I agree this is the future of computing, which is why I'm so bullish on the awkward Redfly. I've seen several concepts from major manufacturers where you basically carry a portable CPU with you that adapts to whatever locale you're in. At home, you could pop it into a big screen and keyboard to be your home PC. On the road, if could be your cell phone, or pop into a little laptop body. You could slot it into your car. One brain, many bodies.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the Olo is a concept product - there's no hint that this would actually come to pass. And there's a good reason it will never come to pass: Apple hasn't released an API for the iPhone's dock connector (see the last Q here) and generally won't permit third parties to write drivers for new hardware for the iPhone. In other words, this would be so forbidden by Apple, so fast ... you get the picture.

Rather, Olo seems to be a publicity project for a pair of French innovation and design consultancies - idea guys, basically. The fellow behind the Olo Web site appears to be Giacomo Bersano, a European business consultant. He runs a group called Active Innovation Management which purports to improve companies' innovation record through thought-process management tools like TRIZ.

The fake PC's design was done by Gregoire Gerard, an industrial designer whose "Neovenz" Web site showcases various concept products he's done, including a little urban people-transporter and an RFID device which helps you compare product prices at stores. The products Gerard showcases on his site generally don't exist - rather, they're concepts that may eventually trickle down into more practical devices.

If these guys are basically promoting their imagination here, I give them five stars for capturing the zeitgeist, but zero for new ideas. Sometimes, though, innovation is all about capturing popular imagination with the right product at the right time, not about being first with a new idea.

By the way, I found this out through about ten minutes of Web searching. I've emailed Gerard and Bersano to get the full sccop, and I'll update this post when they respond. (Via Engadget.)