In the late 90's, at the height of the "internet appliance" craze, 3Com released a small, cute, single-unit "internet machine" which provided email, web browsing, and an address book - intended for people with little computer experience.

The "Audrey" was supposed to do for the home computer what the Palm Pilot had done for the handheld computer: provide a simple, consistent interface and not bog the user down in configurations or technical details.

Unfortunately, the "Audrey" had a number of technical problems: the price was too high (originally USD 600), the browser was slow, and many services - such as food delivery, and an online pharmacy - never materialized. However, once 3Com had ceased distribution of these machines, and they were liquidated for around USD 100 per unit, a community of hackers formed around the "Audrey" to write software and tinker with these cute, cheap, networkable computers.

"Audreyhacking.com" is the central tome of all "Audrey"-related information. It can walk you through the steps of getting at the underlying QNX (like Linux) operating system, and has links and troubleshooting for almost every non-3COM application written for the "Audrey". For many, this resource has turned what was a poorly-executed, overpriced, underpowered net-appliance into an affordable and superior MP3 stereo unit - or a digital picture frame - or a living room console - or a telephone caller-ID unit.


Links: http://www.audreyhacking.com/

Harper Reed (USA) somehow around 1994 stumbled across the Internet. It could have been the mysterious dialup that led to gopher and MUDs or maybe it was the strange BBSs that kept offering Internet mail. Whatever the reason, Harper has been experimenting with online communities ever since. Having been influenced by the likes of *2600 magazine* and *&TOTSE*, Harper believes in fostering a community where information can be freely exchanged and archived. He is always looking toward the open source community to help provide an infrastructure to power his web applications. Harper can be reached at harper@nata2.org.