NEC is working on a concept PC that uses five pens to make a computer: CPU, camera, virtual keyboard, visual output projector, and communicator. The pens communicate wirelessly with one another. To recharge their batteries, the pens are seated in a block that also contains the hard drive, reports The Wave Report.
To which Snart Barfunz says on Slash.Dot: "To make up for the lack of front-panel mounted drinks holder, you can stir your coffe with your CPU. And if your hard drive sticks, you can stick it in your ear and lubricate it with some wax. Bad news when you lose the SQL server down the back of the couch though."
This would be the third try at pen computing. The first was in the early 1990s, with the failed Pen-based Computing, similar to today's close-to-failure Tablet PCs. (I still have a copy of the book, The AT&T EO Travel Guide.) The second but successful attempt came five years later, with the PalmPilot.
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