14 DAY TRIAL // A new platform unveiled at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2009) in Las Vegas, built as a marriage between hardware and software, might just be the answer to transforming traditional household objects, appliances, and accessories into neo-diginets. Neo-diginets are nothing more than a new generation of Internet-linked devices with the Fugoo hardware platform and the Windows operating system at their core.
“The combination of Fugoo’s platform and Microsoft Windows opens up almost limitless possibilities for transforming ordinary household items, allowing them to perform all sorts of new functions and services,” Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of the Original Equipment Manufacturer Division at Microsoft, says.
“Imagine having your alarm clock not only wake you up but also remind you what your first appointment of the day is and calculate how long it will take you to drive to work based on current traffic conditions.”
Fugoo is designed to permit the reinventing of the home appliance, by connecting common household devices to the Internet and expanding their basic capabilities through content download and upload functionality. From net clocks to digital frames and to coffee makers, devices will pull down information from the world wide web and simplify users' lives.
“Many vendors are trying to come up with a multipurpose magic bullet to satisfy all the information needs in the home,” John Hui, founder of Fugoo, states. “But this sort of solution is bound to be expensive and complex. We’re taking a fundamentally different approach, building devices with computing power and Internet connections to perform specific functions in order to keep costs low and the user interface simple.”
According to Hui, the Fugoo platform based on the Windows operating system can be tailored to an unlimited number of neo-diginet devices. At the same time, because of the nature of the platform, developers will be able to build applications set up to integrate with Fugoo and further expand the functionality of neo-diginets.
“These applications will be offered in the form of software building blocks that consumers can mix and match to customize their specific device or appliance,” Hui added. “One of the reasons we think the time is right for Web-enabled devices is that there’s been an explosion in the availability of Web widgets, which essentially automate the process of retrieving a particular category of information.”