Opinion: SideShow - Even Microsoft has a Good Idea Occasionally

USELESS - this is exactly what the iPhone will be for... I can't imagine any scenario in which i would use this feature. As others have said, either the laptop is tucked away in a bag or right in front of you. To have a screen "outside" of the laptop, seems a bit stupid. I mean, just look at the picture that came with this entry, it has useless information, like that bluetooth icon! Why?? I'm all for congratulating Microsoft on innovation, i don't think Windows has to be bad for Mac Os to be good, i want progress for everybody. But this feature is, IMHO, not a good idea.

Would seem to be mainly useful if you don't have a decent phone or smartphone or PDA to sync with.

Perhaps that's the problem that should be solved, rather than adding the same functionality to the side of a laptop.

Usually I'll want to check an appointment when my laptop ISN'T present.

Sideshow is the hotness.... I heard about it shortly after I switched and I've been hoping that apple will come out with something similer. The pictures I saw of actual sideshow devices from CES looked a little bulky, but hopefully this will improve. Hey, they do come out with some good stuff, we just usually do it first :-)

SideShow is actually a nice thing, except it is by no means an innovation. The real significant use of Sideshow, has already been showcased by a cool app called Salling Clicker (that was originally developed for the Mac). I mean... you can check you have new email? or when your appointment is? I dont think it's gonna be up-to-date if the computer is really sleeping (So, its a battery drain), and I would rather open the full app to check that if it wasnt sleeping. Displaying status of something on a secondary display... Salling Clicker already does this with a little bit of AppleScript on the my Cellphone screen, and it even lets me control my apps from it. Apple should license Salling Clicker, and port it to the iPhone, and that will be a grrreat app. Good try MS! But you guys need to come up with something really breakthrough... Same goes for Apple too! Lets hope those "Top Secret" features are really worth being kept a secret.

For this to be useful for me it should be able to connect to the internet without turning on the computer. This way, it can update the weather info, news and RSS/ATOM feeds. What is the use of having outdated information on Sideshow, when you can flip the lid on your computer, have it auto-update your RSS/ATOM subscriptions.

It also needs to auto-sync with my mobile phone in my pocket via bluetooth. That way, I will have not have to take out the notebook from the bag just to check why it is sounding an alert chime for an appointment.

Oh wait, my smartphone can do all of these and best of all, it provides me with an option not to bring my notebook all the time.

I think it's stupid. I saw a review of one on Engadget, and I don't know if they're all like that, but this one was absolutely pointless. It was basically a sort of PDA with 1GB of memory just fused into the laptop. If you wanted to access something on the laptop's hard drive, you had to turn it on, defeating the purpose. All it did was waste battery life. If you want something to remind you of tasks and email, get a PDA. They do the same thing, plus they're portable.

Microsoft Vista has "Slideshow", which allows you to view Information, even when your Laptop is closed.
Translation:
Microsoft still haven't solved their Power Management Problems. They've changed it from a Bug to a Feature.

I think a lot of the people responding negatively to this thread aren't really "getting" the concept behind SideShow. The idea is to be able to display information WITHOUT having to fully start up the computer. The information is processed and displayed using extremely low power circuitry, so the main CPU, memory, graphics chip, etc. need not be running while SideShow is active. This will save a lot of power. Information would be received by some sort of wide band radio technology. Kind of like having an alphanumeric pager built into the laptop, that runs almost completely independently of the laptop itself.

For example, this thing could receive news broadcasts, continuously updating stock quotes, weather data, your RSS feeds, whatever. There are similar services in existence right now that let you send such information to your alphanumeric pager.

Imagine if the SideShow device contained its own primitive CPU, clock chip, and small bank of memory. iCal could periodically refresh the SideShow device's independent chunk of memory with data on upcoming calendar events/alarms; that way, when the laptop was shut down, the SideShow device's independently-operating CPU could continue to process alarm data, flashing alarms on the SideShow screen as they occur (and maybe sounding a small piezoelectric buzzer as well). This way you could continually keep track of upcoming appointments, etc. even when the laptop is closed and in your bag. (If the screen were properly placed, it would be easy to view this information while the laptop is still lying in its bag.)

Good idea. Fortunately Apple doesn't seem to be above "appropriating" a good idea when it sees one so I hope this is one they jump on. Even MediocreSoft is bound to come up with something every once iin awhile.

I think it's definitely a really good idea. It seems much more useful, however, as a way to listen to music, view a contact, etc. without having to boot up the entire computer than as an alternate display with some widgets on it.