Consumer-electronics giants show interest in new technology from innovative startup.
Rik Myslewski
When you want toast, you use a toaster -- you don't struggle with a multifunction Sustenance Management System that'll prepare anything from a strawberry smoothie to a rib roast. A toaster does only one thing, but it does it well.
Dealing with information should be as simple as dealing with an English muffin. However, as you watch those dozen or so extensions march across your screen during startup, you're reminded of how far the Mac has strayed from its original goal: to be the world's first information applicance.
An ambitious startup in Belmont, California, is refocusing on that goal. Tiny Diba is negotiating with an impressive array of big guns from the consumer-electronics world -- including Cable & Wireless, GoldStar, Hitachi, NEC, and Zenith, according to sources -- about licensing the suite of hardware, software, and networking technologies that underlies Diba's new, simpler way of dealing with the Information Age: IDEAs (interactive digital electronic appliances).
A Diba IDEA is a single-purpose, easy-to-use, inexpensive information-management or -retrieval device. Because an IDEA is designed for only one task, its interface and form factor can be specifically optimized for that task and that task alone -- much as a toaster's bread slot need not accommodate a Thanksgiving turkey.
Diba Internet.
The first piece of electronic equipment every red-blooded American kid learns to operate is the TV remote. With the Diba Internet, that basic skill can be used to surf the World Wide Web. The compact, futuristic Diba Internet box contains a 28.8-kbps modem, proprietary browser software, and a composite-video port for connecting to a color TV. The handheld infrared remote includes scrolling and pointing controls as well as a flip-open alphanumeric keypad for entering URLs. Browser software has been optimized for TV display and includes the ability to save a list of favorite Web pages. Manufacturing cost will be around $300; expect consumer cost to vary, depending on competition and supply.
Diba Mail.
Nonbusiness e-mail is limited to the one-third of Americans who have a Mac or PC at home. The Diba Mail aims to up that percentage. The Diba Mail appliance has phone and fax capability, along with a fold-down keyboard and a monochrome LCD display. Its proprietary e-mail software has standard editing controls as well as an address book that includes batch fax and e-mail processing. Since the Diba Mail is designed to be used in conjunction with an e-mail service provider, Diba claims that the Diba Mail should be available at nominal cost from the service provider when you subscribe.
Diba Kitchen.
If IDEAs are intended to be the toasters of the Information Age, why not an IDEA that complements your real toaster -- and your blender, your microwave, and your Cuisinart? Enter the Diba Kitchen, a tiny menu planner, nutrition database, CD-audio player, and color TV that either sits on your kitchen counter or hangs from your cabinets. The Diba Kitchen includes a CD-ROM with thousands of recipes -- accessible via buttons labeled Chinese, Italian, American, Mexican, Quick&Easy, and Other -- and with nutritional information divided into 26 categories, including calories and cholesterol. An optional compact thermal printer connects to the Diba Kitchen's serial port. Estimated prices were not available at press time. 415-596-1177; http://www.diba.com/.
Futuristic design and simple setup distinguish these inexpensive, easy-to-use, single-purpose information appliances: the Diba Mail (left) and the Diba Internet.
