And you're bound to notice how hardware and software companies are working hard to make whatever they sell more consumer-friendly. Software companies are pushing out games and educational programs that the whole family can enjoy. PC makers are even changing the way their products look. IBM's Aptiva has a new design that clears your desk of everything except the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. If even that seems like too much clutter, prices for feature-rich laptop computers are coming close to desktop models.
Looks are the least of the innovations.
The PC industry is coming to grips with the fact that their devices are too hard for most techno-neophytes to master. Price remains a barrier. But Cybernauts can take hope. This holiday season brings the first so-called Net cruisers, machines that give you an alternative to the PC for going online. Most of them can't run fancy software, but if you want to leave the spreadsheet at work and relax with a few hours of Web-crawling with the kids, these new boxes are ideal.