12:00a.m. 19th October 2008

| Steve Zemek

THINLINX Jeanne Moloney-Nicholls and John Nicholls with the Hot-e, The new computer device set to take the world by storm. Photo: Jason Dougherty/178969

A Sunshine Coast couple is set to revolutionise the home PC market with a $140 computer that can fit in the palm of your hand.

John and Jeanne Nicholls have developed a line of computers – named the Hot-E – which they’re hoping to launch early next year.

Unlike most computers, the Hot-E doesn’t store information on an internal hard drive, instead it lets you access your information which is stored on a remote server.

“Imagine everyone’s got their own TV station,” John said.

“You don’t need your own TV station. All you need is a TV station somewhere else and a device like the Hot-E to display the information.

“A Hot-E is like a TV set, you plug in your keyboard, your mouse, your keyboard and your internet connection.

“The desktop can be running over in America.

“You get the illusion you’re seeing a normal computer. But you’re not.”

Mr Nicholls said his company, ThinLinX, had been inundated with hundreds of requests from potential customers around the world wanting to purchase the Hot-E after a story about his invention appeared in the New York Times.

Mr Nicholls, a former airline pilot with Ansett, originally got into computer programming after he purchased an Atari 400 – one of the first home computers, originally released in 1979 – and taught himself programming. He then formed a company through which he designed and sold modems for the Atari.

He later sold off the company but maintained an interest in computer programming.

Eventually his interest was piqued with the release of the Linux operating system – a competitor of the Microsoft Windows operating system – and started to become interest in the concept of cloud computing – systems and programs which live on the internet - on which the Hot-E is based.

Many companies including Google and Microsoft are now sinking money into the development of cloud computing.

Mr Nicholls credits advances in programs such as Google Apps and a free version Adobe Photoshop accessible via the internet with increasing consumer and developer interest in the idea.

“More people think it’s a better way of doing it, we believe it’s a better way,” he said.

“We’re hoping to sell it for about US$100. It uses less power.

“The big players are taking note of cloud computing.”

Mr Nicholls said one of the major drawcards of the Hot-E was that it consumes around 3 watts of energy, compared with an average PC which uses 200 watts.

While he said most of the demand for the Hot-E would come from schools and medium-sized companies, he said he envisioned the device becoming compatible with home media centres.

“Houses will have their media centre in the lounge room,” he said. “That system will be running windows, can have movies and mp3s stored, a TV tuner.

“The kids can be in their room and they’ll be able to watch TV, movies, play music and surf the net.”