"The PaceBook's unique design allows the seemingly regular notebook to be turned into a LCD PC or a Tablet PC in a second. This means that while you are on the road you do not need to forsake the benefits of a desktop; a separate keyboard, proper keyboard-monitor distance, and a correct viewing angle for the screen....

The PaceBook is the first Tablet Notebook computer. It is a notebook computer that can also be used as an LCD PC and as a Tablet computer while walking." [via Slashdot]

Check out the gee-whiz pictures, one of which shows a tiny little digital camera that fits on the top of the tablet. It's cute, but it looks like something I'd accidentally break off in a matter of minutes. It does Firewire and Ethernet out of the box, with a touchscreen, wireless keyboard, and DVD drive, all for just over $2000 for a home user. I don't see any pricing off-hand for government entities, which is what I assume libraries would be considered as.

In a first for computer advertising that I have seen, renewed life is also highlighted as a benefit because "even when the PaceBook is old, it is still useful, as a kitchen TV , in-car DVD player, Internet Appliance or eBook." Curiously, though, there are no connections on the device for turning it into a TV. Go figure.

The PaceBlade site touts the following potential uses:

• Traveling business people - this could definitely work given how we already use laptops and PDAs, but I don't know any businessperson that would use it in the way shown in the picture (thereby allowing anyone within eyesight to read what's on the screen)
• Health care organizations - based on Lori Bell's presentation at SLS last week, I think this is a very viable market
• Insurance, Realty, and Education - nothing groundbreaking here that a laptop can't do, but it could certainly make the process easier

You can read more about the Pacebook in an extensive AnandTech review. Unfortunately, Slashdot readers note some big problems. For starters, it "ships with no handwriting recognition software, making text input when in tablet PC mode excruciating." Integration of the Windows XP for Tablets operating system is on the horizon to solve this problem, which is good, but the PaceBook runs on Windows software only, which is bad. And that's just for starters, so read the Slashdot comments for more criticism.

Still, I'm intrigued by the potential for this device. On the one hand, the PaceBook seems like overkill for the technology I would need to circulate local history within the community, but on the other hand its 600Mhz processor is definitely underkill. The second generation of this product might be useful for gathering local history if they fix some of the problems noted above. At that point, it might also become useful for mobile reference librarians, especially since the AnandTech review notes that "future accessories may include IrDA adapters and bar code scanners." I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

Communicating Clothes

"France Telecom has invented a flexible fiber optic screen that can be embedded in clothes, allowing static or animated graphics to be displayed....

The research department of the French telecom operator has designed a prototype for a flexible screen made of woven optical fibers capable of downloading and displaying static or animated graphics (such as logos, texts, patterns, scanned images etc) directly on clothes.

Clothes utilizing the new technology can now act as a graphical communication interface, displaying visual information in real time, and offering an interface to telecom services such as the Internet, m-commerce and 3G mobile phones. France Telecom sees the technology also finding its way into other spaces such as public safety (firemen fighting large fires), advertising, the automotive industry, interior decoration (furniture and wall fitting applications), fashion (development of fiber optic fabrics), leisure activities (personalized signing on roller blades at night) and more.

The screen is like a simple fabric, onto which users can download all kinds of visuals from Internet and fixed desktop (computer) or mobile terminals (PDAs, laptops). The development of the prototype includes a suite of software with which users can create and publish their own illustrations, drawings and texts online via a dedicated server. A flexible remote-control hidden in a lapel can trigger the display of visuals stored on the garment and will enable new visuals to be selected from a server over the Internet. It also handles effects such as scrolling, intensity or brightness, and interaction with sounds and gestures....

According to the Gartner Group, 60% of the population in developed countries are likely to own a communicating garment by 2010, so don't be too surprised if in a matter of years, the mobile phone logo craze is dead as a dodo while everyone will be downloading the latest graphics for their always-online jacket." [infoSync]

At first I couldn't imagine this technology becoming mainstream in the way the pictures on the infoSync site suggest, but then I started thinking about our six-year old, Brent. Right now he loves Pokemon t-shirts, and he would probably love a shirt that could change which character it's displaying whenever his mood changes. Stupid, sure, but then so are those neon light tubes you see on the cars of teenagers, and I'm starting to see more and more of those. Who knows what silly uses will take hold of our imaginations.

This also puts a new spin on the term wearable computing if the video screen and the keyboard are both embedded in your clothing!