Whether or not to commit SofaSide?
Technology in the home today is a fast evolving market. Styling of that technology is often overlooked. Hard metal and blinking lights are the only options at the moment.Computers such as HTPC’s (home theater PC’s) are not particularly user friendly. They have a remote control, but that’s only half the story. User friendly should include looks, function and form. HTPC’s are designed by engineers with function in mind but little thought to ergonomics.
Many products seem like a good idea, but in practice, they don’t stand up. Universal remotes, touch screens on PC’s and voice recognition to name a few. The problem with most HTPC’s is that they try to look like audio equipment. This was done to integrate them into the living room by hiding them in your rack of home audio equipment. The home computer shouldn’t be hiding amongst these units, it should be replacing them.
Technology gurus would have us believe the homes main computer should be in the basement and media functions should be controlled from the living room. Not so. Maybe in the future, but we are not there yet. Problems such as hardwiring the home and access to the computer persist. In practice home owners end up running to the basement all too often.
Techno whiz kids love their racks of equipment blinking and glowing at them in their living rooms. While convenient, all these dust collecting gadgets are just plain ugly to my eye. I believe most people don’t want their living rooms stacked to the rafters with gadgets.
So can a computer grace a living room in style? Can it have usability and convenience with easy access? I believe it can.
Traditionally there have been problems with having a fully fledged computer system in the living room. They are yet more, ugly techno clutter. They are also noisy because of the cooling requirements and what about all the cables?
I was an electronics engineer and trained as an architect. I love new technology but aesthetics and ergonomics are of equal importance to me. I am very visually orientated. I consider myself a bit of an inventor so I went to work. After MUCH experimentation I came up with my concept The MEdiaCOre PC. I came up with novel ways of keeping it cool, quite yet still stylish. The cable boxes it controls are inside with the computer, so no ugly rats nest of cables. It does away with a lot of techno clutter. It replaces my DVD player, CD player, games console, Radio, DVR, etc. and looks great while doing so. My CD and DVD collection has been consigned to the basement. More clutter gone. It’s very family friendly, and now pretty much my whole home entertainment system is in a very small 21” square footprint. It looks like an unobtrusive yet cool little end table.
It only needs one simple remote control because the inputs never need to be changed on the TV or amplifier. No Universal remote macros and programming required. Thank god!!!
I now have a very powerful, top of the line home computer system that looks great, is virtually silent and no special cabling needed to be run through my home. Media streaming such as movies can be found easily on the small local screen and then dragged and dropped to my plasma TV; this screen is also great for reading. Everything plays through my surround sound system. It’s fantastic for games! I can surf the internet by rolling my wireless mouse around on my sofa beside me and type away happily with my keyboard on my lap, all while watching recorded TV on the big screen. V. happy :-)
My SofaSide PC has evolved into a product called the MEdiaCOre. It’s a system case into wich any existing PC can be installed. See the MEdiaCOre at www.pearingsystems.com
Here are some pictures of what I call my SofaSide PC. The computer rolls out and flips up for easy access - because I like to fiddle. Once slid into position the front door can be opened to access optical drives etc. I have a newer version with a folding door I am working on right now.
Oakman 1000
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