EPods explained

ePods, Inc., was a short-lived American technology company active from 1999 to 2000. Its flagship product was the ePodsOne (EP1), an internet appliance. ePods was founded in 1999 as a subsidirary of Salton Inc. during the dot-com bubble era. ePods and the EP1 was discontinued in 2000.^{[1] [2]} The EP1 was described as:

• Compact and light Internet appliance, about the size of a magazine
• Requires only power and a phone line
• 256-color, 8.2-inch, 640 x 480 LCD touchscreen controlled by stylus; also includes onscreen keyboard
• Customized Internet content and 5 e-mail accounts ($24.99 monthly service)
• 129 MHz, 32-bit RISC processor, 16 MB RAM, 56 kbit/s modem, rechargeable NiMH battery,
• PCMCIA Slot II port, 2 USB ports, a serial port, IrDA 1.1 port, internal microphone, headphone and microphone jacks
• Windows CE operating system
• 2.2 pounds
• Partnered with Google for search^[3]
• Originally $199 (retail)^[4]

The product lives on as a hacked platform.

Reviews

• Bloomberg BusinessWeek's ePodsOne: An Internet Appliance That Shows Promise.
• EdgeReview's Internet Anywhere, For Cheap (archived webpage)
• The Seattle Times The `e' in ePods? It stands for `easy'

References

1. More than 50 laid off at ePods. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20000809&slug=TTAR17DHO
2. EPods CEO and founder resigns. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20001005&slug=TT4D1QON0
3. Web site: EPods, Inc. Selects Google as Official Search Engine for All-In-One Internet Appliance – News announcements – News from Google – Google.
4. Web site: Archived copy . Amazon . 2017-08-31 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304125710/http://www.amazon.com/Salton-EP1-ePods-Handheld-Computer/dp/B00004YNWY . dead .