After Dave mentioned the Archos PMA430, I looked at the specs and had a flood of ideas of what we could build with this awesome device if it works anywhere near as well as advertised. (I’m eagerly awaiting Dave’s reviews now!) The overview, for those unfamiliar with the device:

The Pocket Media Assistant PMA400 is the first Linux®-based 30GB HDD device allowing you to record directly from TV, listen to music, browse the Internet and stay connected, for entertainment or productivity anytime, anywhere.

The PC Magazine review suggests that video playback is good, audio quality is great, and it sounds like a great device overall. Hmmm… I’ve been meaning to get a new Palm for a few years now, but haven’t because I didn’t have time to learn PalmOS coding and was waiting for built-in WiFi. So, seeing that the Archos runs Linux (awesome) and already has WiFi (no $129 add-on needed!) makes this sound really awesome, just about the perfect mobile platform for all our Scalara code. (And it’s running Qtopia— perfect since we’re using Qt for the Scalara Abydos apps anyway.) Imagine the insanely-cool toys we could build…  

• Blogging client: It’s 2005… Why isn’t a blogging client standard already?
• Podcasting client: Listen to podcasts, or record your own. (And sync your podcasts up to your site the next time you wander through a WiFi hotspot.)
• Portable VoIP phone: If the audio quality is good and it’s got WiFi, it should be easy to install a SIP phone for Linux. Even better, the Skype guys should port their Linux version into a perfect Archos app.
• Tivo client: Tivo2Go only works with newer Tivos. I’d rather sync my favorite shows from my Tivo Series 1 to my Archos overnight, so that they’re ready to go in the morning. I’ve wanted this for so long that this one feature alone might just justify the whole Archos purchase. And how awesome would it be to sync shows from my Tivo at home in Los Angeles to my hotel in London, so I could, for example, watch last night’s West Wing on the Tube during the morning commute??!

• No Bluetooth?? Argh, that would’ve been perfect to sync with my mobile phone, maybe even use the Archos as a "Bluetooth headset" (if the sound is better), and allow me to use a real CRM app on the Archos as an addressbook for phone dialing. Seems like Archos missed a great opportunity here. [Update: Wait, can I just plug-in a USB Bluetooth adapter?? Will the Archos kernel support it?]
• Are there USB-based GPS adapters that will work with the Archos? Again, if they had a Bluetooth interface, we could’ve just used a wireless GPS adapter.
• Will this work with the UCLA campus (Cisco 3000) VPN? Seems like it should be as simple as using the regular Linux VPN utils, right?