Check your stocks while you pump your gas?
Perhaps not yet, but interactive TV software maker Network Computer wants to help businesses put the Internet in everything from personal digital assistants to -- yes -- petrol pumps.
"We approaching a point in the digital age when everything from telephones to personal digital assistants will be equipped with software connecting to the Internet," said David Roux, CEO of NCI. "This enables users to send all sorts of content," said Randy Brasche, spokesman for NCI. "It might be a simple thing, where the Internet feeds ads to a gas pump LCD."
The company announced its eNavigator software platform for connecting so-called embedded devices to the Internet. Also called information appliances, these machines could include phones, microwaves, personal digital assistants, Internet switches and gas pumps that receive data electronically.
The first product using the new technology is a palm-top computer from Japanese electronics giant Fujitsu.
What's on the fridge tonight, honey?
Such applications are expected to explode, according to a study by market researcher International Data. The firm estimates that the information appliance market will hit 41 million units by 2002.
NCI's market is not limited to getting Web pages on your washing machine. Home automation and workflow management could be major markets, too.
"A factory worker could have new orders sent to his machine over the Internet," said Brasche. "Or you might be able to control the temperature of your house."
The eNavigator software requires less than 1 MB of memory and integrates with the embedded operating system of devices. The software allows e-mail, Web browsing, automatic software updates and includes full HTML and JavaScript engines.
It's not a product that will be sold in stores, however.
Companies that want to build devices with the Internet built-in will have to contact NCI's partner, Wind River Systems, whose VxWorks development system will include the ability to add in the eNavigator functionality.
From Mars to the microwave
"You can't really use the Internet or your telephone, without going through our embedded systems somewhere," said Jerry Fiddler, chairman for Wind River, which created the operating system for the Pathfinder mission to Mars.
Wind River helped Fujitsu embed the eNavigator software into its newest product, the InterTop, sold only in Japan. The product includes e-mail and Web browsing.
"Through our relationship with Wind River and Fujitsu, we envision eNavigator inside millions of information appliances," Roux said.
