A Peek At Litl

 

I read a piece by Walt Mossberg about a new computing device from Litl that they call a ‘webbook’. It appears to be a smart and innovative return to the idea of a ‘thin client’ laptop. There’s no hard drive: it’s 100% cloud.

Even more interesting than the hardware is the UX, which is a clean break with the ‘desktop + files + folders’ metaphor that seems stuck to OS design like gum on our soles.

 

It is selling online a highly unusual laptop it classifies as a “webbook,” which attempts to meld cloud computing with a TV-like viewing experience—for the home. This shiny, colorful computer, named the Litl, is larger and more expensive than a typical netbook. It’s about the size of a small standard laptop, with a 12-inch screen and a weight of 3.4 pounds. It costs $699, or about twice the price of a netbook, at litl.com.

Yet the Litl doesn’t use Windows, or directly run word processors, email, or photo or music programs. It can only perform those tasks via Web sites and services like Gmail or Flckr, Google Docs or Pandora Radio. About the only local program it has that can run without an Internet connection is a virtual egg timer. It has no hard disk or any other way for a user to store anything locally.

The Litl’s user interface is a radical departure. There is no task bar or dock, no folders, no icons for files and programs; no traditional desktop. Instead, the Litl’s screen is filled with small cards that contain various kinds of Web content, from photos to news headlines, Facebook status and favorite Web sites. Click on a card, and its contents fill the screen.

And the Litl has another big difference from standard laptops or netbooks: something called “easel mode.” You can flip it around so the machine takes the form of an inverted letter “V,” with the screen facing outward. In that position, the machine can be used like a small Internet-based TV to display headlines, the weather, photo slideshows or videos from the Web. The company sells a $19 remote for controlling the computer in easel mode. You can also control it with a wheel built into the hinge.

via No File! No Icon! Litl Is a Big Idea, but Still Cloudy

This is a fascinating tool. Largely based on the concept of a home gizmo — easily plugs into TVs, for example — I can see it’s possible application as a personal device, but I would like to see a small footprint more like a palmtop. They have also borrowed the concept of playable ‘channels’ from TV, and these are media streams via RSS and other technologies.

I believe that the Litl OS is a foreshadowing of future UX: a break with files, folders, and that claptrap. I would have to actually live in such a world to see what — if anything — is missing, though.

 

The sharing model is very Web 1.0: you can push ‘cards’ — the organizing concept for information streams — to another Litl user, or to anyone via email. I would have expected some sort of open follower-type publicy model of interaction, not manually pushing stuff. But they seem to be defaulting to whatever is offered by apps like Flickr or Facebook.

A show stopper for me would be iTunes: Apple doesn’t support a web version of that, so where do I store all my music files?

And they have a USB, so maybe I could connect my mifi, but maybe not.

I am working on getting a hands on demo, or a loaner. More to follow.