Where's the Future Already?

I'm not really satisfied with the state of portable computing. Laptops are great and all, but they die in three hours when you haven't plugged them in. Non-laptop computing is even worse. The ASUS Eee PC and MacBook Air have made some good progress in the keyboard+monitor form factor, but it's not there yet for sure. Why do the biggest widgets have the worst battery life? Sure, there's more screen to drive, but as long as we're hauling them around, we may as well cram in a few more lithium cells to earn a few extra hours of freedom from the electric tether.

Smartphones appear to be where the small-device convergence is happening. That makes some intuitive sense, since it's the thing with the wide-area network hookup. Too bad they're largely trash, being bad at both being phones and smart. Apple made a lot of good interface progress with the iPhone, but being yoked to inferior price and data-rate AT&T turned off a lot of people (including me), and the difficulties with the software everyone uses (Office, Outlook), turned off the business people. HTC's new Diamond and Raphael look especially promising, doubly so because of their relationship with my favorite carrier Sprint.

Don't forget about Google's Android. Here's hoping it manages to annihilate the dumb world of $3 phone ringtones and janky Java phone apps that don't work.

What the hell is up with portable listening devices anyway? Earbuds are uncomfortable and I have yet to really find a good way to cope with the dangling wire. Wireless earphones all have a behind-the-ear design that doesn't cooperate well with my eyeglasses. What I really want is something like the Motorola/Oakley RAZRWIRE gadget that I can hang on my own glasses; in stereo. Maybe someday it'll shoot lasers onto my optics for Augmented Reality goodness too, but I can wait for that.