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The "replaceable compute card" design has been done dozens of times, unfortunately often before even a second generation of compute modules or enclosing form factors happens. I do still like the idea.

I've long thought the idea of bringing my personal phone with all my settings and data should let me dock into more powerful hardware without leaving data behind when I disconnect... lapdocks and such similarly having been done a bunch of times but rarely surviving a hardware generation.

Agreed. PAC isn't really a new idea at its core. I think the author says that directly. But it's also an idea that hasn't really been tried with the tech available. The promise really depends upon minimizing computing power, making it more contextual, and piggybacking on 3d printing to create open-source enclosures.

Along these design lines, I highly recommend Don Norman's "The Invisible Computer" https://a.co/d/7AnQMLW though his notions of mesh-networking and voice interaction illustrate the dated-ness of the book, but I think the idea of ambient interfaces with the smart-phone as "the hub" still holds promise.

This is just an open source smartwatch with kinetic power or a 3+ day battery life.

Personal Ambient Computing