Personal Servers: Are We At That Point?
Agere Systems has announced that they are getting ready to launch a new product called BluOnyx. Their website describes it as “Your Content From Anywhere - Enjoyed Everywhere”.
Essentially, BluOnyx is a small portable server that allows you to store and access files. It used USB, Bluetooth, SD cards and WiFi for connectivity so that you do not have to store these files on your mobile devices. I sort of envision it as the central server for your PAN.
The BluOnyx website says:
Now your Pictures, emails, files, video and music can be right there when you want them. You can view them on the cell phone, TV or PC screen. All that High Def pictures and video can be moved using the SD slot on the BluOnyx. Music, Video and Documents can be played or viewed on your cell phone. Put the BluOnyx on the home network and you can drag and drop content to it then pick it up and go.
I have mixed feelings about this technology. At first glance, it looks very cool. I can think of about a thousand things to do with this tool. The thing that concerns me is that this is another wireless device that will probably suffer all of the same security holes and issues that all of the other wireless consumer products. I can see this device being a target for bluejacking and bluesnarfing along with a number of people finding these wireless devices and dumping their own content. Imaging accessing a file on your BluOnyx that you think is the movie you pulled from your DVD collection last night only to realize it is another Viagra commercial!
With all that being said, you know that I will be buying one of these when they come out on the market!
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9 Responses to “Personal Servers: Are We At That Point?”
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The Fieldhouse Says:
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halcyon626 Says:
February 3rd, 2007 at 7:01 pmSo, what prices do you think this will be premiering at? Seems like a pretty cool device.
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Tim Fehlman Says:
February 3rd, 2007 at 9:14 pmAccording to GeekZone:
The retail price of the BluOnyx server is expected to range from US$99 to US$250 depending on memory capacity.
Tim
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Yyy Says:
February 4th, 2007 at 5:00 amI am in the queue for one of these too. I reckon security is one of the big advantages. Instead of my data being scattered on my phone and PDA, those items can be dumb terminals and this can have one lot of fierce security. Also the physical security of my PDA/phone/mp3 player is greater if it is just a cheap terminal, while the brains of the PAN can be kept securely hidden.
So now I just need the other parts of my dream package…
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Andrew Tingle Says:
February 5th, 2007 at 4:46 amI agree with the post completely. A great idea and extremely versatile but I would be worried about security (especially when such things as identity theft are becoming so widespread).
Even round my area the amount of unsecured wi-fi points is alarming (I would say 60% are wide open). People wouldn’t go out and leave their front doors wide open and yet they will, it seems, leave themselves wide open for other avenues of intrusion.
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Ryan Says:
February 5th, 2007 at 9:28 amMicrosoft is trying to do this with ‘Home Server’, which they mentioned at CES. Who knows when it will actually hit the shelves though.
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Un lugar en el mundo… Says:
February 5th, 2007 at 10:34 amlo ofecerán a terceras partes para su comercialización, con lo cual imagino que habrá diferencias de precio según quien lo venda y si , por ejemplo, lo hace como complemento a algún otro producto. Más información sobre el mismo (en inglés) en daily cup of tech, engadget y en ars technica. Tags: chismes, servidores personales de contenido, bluetooth, wi-fi Archivado en novedades, chismes | Leída 0 veces | Sin comentarios »
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Joe Says:
February 5th, 2007 at 9:57 pmHey, Ryan beat me to it!
Though I have to disagree with my partner in crime. This is more like the new credit card sized storage device Seagate just announced. I envision something like this being used and you can connect it to various terminals with different focuses and strengths. When you are mobile, your phone will do, but at work or home you have a little more processing power for media creation or program compiling.
Security is a must for these devices, and it will all come down to personal encryption.
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Ryan Says:
February 6th, 2007 at 3:51 pmYikes. I totally blew it, Joe’s right. I was thinking this was an update to Agere’s home media storage vault; I didn’t realize it was a smaller mobile device.
I fail at life. =(
