BBC News reports on an Intel innovation: a tablet PC, augmented with solar panels and a video camera, embedded in a surfboard. The surfboard was to be showcased by professional surfer Duncan Scott at the Intel Goldcoast Oceanfest in North Devon, UK, last weekend.
Some people bring their laptops to the beach, and there are more and more harbors (and unsuspecting shoreside homes) offering WiFi access, but this is the first I’ve heard of WiFi access via surfboard. The main benefit of this innovation is presumably to provide a surfer’s-eye view of the action, one of the more interersting examples of things one can view on the net. I suppose it could be of some benefit to the surfers themselves, waiting for the next big wave, particularly on days when the swell is not so swell.
Comments
3 responses to “Surfing the Net … from a Surfboard”
I don’t want to romanticize the whole “communing with nature” aspect, but you know, I’ve never heard surfers complain of not having enough glowing, information-intensive screens around while waiting for a wave. And I did grow up in SoCal. I’ll buy the attraction of getting a “surfer’s eye” view of the action. I’ll even buy the idea that a surfer might want some extra information about the waves, the weather, the other surfers nearby, the likelihood of the party that night getting busted by the cops… There’s lots of surfer-specific information that could reasonably be communicated through an augmented board. What a great problem in interface design — I find myself wanting to do a few quick sketches just to see what else we could do with that board besides glue a screen to it. Yes, I know it’s just a promotional stunt for Centrino and I’m getting unnecessarily ranty. I’m just wishing for one brief, futile moment that we could decisively move beyond the “surf the web” anywhere paradigm.
Ein COMPUTERUNTERSTÜTZTES SURFBOARD? DAS IST EIN VERRÜCKTER IDEE DANDY! SURFBOARDINGS IST FÜR HIPPIEs UND NICHT COMPUTER GEEKS. BEHALTEN Sie SURFBOARDS DER WEG, den SIE SIND. FIBREGLAS MIT KEINEN SILIKONEN SPÄNEN!
I agree Liz. It is a tired paradigm and a tired metaphor (surfing the web). I don’t have to rant about computers in the surf lineup because it’s not going to happen.