Recently,
we've covered several
new opportunities, including non-phone platforms such as netbooks, e-ink devices, and set-top boxes, for Google's open source Android operating system. Today,
GigaOm and
Information Week are discussing confirmation of what is likely to be the first fully-realized, non-phone hardware implementation of Android: a set-top box from Motorola called au Box. It's being made by Motorola for Japanese Internet service provider KDDI, and, according to Information Week, it will be capable of playing DVDs and CDs, transferring music and video to a mobile device, and ripping and storing files. That sounds a lot like full-blown computer, and there is another way the au Box will be a lot like a computer. Here are more details.
