The reason is, that in your Mac you already have
one of the most powerful CPUs on the planet --
the PowerPC!

So why aren't we using all this awesome processing power, except
when we sit right in front of the computer monitor? Most of us non-
nerds spend maybe four hours a day, tops, at the computer, and
even less on weekends and holidays. That's way below 20 per
cent of the time!

This is where Apple could really do something, since it's in
the unique position of being both a hardware AND a software
company.

The fact is, there's no reason for a CPU to be anywhere near its own
input and output devices. Many of us even today, in fact, put our CPU
under the table. All we want to see and touch are the keyboard, mouse
and screen. With infrared keyboards and mice, we can even sit many
feet away from the CPU. And with flat screens finally becoming the "in"
thing, the desk is once again getting a lot less cluttered than it used to
be.

Indeed there's no reason the CPU couldn't disappear
completely, say into the basement, provided there was
a way to get the signal to and from it rapidly enough,
and without too much hassle.

Well, it just so happens that there are not merely one, but two
readily available ways to get the signal there and back.

The first is the ordinary wiring that already exists in any modern
home: at the very least the nice fat power wiring, and also the
somewhat thinner phone lines. Sure, the power wires carry electricity,
humming away at a leisurely 60 Hertz (or 50 Hertz, depending on
where on earth you live); but what's to prevent them from also
carrying signals at 333 MegaHertz? The ones would hardly even
interfere with the others. Or if they did, the interference could easily
be filtered out. Same goes for the phone lines: indeed that's how
xDSL works.

And virtually all input and output devices need electricity,
so more likely than not, they'd be plugged into a wall
socket anyway. Transmit the in- and out- signals
through the self-same wiring, and you've got it made!

That, in fact, is how some European countries are planning
to get their citizens on the Internet -- and that too, at speeds
rivaling ADSL. They'll transmit the Internet signals over the
regular power lines. We can't do that in North America as yet,
because our voltages are lower, and thus we have more
transformers (which block the signals). But it just goes to show
that this can be done.

And not to be outdone, even Radio Shack markets devices which will plug
into your wall socket and enable you to turn your oven on and off right from
your computer keyboard.

And the Mac has always supported multiple input and
output devices. With USB technology, in fact, it could
support up to 127 -- more than enough to satisfy any
cyberhog.

So why limit yourself to just one keyboard, mouse and screen?
Have one in every room! One in the kitchen to call up all those
delicious recipes, another built into the coffee table (we discussed
that earlier), a third in the garage to refer to those cool tips for
waxing your car, and yet another in the garden shed, to find out
directly from Holland how deeply tulip bulbs should be planted.

Just plug the devices into the wall sockets, and carry on working
like nothing's changed.

(And if you feel you want privacy, keep the signals inside your home by installing
a little doodad at the point where the electricity enters your home -- thus keeping
the signals inside, inside, and those outside, outside. The doodad, in fact, need
be nothing more complicated than a simple transformer that doesn't actually
increase or decrease the voltage: it just blocks the signals.)

Using either infrared or radio-frequency signals, the kind used in
TV remotes and cordless phones (not to mention the iMac's irDA
port), the signal could be beamed directly to the output device.

And why limit yourself to traditional input and output
devices. Read and answer your e-mail in bed, using
nothing more than a low-cost flat screen and a magnetic
(or light-sensitive) pen. Browse the Web while sitting on
the can, holding nothing more than a lightweight tablet
like the Federation crew uses on Star Trek. Take notes
or draw pictures while wandering around in the garden.

This is no mere Palm 3 or  Newton, mind you -- let alone a friggin'
laptop costing twice as much as your main Mac, yet possessing
only half as much computing oomph. All the records are stored in
one single central location, so they're all there, ready to be retrieved
at your slightest whim. And the system can store gigabytes of records;
in the future, maybe even terabytes. All searchable with a single
Sherlock. With no need ever to "synchronise files". (Puh-leeze! Who
needs thathassle.)

(A computer, after all, is an extension of your mind. You have
only one mind, so why would you want more than one computer?)

And when you upgrade, you only have to upgrade the Big Kahuna in
the basement. The extra peripherals scattered around the house can
stay the same!

The peripherals would also cost next to nothing, at least compared to an
equal number of PowerBooks, or even an equal number of Palm 3s. (How
much do extra mice and keyboards cost anyway? And flat screens are
coming down in price even as we speak.) If you are really stingy, of
course, you could use second-hand CRT monitors in the garage or garden
shed.

On the other hand, if you want to splurge, why limit yourself to
input devices that work with human fingers only, and output
devices that merely display stuff visually? Go the whole hog,
and buy yourself a few that generate input with changes in
temperature, voice, light, or even smells; and output devices
that can control appliances and gadgets you already possess.

So drop one of those into your flush tank, and hey presto,
your self-flushing toilet bowl. Or hook one up to your sink,
and hey presto, your temperature-regulating faucet. Put
one in your fridge, and you'll know soon enough if some
of your cheese has gone off. Attach one to your oven,
and it'll let you know when the roast beef is done just right.
Install one in your coffee table (but we discussed that
already). Etc., etc., etc. Why not, eh?

Heck, why stop at that. Plug in microphones and loudspeakers in every room, and
give your kids comm badges to wear on their shirts. Then, when you want to know
where your kids are, just say "Computer, locate Counsellor Troi" (that being the
code name for your seven-year-old daughter). You'd get a reply saying "Counsellor
Troi is in the back yard." (Of course, if Counsellor Troi has run off with her friends
to play in the park, the computer might say: "Counsellor Troi is not on board the
Enterprise.") Twenty-fourth century technology, here in 1999.

Apple could make a bundle developing such peripherals. Not just the flat
tablets, but all kinds of input and output devices that work seamlessly
with the InvisiMac located in the basement. Of course, if Apple didn't do
it, someone else would, because such devices would sell like hot cakes.
Provided, of course, they worked, and worked every time without fail.
Just like on the Enterprise.