of your points in a different manner
    • It's networked storage for your PDA/phone/MP3 player/camera.
    • The reason why it could happen:

      Cooling is becoming a problem for modern CPUs. I certainly am not buying a 100W+ monster for my desktop. And noise of hard drives is becoming a problem too (and you need at least two driver for safety).

      X protocol could be more useful each day.
    • The biggest deal to me about this idea (which I've thought about on my own) is the device consolidation that this allows. I'm a college student and a nerd, so I carry around my PDA, my mp3 player, my digital camera, and cellphone. Each one of these devices has storage space built in, so that adds to the weight for each device.

      If a personal file server (which fits in the whole bluetooth connectivity thing in theory) were available, my digital camera would only have to be the lens and a little bit of mem

    • What are the requirements for the environment that can be used to access this? A wireless network which will assign it an address on which it can receive connections (that is, it doesn't need to be on the inside of any firewalls protecting the PCs from devices on the wireless net), and a computer with a web browser. The install base is, in fact, well off the ground.

      PCs which will support a given non-server device from your list are somewhat rarer, if only because there are a bunch of different types of tho

  • What is this good for? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Uerige ( 206572 )
    Does it do anything an ordinary laptop and my servers at home + dyndns don't do perfectly well already?

  • MIS are gonna love it (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They won't let me plug my laptop in to the company network, but they're going to let me attach this to my PC wirelessly? Yeah, right.

  • M$ and ISP problems prevent this. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by twitter ( 104583 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @05:46AM (#6886450) Homepage Journal
    The gadget concept is interesting but limited and reasonable ISP policy makes it unneeeded. Why bother to carry around a few gigs of data if you could have hundreds of gigs live with a static IP address? The thing you carry around would be useful for accessing that data and perhaps manipulating it when you are surrounded by inferior (Microsoft) software, but my Open Zaurus PDA already does that through ssh and has 802.11b CF available. If my cable provider, Cox, would simply alow "servers" and revert to At Home's far more reasonable static IP system, I'd have all of the benifits of this "revolutionary" new gadget back again.

    sig hup Cox; sig hup Microsoft; wake up Intel. Cox and other ISPs need to stand up to Microsoft and media interests or die. Don't give me bull about dynDNS, I want to live upright. I don't need a windoze computer to pop up a silly icon and comprimise all my personal and company data. The good folks at Intel need to realize that people already do this and contribute to projects like Open Zaurus that make it easier, rather than to Microsoft because Microsoft will work to prevent, pervert and control the whole effort. If your data is not on a free platform, someone else owns it.

    • Www.no-ip.com they have a free solution for your problem. Just change the port numbers on your daemons to something non standard and get yourself the dynamic dns client. It have it running on a p2 400 with the latest mandrake beta on it. It doesn't take up a noticeable amount of resources, so whatever you run it on should be fine.
  • Okay, so it's not 100% true... but think about it. Let's get one step closer to truely owning our data... soon, the chip they implant in your head could be a mass storage device with the ability to communicate with any station you access.

    Someone asks where the cover sheets for your TPS reports are, you'll truely be able to point at your brain and say, "It's all right here." :)

  • Datastor USB Portable Hard Drive (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I use a USB 2.0 enabled 30 gig portable hard drive pocketec.net [pocketec.net] (I see they now come larger as well) between multiple computers at home and office so I no longer need to carry a laptop. (And it's as small as my Palm unit) Now if I could access this through my PDA? Add a fold out/roll out keyboard? and a small display, give me WiFi and bluetooth through to my new Treo 600 and I'd dump the laptop for good!
  • just walk around with a small, large capacity usb 2.0 harddisk? Seems to me none of the existing wifi technologies have the bandwidth to run applications over them (at least WinXP apps, maybe XFree86 or someother network oriented windowing system could do it). And why a 400mhz processor in what's essensially a storage device? Looks like another rather silly use of wifi for it's own sake, but maybe I'm missing something here.

  • No, This is not what everyone needs. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    What everyone needs is not a personal server which would turn any computer into their own personal computer but, instead, what every a little device which would turn any display into their own personal terminal (make that X terminal). Remove the storage component from this device and add wireless connectivity to it instead, and then you'd have something that the world needs because it would essentially eliminate the need for the personal computer. And this device could be small enough to be built into clo
  • I realized they were talking about a computer.

    KFG

  • I don't think so (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MadFarmAnimalz ( 460972 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @06:51AM (#6886545) Homepage
    Looks to me like the idea is basically ubiquitous access to your data.

    I'll grant them that it _is_ innovative to create a device like this which abstracts the access method to the portable data behind open protocols such as tcpip, but I still get the feeling they're going about it in a lopsided manner.

    You move, but this doesn't mean the data must move with you to be accessible. This is one of the ideas with X, your data is plonked on a machine somewhere far off, and you conect to it and presto, you and your data are one.

    I feel effort and time invested in ubiquitous connectivity will do far more to address the need to access one's data than working on solutions like this.

    Kudos still, the idea is interesting.

  • SCO's new target (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kyoko21 ( 198413 )
    Well, if Intel puts a linux inside this device, we already know whom SCO is going to sue next.

  • I like that idea, but what about this... (Score:4, Funny)

    by CausticWindow ( 632215 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @06:59AM (#6886559)

    Looks like a pen. Writes like a pen.

    But it's not a real pen. It contains 512 MB (or so) of flash, which is shared via bluetooth. A 10cm high retractable gain antenna is hidden within the length of the pen itself, and powered by a single AAA battery. Walk by an enabled PC, optionally type in a password, and all your documents, your keyring, etc. are available. Think of the security holes. Finally, as an added bonus, when you write on paper (or anything for that matter, toilet paper springs to mind), you can choose to record your scribbles on the flash drive. Tiny gyroscopic sensors determine the motion of the pen across the page, and a pressure sensor determines whether the pen is against a writing surface. Each time you expose the ball point head it creates a new file, and when you retract it, it closes it. You can tell which file is which by the timestamps.

    THAT would kick butt. And as embedded logic gets more powerful, you could have a personal web/email/aim server running in there too. A wireless iPod sounds nifty, but where's the innovation people? Where is Microsoft?

  • Keychain USB Drive (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Liquidrage ( 640463 )
    The article is focusing on its use as a portable hard disk even though it really is a portable wireless server.

    A USB keychain drive seems to fill this role better. If all I want is portability of my files I dont really need the CPU, the web server, etc..

  • What's wrong with this picture? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CausticWindow ( 632215 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @07:02AM (#6886564)

    Let me get this straight. I'm supposed to carry around this little box with all my data on it so that when I get somewhere that has a keyboard and screen and knows how to talk to this box, I can log in and access my data. What's wrong with this picture? Why do I need to carry around this box? Why do I want to carry around data? That's what the Internet is for.

    Remember Java-enabled jewelry with onboard crypto? The RSA "fob" ID device? Dallas Semiconductor buttons? Same functional capabilities, less to carry. All you really need is an ID device.

    Ubiquitous computing looks more like "hurry up and find something that wastes compute power before we have to have another layoff". They need some better ideas over there.

    • Re:What's wrong with this picture? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gordyf ( 23004 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @10:20AM (#6887301)
      I think this would be much more useful when you're away from an internet connection.

      Photographers with digital cameras out on photo shoots can have a 20, 40, whatever gb drive on their belt and a camera that uploads their images.

      Your MP3 player is the headphones and accesses 20gb of mp3s.

      All of a sudden your PDA has 40gb of storage instead of a tiny compactflash card.

      You could store a hell of a lot of contacts for your cell phone. :)

      Integrate the server with a cell phone and now your camera can upload images to your ftp site, your PDA can surf the net via bluetooth, your MP3 player gets Shoutcast streams...

      It's like a NAS for your body.
    • I know i enjoy downloading anything over 100K on dial-up.

      Think of the big picture, its not practicle to use the internet for such a thing yet, for one upstream bandwidth is expensive and most broadband users have very little of it.

      Im not arguing the usefullness of this device, i for one would throw stuff i need to take with me on a cd and be on my way, but it does have its uses and claiming the internet is a much better solution is just crazy (for now). When everyone can upload over 1mbit i would agre
    • "Why do I need to carry around this box? Why do I want to carry around data? That's what the Internet is for."

      In theory, but not in practice yet. My home machine is on dialup, and data on it is not available when I am not there. Servers at work are for work, not personal use, and anyway I wouldn't put personal stuff on a machine where some BOFH has the root password unless I absolutely had to.

      And this would still only work if whatever machine I was trying to use also had a broadband connection. "Hey w

  • There's a reason collaboration tools and intranet sites abound in the workplace - the information is not personal to a person anymore; but the unit. I think we can also name several places where carrying your own data with you; with no centralized control; will be a no-no: think places where GMP rules are in place and in organizations where data is considered sensitive or people require a clearance to work there.
  • Isn't this really nothing more than some elaborate and over invented password that required a battery to work?

    You know what, there is this project to clone the Amiga3.1 OS into Open Source and Freely Available OS. It's a very small and efficient OS that doesn't have all the multi-user over head (AROS on sourceforge) and here is an Idea better than this Personal Server battery powered password..

    Put the OS on a ram drive strip or other such memeory device that is small and portable, your choice (USB) that p
  • It's called the X-Box [xbox-modchips.com].

  • That's it? (Score:4, Informative)

    by CausticWindow ( 632215 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @08:07AM (#6886775)

    Gotta admit being a little disappointed by this.

    For those of you who didn't RTFA: This is essentially a little hard drive which rides around in your backpack (note: I don't carry a backpack all the time; do you?) and can connect, wirelessly, to any machine you access which recognizes wireless devices. Basically, as far as I can tell, this has the same net effect as having a home directory on an NFS server someplace and using it to save your settings as you move from machine to machine.

    Again: Bo-ring.

    When I saw "personal server, no IO", I was hoping this would be a manifestation of the keystone portion of my idea for a personal wireless network Your devices would all notice one another, and the width of functionality of any given device would be dependant on what you were carrying. If you we out taking pictures with your digicam and were carrying a server, the images would be transfered to the (presumably very expansive) drive in the server. If you had your cell phone, the images would be sent off to your home computer, as well.

    Repeat en masse. PDAs display and do I/O, headphones play music and the real work is taken care of automagically behind the scenes in some secure fashion. You'd effectively allow the elimination of multi-use devices which don't do any job very well by allowing your devices to play their strong points, and you could customize your loadout just in what you grab in the morning when you're loading your pockets.

    Anyhow, this ain't it, and that's disappointing -- somebody must have hit my verbosity flag today, and I'm sincerely sorry for the pain that I've caused you all...

  • It's call ed pocket USB hard drive.

    plug it in the usb port, and I have yet to find a computer + os that cannot access/read it except for filesystem issues.. (I use FAT32)

    Why would I want something that I need to recharge nightly and could be accessed in the subway without my knowlege?

  • Smart Underwear (Score:3, Funny)

    by Gilmoure ( 18428 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @09:15AM (#6886990) Journal
    Why can't they just weave this sort of data server into clothing? Average user could get by with a thong while a slashdot user would likely need long johns.
  • This is old news ;-) Back in May, baard.com [baard.com] reported on this.

    I thought the Personal Server was so neat, I wrote my own article based on the baard.com info, Science Fiction becomes science-fact [gtf.org].
  • Everyone knows that "Server Operating Systems" cost three times as much as "Workstation Operating Systems. Why would an individual need such power?
    *and don'tmention Linux, please. The distinction used to ignorable, but SCO seems intent on reimposing that ancient pricing model.

  • Not quite... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Zebra_X ( 13249 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @10:57AM (#6887504)
    Intel has it all wrong - and Berkley has it right.

    http://oceanstore.cs.berkeley.edu/

    Check out OceanStore software for building a fully reliable network where users can access their files from any connected machine. It's also fully redundant too.

    The biggest flaw of the personal server is that your data is subject to physical desctruction at anytime. The server can give you portability, but it can't give you reliability.

    As high speed connections become ubiquitous across the globe, OceanStore will be the real way of storing your information, encrypted, and replicated across many nodes in the global network - it would be possible to have access to your "personal files" from anywhere in the world. Not only that - you will never have to worry about backing up again.
  • You do not want to carry around hardware and your files with you. You want to maybe make a local copy of an ideal virtual machine, which has all your apps and your data and your computing environment. See my paper on The Linux Personal Virtual Server [mit.edu]
  • Basicly it's an iPod with bluetooth. This would be benificial on a lot of levels...look how popular iPod has become for the same uses. After all, almost all women [mythical creatures to many /.ers] carry purses big enough for an iPod. Just toss the purse in the drawer next to the computer and she has access to all her personal email, accounts, etc. Most users connect to internet at work where bringing a Laptop is impractical, but still want to listen to their music, work on "home" work etc. at lunch. T

  • Old News, I'm Afraid (Score:3, Insightful)

    by webword ( 82711 ) on Saturday September 06, 2003 @07:38PM (#6890332) Homepage
    Intel's 'Personal Server': The Handheld Killer? [slashdot.org] (Sunday, 4-May-2003)

  • Not revolutionary, see Sony's Portable File Server (Score:3, Informative)

    by CoachOta ( 320767 ) on Sunday September 07, 2003 @12:20AM (#6891443)
    Intel's research seems to be more of an evolutionary refinement than a new revolution in computing.

    Sony's had a wireless file server PGX1 out in Japan for several months now. It's not really pocket size but doesn't take much space or add much weight in a bag at only 390g. It stores 20GB and supports CIFS, NFS and FTP connections over 802.11b. It's also dockable with a wired ethernet connection when direct access is desired. Configuration is via LCD display or web browser.

    See the FSV-PGX1 at Sony's Portable File Server [www.sony.jp] page for details (in Japanese of course).

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