A Perfect Digital Companion

When you travel on business it is best to take your office along for the ride and that could be made possible with the use of a Laptop computer. They are highly portable, the ideal travelling companion you can take with you. Seemingly, the range of laptop computers available is endless. The functions these devices can perform manifold with each new generation although with simplicity in mind.

Future Home Entertainment

To have a truly multimedia system then you need to have a PC to drive it. The ideal is a big-screen combination PC and television. The PC/TV is the first device that combines audio/video and multimedia computing in a complete system. This system can use any video source, including broadcast, VCR, laser disc and video game.

But how practical is such a system for home use? Admittedly, there is some way to go in this development. However, the multimedia systems for the home currently available more than fulfill the needs of home theatres. Earlier this year leading consumer-electronics companies and computer manufacturers teamed up to produce standards for a living-room personal computer dubbed the PC theatre. This will ensure that large-screen PC's can hook up easily with home-electronics devices. The PC theatre would act as a server for remote controls, DVD players, speakers and television sets.

The Office Goes Home

Don't forget the office -- as if you could. Think of not so long ago when you attend or made a presentation. It usually involved a combination of any number of machines. But now it is much simpler. You arrive with your laptop and an integrated projector that can produce video, stereo sound and graphics. Through modem communications you can hook up with video, sound and graphic sources from anywhere in the world that are effortlessly blended into presentation.

But you can go one step higher. Here's a scenario: The president of your company cannot be with you or your presentation, he is in New York on business. But his contribution is essential. So, what do you do? This is where a nifty little device comes into its own -- a digital camera the size of an orange that is linked to your computer.

Your president sits in front of a PC, lines up the camera, checks the sound, dials up the internet, links with your laptop and projector and makes a real-time speech. At the same time similar cameras are set up in your presentation room and you and your potential clients can have a two-way discussion -- or as many as you like. Forget the office for a second. Think of doing the same with friends or family either next door or just about anywhere else that has digital telephone lines. The possibilities go on and on.

The computer revolution changes everything too fast for the human brain to comprehend. After all, they are simply plastic and metal objects made by humans. And we're only beginning to scratch the surface of the computer's capabilities. We do not know what lies around the next bend on the information superhighway.