The WSJ Mossberg Column (written today by Katherine Boehret) is about a new HP PC with a touch screen, specifically intended for use on the kitchen countertop. From the piece:
In most homes, the kitchen is the center of family organization, the place where people mark calendars with choir practices, office parties and first dates, and post notes and family photos on cork boards and refrigerator doors.
For many years, the computer industry has tried to build a “kitchen computer” or “kitchen software” for regular computers, to replace the refrigerator door and the wall calendar as the planning and notification centers for the household. All of these attempts have failed.
Now, Hewlett-Packard Co. is trying again. This week, I tested the HP TouchSmart PC, a unique computer that H-P hopes your family will use in your kitchen or family room to get organized — digitally. This computer, due out Jan. 30, is an expensive — $1,799 — machine with an unusual design. It’s meant to be used like a walk-up kiosk, perched on a kitchen counter, with users selecting functions by tapping large icons on a touch-sensitive screen.
She concludes that although it has some great features, it’s still too bulky and pricey.
Before the apparent demise of Commoca, I thought this touch-screen phone had a great shot at being the “PC in the kitchen.” Not many people now have wireless networks in their homes and laptops in the kitchen.
Eventually this “PC in the kitchen” will be perfected (perhaps by Apple). It will probably be some flat panel combination of a tablet PC and kiosk/touch screen that enables easy navigation without a keyboard and manual handwriting (as on a calendar or notes). The keyboard is a problemmatic aspect of such a device (voice input would be a good option).
Regardless of what precise features it eventually has this device will come. The independent variable is price. If such a device is made affordable (under $1K) it will gain usage. If expensive it will be a niche novelty for gearheads.
Screenwerk 
January 9, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[…] of years ago (with an emphasis on advertising). The idea was an IYP on the phone and/or to offer a kind of PC in the kitchen for those without one. Commoca appears to be defunct even though a site still […]
August 26, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I believe this is an idea whose time will come. As with all new technology the first one of any kind are always the most costly then future versions are more affordable. You’ll start to see these in the ultimate high end kitchens where clients are already spending 5k each on refrigerators and ranges.
Kitchen Plans
September 24, 2008 at 1:57 pm
[…] is similar to what I always thought the old Commoca would be: a substitute for a laptop in the kitchen that permitted Internet access, would offer news, address […]
December 30, 2008 at 6:57 pm
[…] The Coming ‘PC in the Kitchen’ […]
June 15, 2010 at 4:40 pm
[…] years ago I wrote about the “PC in the kitchen” that would replace the phone book. This is it — it’s where my iPad sits much of […]