Stylish portable puts accent on design

So we're in the market for a computer to go on a cabinet in the kitchen. I'm told this is not to be confused with a new work computer for me. Here's the requirements:

Primary

1. Needs to be small. The footprint for where we want to put it is 17" square. That leaves out any desktop besides an all in one design or a shuttle with an LCD.
2. Cheap! Less than $1500 for sure. Less than $1000 is better.
3. Decent design. It will be public and in the kitchen.
4. Swivel screen. Some decent way to adjust the screen for different viewing angles. Standing there browsing, viewing recipes from across the room, or when Paola wants to watch family pictures during dinner.

Secondary

1. Portability is not necessarily a requirement. I'm looking at needing a personal laptop at some point and that will serve the portability requirement.
2. Compatibility.

   Needs to be able to access music and photo libraries from the computer upstairs. I don't see this as a huge issue, Timbuktu or some remote desktop client should do it.
3. Burn movies. This one is moving down on the list, but we've got tons of dv tapes of Paola's first 2 years. We'd like to edit and burn them to DVDs. My instinct at first was get an iMac, but i don't want to edit standing up. So now, I'm leaning to just get a DVD burner for the computer upstairs at some point. Or if I get a nice machine for me, that machine might have a burner, unless it's a tablet :(  Cost is an issue there too.

5:38:51 PM    comment []

Light and rugged tablet PC

I know Tablets are targeted at businesses right now, and since they are new they are expensive. but I keep thinking that someone needs to -- and will make one for kids. My daughter loves drawing on the fujitsu. frog and Disney are proving that people will pay extra for electronics for their kids. These light and rugged versions would be a perfect base.

Christopher, I'm getting tired of your IMs. "Wait, there's more Tablet PC news today" he says. Here's Itronix new "light and rugged" Tablet PC announcement. Here's a news story about it, instead of the PR release. Whew. Any more Tablet items today?

[from scobelizer]

5:12:42 PM    comment []

MSN Messenger screenshots leaked

On the other hand, I've been playing with MSN Messenger 6.0, which is supposed to be top secret, but I see that screen shots have leaked out. I can't wait until everyone has this, though. It'll make my Tablet PC far more useful with my IM friends.

[from scobelizer]

5:08:17 PM    comment []