Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most digital of them all.
When Jonney Shih dreams of the future, he thinks of tapping his finger on his bedroom mirror and turning it into a television and a computer screen. Mr. Shih is the chairman of ASUSTek, the giant Taiwanese company whose Asus brand has been among the most creative in developing computers in different shapes and sizes.
The Eee PC line from Asus has been a pioneer in very low cost, small notebook computers. But it also offers desktop computer the size of a paperback book, and computers built into touch screen flat panel displays that can be hung on a wall. And at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, it showed a prototype of a computer built into a keyboard. It will be paired with a wireless device that will turn a high-definition television into the computer’s monitor.
As Mr. Shih envisions the future, families will want to surf the Web and watch Internet video on televisions
“Today, the family crowds around a small PC screen when they are sharing digital media and getting on the Internet,” he said. “In the living room, it should be more convenient to use the big screen.”
Didn’t Microsoft fail at this vision with WebTV, I asked. Now the technology is much better, Mr. Shih replied.
To Mr. Shih, there’s no reason to stop at the TV.
“To make the whole digital home possible, in the eventual state every wall becomes a display,” he said, “The mirror should become a screen.”
Why?
“Because you want to blend it into your life,” he explained. “You already watch the mirror.”
And how will you control all these screens?
In Mr.Shih’s view, as likely as not, it will be on a cellphone. And the company is working on a low-cost smart phone called the Eee Phone.
“That Eee phone may become an interactive control,” he explained. “The whole digital network is the key.”
Read our full coverage of C.E.S. at www.nytimes.com/personaltech.
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