Wha? Sure, you know that HP agreed to acquire Palm yesterday but did you know that they also purchased 3Com last November? Palm was spun out of 3Com back 10 years ago in 2000. Is HP making a new run at PDAs? In fact, HP made 116 acquisitions from 1986 to 2008, that’s one busy more »

A computer that did little but browse the web and do some mundane tasks? That will never work. Back in 2000, 3Com (remember them?) came out with the computer for people who didn’t want a full-fledged computer. The 3Com Ergo Audrey was the device and it never stood a chance.

Take a look at this piece of engineering. The Audrey had a touch screen, ran its own OS and could sync to Palm Pilots. It even had an IR keyboard so you could type e-mails or URLs easily.

Who was the target audience? Where was this computer intended to go? Find out more after the break.