Worth waiting for: part 2

Three of the four things I was waiting for now exist, so it's time for another list of technology that I know is coming, but I want now.

• Lighting LEDs, because they're longer lasting, cooler and less sensitive to shocks than the archaic incandescent light bulb


• Low power high-performance PCs. Some new Pentium 4 CPUs consume over 100 watts of power. My second PC is an AMD K6-II 400, which has less than a tenth of the performance of the Pentium 4, but is entirely sufficient for my needs. It consumes about 15 watts. However, there are not many companies selling lower power, and thus lower performance PCs. Along with the advances in performance, there has been an associated increase in performance per watt, so lower power higher performance computers than in the past are now possible . The AMD Geode processor, for example, uses about 1 watt, but still has one quarter the performance of a Pentium 4. I'd rush out to buy a small silent PC based on a Geode (silent, because no cooling fans are required), but it's only being sold in exorbitantly-priced thin-client applications.


• Wireless USB, which is designed to be completely compatible with existing wired USB. It's due in early 2006. I would use this to connect my PC, in my study, to the PVR in my lounge about 10m away. I currently have to lug my PVR over to the PC when I want to connect them. There are odd expensive WiFi contraptions that currently exist for this, but Wireless USB dongles promise to be much cheaper and much more straightforward to use.


• Slingbox or Sony's LocationFree TV in Australia or the UK, and using DVB-T (terrestrial digital TV) - the Sony one assuming they give me a reason to stop my boycott of all their products. These high-tech solutions to watching TV remotely, even across borders, may be rendered obsolete before they become popular by television networks offering their programmes directly on the internet. The BBC and some US networks are well advanced in their beta and actual product offerings.