Audrey: The Early 2000's Failed Internet Appliance

Рет қаралды 202,619

Күн бұрын

Around the turn of the millennium, prices on computers fell dramatically and interest in exploring the Internet grew sharply. But not everyone wanted to deal with the hassle and confusion of using a PC just to surf the Web...so along came 3Com's Audrey.
Sources:
AOL commercial: • AOL Commercial from 1999
Audrey Hepburn photo: www.flickr.com/photos/coloriz...
Audrey in kitchen photo: www.flickr.com/photos/ajturne...
"Chic Internet Access With 3Com's Audrey," PC World, December 2000.
Yellow Audrey photo: www.flickr.com/photos/petsroa...
Mint green Audrey photo: www.flickr.com/photos/gadge/3...
Black Audrey photo: www.flickr.com/photos/extrea/...
"The Bad, the Ugly, and the Just Plain Dumb," PC Magazine, September 4, 2001.
"Second Looks," PC Magazine, September 20, 2001.
"Are PCs Toast? Internet Appliances Arrive," PC World, November 2000.
eMachine tower photo: never-obsolete.tumblr.com/pos...
Circuit City commercial: • Circuit City Ad, 1999
"Strictly For the Web," Popular Science, November 2000.
"Compaq pulls iPaq Internet Appliance," www.computerworld.com/article...
Gateway commercial: • Gateway Computer Comme...
"3Com spins off Palm Computing division," NetworkWorld, September 20, 1999.
"3Com exits the enterprise," InfoWorld, March 27, 2000.
"'Net apps latest casualties of 3Com," NetworkWorld, March 26, 2001.
"3Com woes mounting," NetworkWorld, March 5, 2001.
"3Com taps Huawei for 'comeback' try," NetworkWorld, June 16, 2003.
"Hewlett-Packard to Acquire 3Com," The New York Times, November 11, 2009.
Audrey software shell photo: web.archive.org/web/200410170...
Audrey Unofficial Hack FAQ: web.archive.org/web/200206021...
"Technology Sell-Off May Bring Shakeout of Dot-Com Concerns," The New York Times, April 17, 2000.
00:00 - Introduction
00:36 - Family, meet Audrey
01:50 - A simple Internet appliance
02:52 - But also a personal organizer
04:49 - Reviews and impressions
05:25 - A total flop
07:01 - A flawed product with strong competition
08:51 - The downfall of 3Com
10:10 - A quiet legacy
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Music by Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com).
Intro music by BoxCat Games (freemusicarchive.org/music/Bo....

Пікірлер: 608

@utubepunk Жыл бұрын

The stylus also being a notification alert antenna is pretty genius.

@lawrencedoliveiro9104 Жыл бұрын

Total internal reflection FTW!

@ian_b Жыл бұрын

Yes, I like that.

@JohnDoe-wq5eu Жыл бұрын

Easily the coolest part of this device hands down.

@MrTLsnow Жыл бұрын

Apple style industrial design

@alainportant6412 Жыл бұрын

Yes its very nice looking at nigth

@waterbears9874 Жыл бұрын

I really love old late 90s/2000s devices like this, old tech looks more futuristic than modern tech sometimes

@Bigbadwhitecracker Жыл бұрын

It was the best time for technology. The last 10-15 years, it's been so boring, except for the introduction of the iphone but even that's pathetic.

@Maki-00 Жыл бұрын

@@Bigbadwhitecracker I miss the days when getting a new cell phone was so fun because you had so many styles to choose from. Now, they all look alike, no matter who the manufacturer is.

@stevenalexander4721 Жыл бұрын

@@Maki-00 We all had Nokia cell phones back high school and would buy different covers for them.

@Maki-00 Жыл бұрын

@@stevenalexander4721 Yaaaas! Good times! I could text a thousands times quicker and more accurately on phones before they had full number pads! 🤣

@aleisterlavey9716 Жыл бұрын

It was the future.

@obt74 Жыл бұрын

I was involved in the NYC debut of the Audrey. It was my first job out of college and I was a young and inexperienced employee of a consulting company 3com hired to help at the event. I distinctly remember seeing the CEO there and thinking WTF is this thing, it’s going to be a complete flop… and it was.

@joshitheyoshi2533 Жыл бұрын

Too bad you didn't hop onto a successful thing and became an easy billionaire. There were literally thousands of opportunities back then that made easy fortunes.

@khalifiker7845 Жыл бұрын

@@joshitheyoshi2533 In 20 years people will be saying the same thing about our current era, there are always thousands of opportunities you just have to be smarter than most

@twerkfromhome Жыл бұрын

@@joshitheyoshi2533 wow, great insight

@jnharton Жыл бұрын

@@khalifiker7845 Being smart is not the magical key to success that you suggest. - In many cases the successes and failure in tech products have been mostly having the right thing /at/ the right time /for/ a competitive price. E.g. Apple created the Newton around the same time as 3Com? Palm? was working on the first Palm Pilot. One was an astounding success and the other became a historical footnote.

@JohnDoe-wq5eu Жыл бұрын

@@jnharton I mean with technology it's only occasionally harder than it looks to pick a winner. Usually you can use things like value for price or certain functions or upgradability to easily ascertain how successful something is going to be. Apple products are typically successful because they're easy, ubiquitous and the price/value (More or less) is much easier to figure out than it was back in the late 90s early, 2000s. This was a good concept it just was a very poor execution for the price they wanted.

@TheShortBus9000 Жыл бұрын

The UI seemed ahead of it’s time. Also the packaging and the art was very nice and holds up well.

@89ludeawakening1 Жыл бұрын

Hmm... I've never seen one of these but it's definitely interesting. The way the stylus turns into a notification indicator is probably my favorite feature. It annoys me how phone manufacturers are removing notification LEDs from their devices.

@scorch527 Жыл бұрын

Does anyone know why that happens? My 4 year old phone seems to have more features (headphone jack, notification light) than my brand new one.

@Nahpax Жыл бұрын

I miss my LED notifications dearly. There's 3rd party apps that fill the gap but none of them work as well at the stock LED did. I can't tell you how many texts I've missed because I became so dependant on it.

@volvo09 Жыл бұрын

yeah, I loved the notification led on my blackberry. closest thing to it was the "always on" portion of my LG V10 and v20 that stayed lit and visible in darkness to show notifications.

@Nahpax Жыл бұрын

@@volvo09 The closest thing I have to it now is I have notification reminders on my phone. So like every 3 minutes my screen will light up. Which is nice and all but doesn't work out as well as the LED did.

@eaglewi Жыл бұрын

My. Xperia has the led why does your phone not

@BigDrewski1000 Жыл бұрын

Oh man, this is such a throwback for me. Lol. My stepdad was 1 of the dozen or so people who bought 1 of these things. He bought this (our's was an odd green color) and a pda for my mom for an anniversary gift. I remember me and my sisters thinking it was a kinda crappy anniversary gift, but I'll be damned if my mom didn't do almost everything with it and go everywhere with that pda. She thought she was too cool back then. Lol.

@Helladamnleet Жыл бұрын

She had a PDA AND home internet access. She was cooler than you by a country mile lmao

@russiasgreatestexports4026 Жыл бұрын

@@Helladamnleet Amen!

@MyNameIsUnavailable Жыл бұрын

How long did it last?

@BigDrewski1000 Жыл бұрын

@@MyNameIsUnavailable A hair under a year & a half. The PDA was still working when she donated it.

@ukozi Жыл бұрын

I'd never heard of Audrey before and my oh my, what an eye-pleasing little thing. Hard to imagine these days that vendor lock-in would be *bad* for business.

@AmstradExin Жыл бұрын

I would actually love such a think in a busy place at home. But modern. Better than a tablet in every way.

@Aeduo Жыл бұрын

@@AmstradExin tablet case with a kickstand?

@dgpsf Жыл бұрын

@@Aeduo Yeah I'm pretty sure a tablet on a stand with a bluetooth keyboard/mouse or keyboard/touchpad thing would give you exactly what this promised but 1000% better. PIM + news/info + browser was all this did. If an Android tablet, you would also get multiple user support which would be especially welcome today.

@darkwarrior7356 Жыл бұрын

@@Aeduo or if looking at it as a tech/design accessory for a home, its real modern counterpart is products like the Nest Hub Max

@Helladamnleet Жыл бұрын

Imagine if Appl..... Oh.... Right....

@bayareanewman1566 Жыл бұрын

Wow! Okay so former 3Com engineer here who worked in Santa Clara from 1999 until 2002. A couple of things. First of all, did you know Oprah gave one to every audience member on her “Oprah’s favorite things” episode?? Also I’m surprised you mentioned Kerbango. It was a great idea, but sounded like a clock radio!! I did tech support for their enterprise products (server NIC cards, switches.. that sort of thing) we should have stuck with that! Believe it or not, as early as 2000 we had Cardbus and PCI Wi-Fi products! We had a new CEO, who wanted the consumer market though….. we had no chance. Just because we bought USRobitxs (mainly for the Modem IP) and got Palm in the deal…. He thought that could mean we’d succeed in any consumer market. He was dead wrong!!!!!

@6581punk Жыл бұрын

I worked at 3Com for about a year as a contractor and remember hearing about the "web appliance" project. But never saw one.

@bayareanewman1566 Жыл бұрын

I was there! Did you work at the main campus? Off Great America Parkway in Santa Clara? What did you do there?? I was in building 6, tech support!

@jpc2267 Жыл бұрын

I worked on the original product design team. The video did a wonderful job in describing our work. The experience creating something that really didn’t exist was one of highlights of my career. And yes Oprah Winfrey featured the product on one of her shows and she gave an Audrey to each audience member. Thank you for all the kind words as well and for the respect you all have for true innovation. The iPhone and iPad are directly influenced by this device and I believe iOS is rooted in the Zen of Palm design philosophy. Thank you all.

@fuzzywzhe Жыл бұрын

You do realize that Oprah Winfrey was paid to showcase the product on her show by your marketing department, I hope.

@jpc2267 Жыл бұрын

@@fuzzywzhe Of course I do. I was in the Marketing department. At that time an Oprah endorsement went a long way towards a successful product launch.

@lolislayer1643 Жыл бұрын

I guess the true pioneers aren't always the guys that get the recognition

@fuzzywzhe Жыл бұрын

@@jpc2267 As an engineer, this is what annoys me about the world. I have seen so many great and wonderful innovations ignored because the public didn't get the proper marketing. That you have to convince people through entirely superficial means, is maddening.

@hansmaulwurf1119 Жыл бұрын

I think that's would be a good idea for elderly people. But with modern technology

@megan_alnico Жыл бұрын

Another interesting internet appliance from the late '90s would be the i-opener. I remember being in college when it came out and a bunch of people were buying It's super cheap because It was supposed to be useless without signing up for a specific internet provider. Instead they just hacked the thing and put Linux on it. The "just put Linux on it" meme started very very early.

@Kalvinjj Жыл бұрын

this dang pun name feels like either you're gonna get your eyes wide open when you visit _certain_ websites with content you've never heard of before and didn't think was anatomically possible, or an Apple branded bottle cap opener.

@littlewendigo5055 Жыл бұрын

Okay, that name is pretty genius, not gonna lie

@greggv8 Жыл бұрын

IIRC the early iOpener used a socketed Super Socket 7 CPU and SODIMM RAM so it was upgradeable. It also had an IDE header for 2.5" drives but the rows were swapped or something was backwards so it needed a custom cable. People found places to shoehorn in laptop hard drives or CF cards to install Windows or Linux. ISTR the company retaliating by doing things like clipping the pins off the IDE connector then later not installing one. Might have switched to soldering the CPU and RAM too. But even upgraded as much as possible it was still a slow PC in a slab with a poor display.

@ds-il7ik Жыл бұрын

The blinky stylus antenna on top is the best part.

@darkdeity2012 Жыл бұрын

For the time, the design is actually pretty clever for the most part. The stylus acting as part of a notification light is a really interesting concept.

@IanZamojc Жыл бұрын

Ahead of it's time. Now people mount tablets and video digital assistants like the Echo Show in their kitchens.

@ctcards2636 Жыл бұрын

I remember for a simple internet setup for my grandfather back in the 90s we had WebTV dial up. Was a top box with a wireless keyboard. I actually found the setup when we emptied his house last year after my grandmother passed away. Was a internet browser basically hooked up to your TV. Very very basic. I think Microsoft ended up making it into the MSNtv box or something like that. Cool video, stuff like this brings back memories for sure :-)

@eric_d Жыл бұрын

I think the only time I ever saw WebTV was when I stayed at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City, NJ in 2004.

@MrKillswitch88 Жыл бұрын

I haven't seen a WebTV setup since like 99 or 2000 and yea it was pretty basic.

@sideskroll Жыл бұрын

I had that in my home. It worked well enough...

@rezmedic57 Жыл бұрын

I had a few around the early 2000’s lol worked ok

@MultiTelan Жыл бұрын

Oh God, webtv…I remember the ads and commercials for the dang thing.

@geekwithsocialskills Жыл бұрын

When I saw the video title pop up in my feed, I was thinking it would be about WebTV, but seeing a 3Com Ergo (Audrey) was a neat surprise. I had totally forgotten about this device. Great job on telling the backstory and showing Ergo in action.

@eric_d Жыл бұрын

2 of my previous jobs had a 3com Audrey mounted on the wall. The data center I worked at in 2001 had one right outside the server room that was modified with a loud piezo speaker that would beep along with the flashes when a message arrived so we didn't have to sit near a computer and monitor an e-mail account to see when a customer requested a server reboot. In 2004 I worked at an office that had one mounted just inside the main enterance. I remember installing a custom OS on it, but I don't remember which one it was. It was mainly used for employees to clock in and out.

@MSmith-Photography Жыл бұрын

I used to work for AT&T WorldNet Service (for one of their CS vendors) on their knowledge base team and was the guy responsible for putting together the help content for the customer support agents for the 3Com Audrey in time for its launch. The package that I had received from the client management team was just a large PDF file with screenshots, basic info, and a huge flowchart showing how the features worked and I had a week to get it published. Four days in and I got it all ready to go. I felt awesome! However, the next day, Friday, I was informed that AT&T WorldNet Service decided to drop the 3Com Audrey. So...yeah.

@JamesSmith-sw3nk Жыл бұрын

I wish this still existed today, it would be great for seniors.

@protocetid Жыл бұрын

as someone with a distaste for mobile I can’t deny tablets are better than internet appliances

@rmcdudmk212 Жыл бұрын

The Audrey has a cool form factor. I could see someone 3d printing a copy of the case for a custom SBC rig.

@Choralone422 Жыл бұрын

I remember the late 90s / early 2000s being a very exciting time for devices like this. It seemed like every company was looking for any way they could to get new users online. Sadly most devices like this ultimately failed or found a very niche audience. Thank you for the video on this one. I remember reading a little bit about it and it's failure but didn't know much beyond that.

@RocketboyX Жыл бұрын

They were one of those good ideas that just never worked.

@nonyobussiness3440 Жыл бұрын

Computers were still expensive but advancing so fast then

@TheSimoc Жыл бұрын

@@RocketboyX I don't particularly agree proprietary computer implementations being a good idea, but I definitely do agree that it is sad that they failed, because the real reason of their failure is the very same reason also generic-platform computers, such as PCs and smartphones do fail after just a few years - it is the planned obsolesence of *software* which is getting more and more horribly bloated with little or no added functionality, added frivolous and stupid functionality, or even reduced functionality, API and protocol changes for sake of change, and support droppings for sakeof dropping. All while the usability and aesthetics getting horribly worse. Really admirable to see really beautiful, clear, and easy-to-use UIs on the device in this video! And we need more frogfinds!

@Helladamnleet Жыл бұрын

I miss the mid 90s to mid 2000s so much. There will never be excitement like going from Windows 9x to XP, or the jump from dial-up to broadband, et cetera ever again

@TheSimoc Жыл бұрын

@@Helladamnleet Yep. Nowadays instead we have a major PITA of exponentially added bloat and more scrambled and uglier UI with every forced migration into new release. I wouldn't be that cynical though - I believe that as more and more people are getting ultimately fed up with this demoralized culture and corruptes markets of software industry, eventually we will have something reverted back into something similar as with good old software - lightweight, efficient, function-rich, beautiful, useful, and user-friendly. You are right though that due to "all good having been already invented", we will probably never have those exact feelings again, but hopefully we instead get rid of the constant changes for sake of change.

@Crimerenegade Жыл бұрын

Audrey realy gives out, a more modern Minitel terminal vibe, to me

@angryshoebox Жыл бұрын

I remember this device. Not having an active matrix screen was a huge strike against it IMHO. EMachines PCs could be had for the same money.

@volvo09 Жыл бұрын

yeah, those passive matrix screens are terrible. I had a laptop with one. only thing worse is a dual scan.

@Wasmachineman Жыл бұрын

@@volvo09 Passive matrix = DSTN

@Astrophysikus Жыл бұрын

Interesting! Around the same time, in 2001, Siemens (then still in the consumer electronics business) introduced a similarly minded product, the SIMpad. It was pretty much an iPad before the actual iPad. Portable, 800x600 LCD screen, and running Windows CE. It had a built-in DECT modem for wireless internet in combination with a suitable base station, and you could even get "proper" WiFi with an extension PCMCIA card. Back then, I would have loved to get one, but as kid without too much money, my regular PC was all I had.

@nickhildenbrandt4529 Жыл бұрын

Ahh the memories. I bought one if these for probably $50 in early 2002 and used it to make a touch screen remote control system as a senior project. Had an ir-blaster controlled out from the serial port. Thanks to the QNX OS I was able to fairly easily write my own software to run on it. If my memory serves I did not need a special USB ethernet dongle and I used a cheap generic one, but that could have been because I wasn't running the Audrey software but just the core OS and my own software. It was a pretty neat project, and I had the coolest home entertainment system control panel next to my couch.

@kylehazachode Жыл бұрын

I miss my Pepper Pad and Mylo. I've always had an iBook, but man these internet devices were the best tinkerer's toys. My main goal was always to get AIM working flawlessly on these devices.

@10MARC Жыл бұрын

Nice video. I was right there in the middle of all the Internet craziness of the late 90's and early 2000's and knew these "appliances" would never make it big. They were too close in price to a low end PC and just did not have the features people wanted. 3COM made some really dumb choices back in the day and went from a trusted mid range brand to a joke in just a few years. They could have been here now competing with TP-Link and Netgear if they had just stuck to what they were good at.

@S31Syntax Жыл бұрын

My dad acquired several of these well after they were EoL and adapted them to be very basic web kiosk/music players for the house. He hunted for MONTHS to find that 3com ethernet adapter, and bought several of them for about $20 a pop. We had one mounted in the kitchen *and* the bathroom, it was always a conversation started whenever people came over. Such a strange vision of what the future could have been. Not gonna lie, I miss the bizarre novelty of this goofy looking thing on the wall that played music streamed over the house's network.

@AnsonShurr Жыл бұрын

That lightpipe stylus is brilliant. What an amazing and elegant concept.

@cryptocsguy9282 Жыл бұрын

I think the physical design of the device looks cool especially with the stylus sticking out and the notification light at the top. Pretty cool that hackers found a way to enable the use of MP3 players and messaging clients , maybe 3com should have enabled such features from the beginning

@robsquared2 Жыл бұрын

Hey Colin, it's everyone.

@DE-GEN-ART Жыл бұрын

How's it goin'

@kbhasi Жыл бұрын

(10:19) Yep! In the photo you showed at 0:55, someone modified theirs to launch into the QNX desktop instead of the Ergo homepage (shown at 2:01 and I think that's what it was called). YT user "Cameron Gray" demonstrated his and it too was set up to launch into the QNX desktop as his had a custom firmware installed, if I recall correctly.

@OneDudeWithACamera Жыл бұрын

I loved these little internet appliances back in the day. I had a Virgin Webplayer with an IDE hard drive added in that ran Windows 98. It was a decent PC for the time, and much smaller than most other x86 stuff

@stupid8911 Жыл бұрын

I thought I dreamt these up, nicely done! Thank you for the review. A lot of what Audrey offered was ironically ahead of its time; I'm sure they picked up a lot of cues from Mac, but I was shocked as soon as you opened the box: the styling of the instructions and "What's inside" sheet, [chef's kiss]. And that clear stylus and sorta-retro/sorta-future set-up?? Way cool in my book.

@SuperNicktendo Жыл бұрын

Ah dedicated internet hubs. How anyone could put up with these is a mystery but then again it's not like $300 capable pcs were a thing back then.

@volvo09 Жыл бұрын

they were popular with the elderly and non tech people who were uneasy and "afraid" of using a computer... you cant drag and drop your icons into a folder and "lose them" or save a document into a random folder, open a settings screen, etc.... they just did one thing and if you got lost you could hit a button. my grandmother used a web appliance and loved it till it no longer worked... she wasn't comfortable on a computer because she'd always "break it" by doing the random things that unsteady hands do... clicking and right clicking the mouse when you go to move it, and accidentally bringing up and selecting things on a right click context menu, or a scroll wheel click... then before you know it text is massive, or the size of a grain of sand, or you have no icons on the desktop, whatever....

@BigFamilyGaming Жыл бұрын

I see you in these comments haha nice to see a familiar face

@jason3fc Жыл бұрын

Brings back memories. I was one of the ones that found these in the clearance sales and got into to hacking this for awhile. Got it working over ethernet and used it in my parents kitchen for a year or so and they used it to check email.

@CoachOta Жыл бұрын

I was fascinated by these when they came out as I thought they did offer a look to the future of connected devices. Like others have commented, it was pretty clear that price vs. functionality was not in internet appliance's favor. Tech was changing so fast around 2000 that even non-technical shoppers could see that it was better to get a PC or Mac rather than save some money on a small device that looked like it would be quickly obsolete. For more technically minded folks like myself, it might've made an interesting kitchen device if it had networking built in and had some way to sync with contacts, calendar and notes with a PC acting as the hub. Fast forward a couple of decades and we have all sorts of smart and connected devices, with the closet to internet appliances being smart phones and tablets.

@ACRPC-dot-NET Жыл бұрын

I was working at Circuit City during this time, remember these well. I actually bought myself an i-Opener net-appliance, because I had heard about folks hacking them. Ended up upgrading the RAM (to 64MB iirc) and CPU (180mhz IDT WinChip to a 200mhz Pentium MMX), and added a 3.2GB hard drive, ran Windows 98 on it, put it in my moms kitchen for her to look up recipes and stuff. I might still have it packed away in a box somewhere.

@Old_Man_Jay Жыл бұрын

I just wanted to say, as a guy whose a bit of a tech enthusiast, and lover of gadgets old and new, I appreciate the work you put into these videos. One of my favorites KZfaqrs for sure

@pockyafterdark Жыл бұрын

I swear Audrey’s UI reminds me a LOT of Windows Codename Whistler, yet it’s also quite reminiscent of Aero… and this thing was made before either of those things existed! 3Com were really ahead of their time here.

@DenisCheong Жыл бұрын

I still have two of these devices that I bought in a fire sale back in 2001, along with two of the USB ethernet adaptors. Your review and insights into them is spot on and you covered off everything that I remember about them, well done.

@NavajoNinja Жыл бұрын

Awesome video! I kept thinking about ur video with a deep, investigative style of narration. Like a murder documentary and a side story of a man who brings home an Audrey for him, his wife, 2 kids and dog. Then it slowly starts disrupting their lives till he throws it out. I can picture the audrey comin on at midnight with some scary dial up tone, messed up appointments, etc

@fredm2007 Жыл бұрын

Great video! When Audrey was being closed out at steep discounts, I bought one for my mom and set it up for her. She never ended up using it 😐

@Helladamnleet Жыл бұрын

Me: "Oh, that's pretty neat! I can see this being cool for people that didn't want to spend $2,000 on a computer!" OP: "No mouse support" Me: "Oh....."

@toasTr0n Жыл бұрын

Excellent video! I feel like you're the first person to truly do justice to these unique machines. ❤️

@MattExzy Жыл бұрын

8:09 - I never thought I'd feel so much dang nostalgia from PC ads. I'd always be pricing systems in my head as a kid, daydreaming over PCs... "if I only got that birthday money..." - oh well, an old used Mac had to do, but it did manage most of the internet.

@gluttonousmaximus9048 Жыл бұрын

Recently I'm on an Audrey Hepburn binge and this video could not have popped back into view at a better time.

@christophercox6092 Жыл бұрын

Looks like the sort of thing that would have been financed by a kickstarter these days :)

@CasioMaker Жыл бұрын

I remeber seeing one at a computer fair done by a local retail store in my corner of the world (Chile). It wasn't on sale at the moment but it was shown as "the new wave of tech" that was trying to be the hot new thing at the time.

@matthewfarmer6830 Жыл бұрын

I'm 46 and never heard of this it's good you have one in an original box like it's an old store stock. You'll just have it up and running for your own enjoyment. To remember the time it was out to buy these back in the early 2000. It didn't catch on so it failed and went off the market. Thanks for sharing to see one that was what it was like.🙂

@boppins Жыл бұрын

Pretty clever device all things considered. A touch screen, written text and voice attachments in emails? Impressive. I didn't realize computers could be bought so cheap at that time, that's a killer for Audrey.

@kyle8952 Жыл бұрын

The thing is that while you could buy a computer that cheap, you'd end up with a computer that's almost completely unusable. The specs were always so poor that they could barely run windows. You'd see the desktop start to appear but have to wait 3-5 minutes for the hourglass mouse cursor to go away. Very laggy, constantly running out of ram, impossible to multitask. And by god they sold hundreds of billions. laypeople just thought that's what a computer is normally like.

@justbulma Жыл бұрын

Really enjoyed the video very informative and entertaining brought back a lot of memories of the early days of the internet you got yourself a new subscriber 😊

@grandmaster1004 Жыл бұрын

I was ready to laugh this device off, but that stylus doubling as an antenna light up notification was brilliant. And the idea itself is so novel. I really like this idea of having something that’s convenient but doesn’t make you feel reliant on technology all the same time, like a phone. I could see something like this modernized coming back

@pettyfan45 Жыл бұрын

As someone with and Google Nest Hub I kinda wonder where we would be if they could have pushed the price down of the Internet Appliances to a sub $100 level...

@tsunamirider9895 Жыл бұрын

Cool video. Even though I had a computer, it was still cool to try out stuff like WebTV. I even used the Dreamcast browser and had the keyboard and mouse. Good times.

@Aeduo Жыл бұрын

I remember seeing this in magazines a lot at the time. I always thought the flared top made it look ugly. But yeah probably good these things weren't that successful. Kinda needlessly limited and built on proprietary tech that the businesses themselves couldn't even easily adapt the advancing technologies to. They could've just sold a simple PC and skinned up Windows or bundled in some application that fulfilled the same purpose but had full support of new web technologies and internet-enabled software that were coming out at the time (many of which thankfully failed). Kinda like the Monorail PC, which had some of its own problems and maybe came around too soon, but was at least a lot more flexible.

@The_Wandering_Nerd Жыл бұрын

yeah, and the fact that in the early 2000s web technologies like HTML5, HTTPS, streaming video, social media, push notifications, and software as a service were either in their infancy or not even there yet. Also, CPU speeds and internet speeds were increasing exponentially and websites with dynamic content were major drivers in people's hardware upgrades. (Nobody's getting on KZfaq or Facebook with 32 MB of RAM, not even when they first launched.) 3Com ought to have had some sort of firmware or hardware upgrade plan in place for Audrey users if this device became successful or it would have quickly become a $500 paperweight. And if users have to upgrade the firmware or hardware themselves, they might as well have bought a PC.

@jz4697 Жыл бұрын

That palm-pilot sync stand though. Very cool, the interface still looks kind of nice.

@1sonyzz Жыл бұрын

From bulky classroom sized machines to pocket computers and everything in between.

@oseidwomoh Жыл бұрын

I think it's like the modern IoT/Smart Home devices and even appliances (Ever heard of Samsung Smart Fridge and iRobots?) but back in the early 00s. And even though The Audrey flopped, this paved the way for future improvements and the device we take for granted today. Much like the Walkman. It failed but paved the way for the iPod and Digital/Internet Music that we use all the time today. Great Video BTW. It's interesting to see internet devices before Google Home/Nest and Amazon Echo were even a thing.

@zerocks88 Жыл бұрын

this device was HUGEly ahead of its time wow

@ErynTzun Жыл бұрын

I remember selling the Compaq internet appliences at Radio Shack, I really hated selling them knowing they would just be creating e-waste in a couple of years with no upgrade path.

@CrabOfDoom Жыл бұрын

The tulip-like top to the unit wouldn't have been for me, but the clear stylus that doubles as an alert light is pretty dang clever, and I like that a lot. Makes me wish my graphic tablet's stylus could be set to do that.

@MagnumForce51 Жыл бұрын

I wonder if this was a secret PC in a fancy shell like the I-Opener. Depending on the hardware revision the iOpener required some mods to boot off the IDE port which required a special crossover cable. I'm curious if this one is similar. Though since this one didn't require a specific service maybe that's less likely. You did mention there was software mods for this device but was there OS replacements?

@ShockerTopper Жыл бұрын

Dude! I had that Compaq in the ad you showed in the beginning haha. I remember the two speakers that hooked to the monitor, I took them off and spread them out for better dispersion. My mom bought something like this but then ended up getting a iMac (CRT) in red from Circuit City I remember. That was our 2nd Mac, I had the Mac that was a flat desktop with a monitor that sat on top in the early 90's. I used that Mac to go on AOL 2.6 when I was like 8 or 9 I remember. It was funny because despite the lack of people using the internet I still knew quite a few people in Elementary school that also had it. I totally forgot about the 'mail in' manufacturers rebates. I remember a lawsuit over those because of the length of time it took to get your money back. I recall Best Buy being a major player in that whole thing. That's where I got my Compaq, in 1999 (my 3rd computer), I believe it was $2000? and came with a scanner that hardly ever worked, a printer, the monitor and the humungous tower. It even had a ZIP drive lol...which shockingly my 'web development' class in High School had, so it did have its use.

@GregoryLindsey1979 Жыл бұрын

Hey, I have one of those right behind me! Sadly, even the hacking community for it is practically gone. It was an interesting idea, but the tech simply wasn't there at the time to do what they envisioned.

@iblackfeathers Жыл бұрын

i remember this device. this was not the only device like this of its time. for example, there was also the i-opener internet appliance, the virgin web appliance, and later the chumby, which was more of a mini stuffed beanbag email client. the appeal of this was not a replacement to an actual computer, but rather to have an always-on or mostly-on iot-like appliance to complement a computer… a way to access info from the internet outside an office without waiting for your computer to fully boot up and do the usual routine of dialup, opening the application, etc. all of these could be and were hacked/ modified for different added functionality.

@NiGHTSaturn Жыл бұрын

A lot of the features reminds me of the Wii! The automatic channel updates, the notification led, almost its aesthetics too. Though the design is truly the in-between of the 90´s and 00’s. Bell Canada did a paid by the minute internet public device (kind of like a futuristic phone booth with Access to the Internet), and it looks like both solutions were released at the same time.

@justinedge5081 Жыл бұрын

Good videos man I always like your videos brings back memory's of all that tech from the 80s and 90s and early 2000s which you would upload longer videos I like the hour ones

@chenvictor8 Жыл бұрын

Old vids like this make me feel old

@WilliamHollinger2019 Жыл бұрын

This reminds me of Disney world screen devices I was 3 and year was 2004. I just remember trying to use it. Also my dad tried too. Man you triggered a memory I still have in a good way. I would love to go back but it not the same anymore.

@GayManSam Жыл бұрын

I was watching Will and Grace the other day it was season six and it was a scene in Karen’s kitchen and you could see in the background there is a Audrey in the corner it was like fall 2003 at the time this episode aired but it just goes to show that if you had known your stuff back then that it fit the set dressing

@DavidRavenMoon Жыл бұрын

Don’t forget the ultimate internet based computer that did survive; the iMac.

@gerald8573 Жыл бұрын

This would've been perfect for my older relatives. They struggle with a mouse (move while clicking, which makes it a click and drag) and it's all a bit "too much" for them. This looks super easy to use. Slow performance would be no problem to them. A more modern version would be a nice thing for older people, I think. Not all older people are bad with computers but some just never tried it and for them this looks great.

@flp322 Жыл бұрын

The modern version is essentially an iPad.

@gerald8573 Жыл бұрын

@@flp322 Yeah the iPad is the closest thing to that, I agree. But as I understood, Audrey had pre configured websites for a lot of occasions. And also few buttons and a notification light. I think it was a great mix or bridge between a landline phone and a computer. The iPad is more capable but also a tiny bit more complicated. I'd imagine something even simpler than an iPad. Something that is more pre-configured and has more suggestions for a lot of things.

@flp322 Жыл бұрын

@@gerald8573 I would say on an iPad the apps are the equivalent of the Audrey's buttons. So you'd have, say, your weather app, your email app, your news app, and so on. This could be set up by a younger relative, and then all the user would need to know is to tap the right icon and the right gesture to get back to the home screen.

@carpespasm Жыл бұрын

Adapting tech for folks with limited mobility and/or cognitive ability so that it doesn't become too frustrating for them to get good use of is a difficult problem, and often requires someone able and willing to tailor a machine for the specific user. I've had some experience with that over the years and there's no real magic bullet, but I've found that whenever possible having a "magic reboot" or "return to start" feature can help when someone ends up confused and lost in a menu. If it's possible to have a locked or very hidden admin view so the normal interface isn't likely to get borked by someone poking things all the better. For your older relatives I'd suggest a trackball as an easy low-hanging solution. They tend to be better for folks with stiff or arthritic hands, and separating the motion of the cursor from the clicking action can be helpful.

@gerald8573 Жыл бұрын

@@flp322 Like I said, I mostly agree. But having worked in the IT-Service field, you and me and other more tech interested people sometimes underestimate how hard this is for some people. And, sadly, how many of them don't have a relative who comes over to help.

@braddl9442 Жыл бұрын

Man I remember things like this and thinking they were so cool back in the day. Yet it was a time before everyone really used the internet for almost everything.

@CommodoreFan64 Жыл бұрын

Yeah I remember seeing things like this, and WebTV thinking that's cool, until I got a WebTV as a Christmas gift from a clueless aunt who did not realize I already had a PC, and thought I would like it just because she had one. I tried it out anyways, and it was so slow, limiting, and frustrating, so 2 days later it went back to Montgomery Wards where she bought it from, and I used the money to buy some games for my PC lol!

@celebrityrog Жыл бұрын

Audrey is basically the device that I still think if it existed but was adopted early on by say telephone and other internet providers and given freely to every single subscriber/home, and the development of future versions and models (like every other product) introduces new abilities, features, hardware, etc., with the intent of connecting every home to the internet with this device should they want even a basic connection they don't have to pay for it, they just get it. Like running phone lines and electricity to every home in America, this is the device that would/should have been in every home. From email, simple live text messaging/chat to other users/homes, deliver the news, weather, etc content. Ability to create a shopping list, reminders, notes to other family members. Have an emergency function to automatically send emergency services your home address, door codes, etc to access your house in an emergency, say, fire, medical emergency automatically at the touch of the SOS button. Just an all around device that would have connected more homes and advanced our technology much further. Perhaps home to home video calls to keep in touch with loved ones, home alarm systems where the device can sense whos home and not, the possibilities are endless - this is essentially the beginning of a SMART HOME HUB.

@dave4shmups Жыл бұрын

Interesting video. Great job as always!

@r.j.etrogames Жыл бұрын

This thing looks really really cool. It reminds me of a Nest Hub circa 2000. Very interesting! I wonder what would happen if it released a little later on.

@erosore Жыл бұрын

seeing my name in this title surprised me a little bit, and reading that i was a failed internet appliance made me feel even better

@CF542 Жыл бұрын

These products are fascinating as they were well thought out and fairly complete for a narrow audience but they were negligent on predicting the future in a clear fashion.

@obeseperson Жыл бұрын

That led notification thing is so cool

@DE-GEN-ART Жыл бұрын

I had one of those, I got it from a garage sale, it's main selling point was that you could order pizza from pizza hut

@volvo09 Жыл бұрын

hahaha, that's pretty neat... one of the first web orders before domino's made it well known.

@crazyivan030983 Жыл бұрын

Cool video :) always nice to see something interesting :) and I was about to write about a phone :) when you ended the video with the same conclusion :) greetings from Poland :)

@MRi-iq5wf Ай бұрын

THe y2k Frutiger aero era of tech was really exciting. It hadn't completely taken over our lives. People still mainly did things in person, but if your playing online pc games at that time, you felt like you had your own secret world, away from the terrorism, wars, epidemics, and politics on the news. You hopped online to play Starcraft against a Korean player, or talked on Roger Wilco and Ventrillo with Germans, Brits, Canadians, and everyone else. IT was a cool time. I even had my own Rocky moment when I beat the best Russian player in this online rts game.

@Yesica1993 Жыл бұрын

Aw, the Palm Pilot! I had one for a little while, but never used it much. This was really interesting. I don't remember this item at all. It's interesting how some things catch on while others don't. It seems it's often a matter of timing.

@notthegoatseguy Жыл бұрын

Honestly the little pre-installed news feeds reminds me of the Nintendo's Wii's OS and how the channels are organized.

@systematicallyshocked Жыл бұрын

Great video! I think AOL was definitely a major oversight to not have. I remember EarthLink being big too then. I would've liked to have had this as a kid then because I was heavily into all the cool new tech and my dad was a techy too. Seemed like an interesting device. I suppose one techs failure is another's gain. Even in that the next thing will carry its spirit on.

@davidflorey Жыл бұрын

In Australia, we never really saw any of this tech - it was PCs all the way, in fact, even Apple Macs weren’t that big until around 2010 when people started buying them and using Parallels with Windows 7 alongside them (until more mac native apps came along)…

@Filion91 Жыл бұрын

Audrey, the amazing internet device! Pros : it's not a computer! Cons : I wish it was a computer...

@Girder3 Жыл бұрын

I was always intrigued by these internet appliances I kept reading about at the start of the 2000s. People looking at the growth of the Internet and trying to figure out what would stick. I do wonder if this would have had a better opportunity if it had been released as a terminal for something like France's Minitel?

@greenpedal370 Жыл бұрын

I thought I had my finger on the pulse of telecoms and computing back in the day. I missed this completely!

@timothy8428 Жыл бұрын

Oh wow, an ISA network card. I remember buying a handful of those and setting up a coax network in my classroom, before the school was networked. Fun times. So many animated gifs.

@DicePunk Жыл бұрын

This reminds me of those sci fi "phonebooths" you used to see in 90s movies and FMV games. You could place a call "offworld" or "upload" the photos you took at a crime scene.

@TBustah Жыл бұрын

I remember seeing an ad for something similar to this, but I think it was even smaller and cheaper. An old woman uses it to email her grandson, the grandson thinks it’s a prank from his sister because he knows she doesn’t have a computer, and then the grandma says something like, “Hey dude, you got my email!” the next time he comes to visit. Does anyone know what device I’m talking about?

@Mrcharrio Жыл бұрын

I've been hearing a lot about this interweb thing, will it connect to the world wide web and let me share the datas?

@stevarino1989 Жыл бұрын

So … I was 11 and in 6th grade when this first came out in October 2000 lol. I don’t remember this at all! I kind of remember the Palm Pilots but Audrey? I’m really surprised I never heard of that! And wow … those old AOL, Gateway and Circuit City commercials … what a throwback lol.

@MrSouthwest737 Жыл бұрын

This is a neat little computer to start people to get on the internet. Thanks for the share.

@chestnu1 Жыл бұрын

I remember how around the year 2000 my dad was telling me how he thought internet appliances were going to be the way we mostly use the internet in a decade or two. His guess was a bit off the mark. Also anyone else think its funny that the Audrey was made by a company that made network cards but the Audrey didn't come with an Ethernet jack?

@carpespasm Жыл бұрын

You could argue that your dad was pretty close to right. Slim down the Audrey, add an app store, update the hardware's horsepower, and it's a very similar experience to how most people view their tablets and phones today. A fairly closed off computing system that's more appliance than general purpose computer. Most people just want to use their online experience, not tinker with it, and devices like this definitely were an early attempt to appeal to the non-techy folks.

@chestnu1 Жыл бұрын

I hadn’t thought about it like that but yeah I guess my dad was right in a way. I do primarily use my smartphone and tablet for web browsing.

@Francoberry Жыл бұрын

This actually looks pretty awesome for what it was. Clearly flawed but some really great concepts being tried out here

@CommodoreFan64 Жыл бұрын

agreed, and if they had used a higher quality screen, a mouse, a better SOC, and including things like AOL, and/or Yahoo instant messenger with a built in mic/webcam I think it would have been a minor hit with older people who were too scared to learn to use a full blown Windows PC, and/or thought Apple was too expensive.

@oldtwinsna8347 Жыл бұрын

Had one, it was hacked to run without service. Used it for years as a rotating image photo frame that pulled image files from a network drive and thus had essentially unlimited storage capacity. It was too slow to really do anything else with it. it was a passive matrix screen so not the best and laughable poor by today's standards but this was still the early 2000s whereby computer equipment was still pretty expensive.