Appliances
A RECENT TREND in the computer industry is to sell general-purpose computers as “appliances” with limited functionality. In the last few years, companies have embedded computers into digital photo frames, home WiFi routers, portable music players, pacemakers, and car dashboards. This is inevitable: after all, general-purpose computers are made in enormous quantities, and boast ever-increasing speed and ever-decreasing price. Why make a special-purpose chip that can only tell the time or play an MP3, when there’s an off-the-shelf alternative that can do all that and more, available at a fraction of the cost?