I recently wrote in high praise of Motorola for the MS1000, calling them The Kings of Always On.

The following does not detract from that call. Motorola has come closer to building an Always On platform (as I envision one) than anyone else.

But there are still a few things they could easily add:

• I learned from a spokesman that the device has no RFID reader, and no RFID support. Thus, home inventory applications are impossible. Easy enough to do.
• The MS1000 is completely dependent on the PC it's linked to for application support. Turn off the PC and the applications go down. That's silly, given that PCs are both unreliable and plug-powered. Why not have a built-in recharging battery, a laptop power drain, and the minimal power needed to run applications on the unit? Now you have a platform.
• And since we're building a true platform here, why not make it expandable, with some slots? This would let Motorola command the interface specifications and, thus, the hardware application space.