6 visions for your future computer

Part Siri, part Starship Enterprise, the Ubi, or ubiquitous computer, promises to bring the power of the Internet into any room in your house.

Plugged in, the Ubi sits and waits for you to say its name and then give it a command or ask a question. It can also monitor the room it's in and send you alerts if something changes. It can text you if the lights go on in your bedroom, for example, or let you know that it's only 46 degrees inside and you might want to turn the heat on.

Ubi engineers Leor Grebler, Amin Abdossalami and Mahyar Fotoohi raised nearly $230,000 on Kickstarter to create the Ubi, which is slated to start shipping in early 2013. Retail versions, priced at $220 each, are scheduled for an April release.

"This is really like having the Internet always there waiting for you. You don't have to fiddle with devices. You don't even have to be good at computers," Grebler says. "Plug it in, and boom."

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