Yesterday, TechCrunch proposed a challenge to build a web tablet for $200.  The initial product specs are pretty simple.   The device needs to run Firefox and Skype.  The screen needs to be some sort of iPhone-like touch screen.  There must also be WiFi, a speaker, camera and microphone.

The basic idea is a device that can be used any time you are away from your main computer.  Since many people surf the web during much of this screen time, the TC Tablet will handle this quickly, from any WiFi location.  If all the software is open source (Linux, Firefox, etc) and customized by the open source community, all the cost is in the hardware.

Personally, I think this problem has been solved.  I can use my iPod Touch to do all the “quick computing” I need to do.  If I need to check my email, the Touch goes from “off” to “checking mail” in five seconds.  The Touch is also more portable.  It easily fits in my shirt pocket.  The battery lasts all day with constant use and three or four days if I use it periodically throughout the day.

I’m not sure how I would tote the TC Tablet around all day.  If I am going to carry something this big with me all the time, that screen better be sharp.  Although my Touch screen is small, it is high resolution.  I can easily read six point text on the Touch.  The big screen with multi-touch may be the demise of the TC Tablet.  I don’t know the prices of such hardware, but the screen alone might be too much of a factor in the bottom line cost of the TC Tablet.

If TechCrunch can pull this off for $200 it will be something to see.  It will take a dedicated effort from the open source community to make the software perfect.  For $200, it could be useful in a classroom setting.  E-books would look nice on a device of this size.

You have to jailbreak your Touch before you can add this utility.  About a month after I bought my Touch I watched a couple of videos on YouTube and found easy to follow step-by-step instructions.

The average person can probably get by just fine with the built-in functionality of the Touch now that POP and IMAP email are included.  Some of my jailbreak additions include Wikipedia and Mobile Twitter which I use on a daily basis. 

If you do jailbreak your Touch, don’t do the automatic updates of the firmware.  I turned those off a long time ago.  I think it was the day I got the following message from Apple:

There is an upgrade for iTunes.  It’s called Safari.  Would you like to install it?

I had a flashback to 1996 when everyone was trying to get you to install “their” browser.  I don’t understand how Apple can do something like this and it goes mostly unnoticed.  If Microsoft were to try to push a browser out to an OS X machine that was upgrading a media player, it would be all over the tech news.

I’m not about to drink the Kool-Aid.

I installed wikipedia on my iPod Touch.  By this, I don’t mean that I enabled my iPod Touch to go over the Internet and access wikipedia.  Instead, I have the whole searchable database installed on my iPod Touch. 

This is a two step process.  First the application is installed and then a dump of the official wikipedia site is transferred to the iPod Touch.  Since the data dump involves a file that is two gigabytes, it took about 90 minutes to complete the second step.

I basically used 1/8 of my Touch’s memory to install this application.  That’s OK.  I had only managed to fill half of the 16 GB in the last six months.  I still have plenty of free space.

The data set is from October of 2007.  I’m certain an updated dump will happen periodically.  It does take considerable massaging to get the database into the proper format for the iPhone/Touch.  Also, all the pictures are removed.  Otherwise the data set would be too large for the device.  The dump I have is in English.  There are German and Portuguese dumps available.

To search the database begin by typing a few letters of the name or term.  As letters are typed, possible matches are listed.  As soon as the target term is listed, clicking it directs the browser to the listing in the database.  From here on out, it works just like the online version without the option to edit entries.

Now I can look up everything from the atomic weight of aluminum to the history of ZZ Top… and all that is in between, stored on a device the size of a cell phone.

In addition to better Picasa integration, gMail and gReader have also been tweaked for the Touch.  I still need the “open in a new window” option for the browser, but I am finding the portable browser to be so convenient, I use it more than my laptop.  It turns on in a couple of seconds and can do everything except Flash. 

More later…

I sync’ed a thousand songs, a thousand pictures and still had room for half a season of Seinfeld (season five).

The interface is the slickest part of this device.  The touch screen is everything you have heard it is.  I opened the photo section and handed it to my mother.  After ten seconds of training she had no problem flipping through all the photos of her grand kids.

It was the photo feature that really sold me on this device.  I have several MP3 players, but I needed a way to carry around my photos.  The screen is large enough that the photo can be seen without squinting.  The screen is 3 inches by 2 inches.  That’s almost twice as big as the old iPod.