Personal computing isn’t quite what it used to be. For most people, a computer has either a room or atleast part of room completely dedicated to it. There’s of course the PC setup itself, which generally has a desk, and then some sort of organizational piece of furniture for the software.

Then we moved from this wave of thinking to the notebook generation. Which is built on the idea that we have a computer, even on the go. And when we’re at home, can access a computer, even in bed. Now, I believe we’re seeing the third wave of computing technology, the micro/mobile brand of computers.

You no longer even need a notebook computer to provide some of what mobile devices, particularly phones can offer in terms of computing. These devices haven’t quite caught in processing power, and compatibility but they’re getting there.

Marvell looks to be pushing the envelope even farther with their latest invention. The wall plug computer. The SheevaPlug is a ultra compact computer. So compact that it is really only the size of an outlet plug-in device. The SheevaPlug has some decent hardware specs for something it size. It has a 1.2Ghz processor, 512 MB SDRAM, and 512 MB of flash storage. Marvell is hoping that the plug-in computer will make a push for efficient, and more green computer options.

The plug-in PC has an ethernet connection, and USB option for networking, or storage options. As of now it can only run certain Linux kernels.

It will be interesting to see if developers are able to find practical uses for this device. As of now, I’m not sure the use something like this can truly bring. After reading up on it, the SheevaPlug seems more like a network/storage solution than a true PC. The only problem is, with the small amount of memory it has that use might not serve much of a purpose.

[via: Cnet]

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