[Toybox] Phone docking stations for general purpose computing.

[Rob Landley]

On 5/18/20 4:47 PM, scsijon wrote:
> Have a look for this, it may do for you.
> 
> Hyper HyperDrive SOLO 7-in-1 - Silver

https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperdrive-solo-hub-for-usb-c-macbook-pc-devices

> Turns a single USB-C port into 7 ports (4K/30Hz HDMI, USB-C Power Delivery,
> 2 x USB-A, Micro SD, SD, 3.5mm Audio Jack), works for MacBook, PC, Chromebook,> Android laptop and phones.

Also seems unlikely to be widely available thirdhand in the places the planet's
3 billion least privileged inhabitants live. They've got phones _now_. More
people around the world have had phones that toilets since before my 2013 talk:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/03/23/more-people-have-mobile-phones-than-toilets/

I've personally helped multiple homeless people buy android phones, Even in the
$USA "straight talk" phones are $40 at walmart and the prepaid data plan's
$15/month. (Yeah it's an adware phone, but it still lets them download video at
starbucks while they're catching up on twitter and charging at an open outlet,
then watch it that night on battery.)

> About $A99 at full price, should be able to get cheaper elsewhere.

It's a good start and it's nice to see it, but this looks like a modern version
of the samsung "usb docking station" I mentioned ten years ago:

  https://landley.net/notes-2010.html#09-10-2010

Meanwhile, food insecurity remains a thing.

  http://www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition

I'm trying to figure out how include those multiple billions of people WITHOUT
having to solve world hunger first. And "keeping old devices out of landfills by
still being useful" seems a good start.

But sure, in a "prototype now" sense, I'm all for it. Might order one. :)

Thanks,

Rob