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Mobile technology should not be about cramming the office into your pocket but a way to enjoy your everyday life.

Assembly '05

30-JUL-2005

The Assembly '05 Computer Festival (yes, that is what they call it) is once again taking place in Helsinki, Finland. Here part of the video crew is controlling the "Assembly TV" live broadcast from the event.

This is the 14th time Assembly has been arranged and a lot has changed since the time when these events used to be called "copy parties" or "demo parties". Software piracy is nowhere to be seen and very few of the participants actually create any demos - most just play network games.

What is the point of hauling your computer somewhere just to hook it up to a network in this day and age when you have got a broadband connection at home? Sure, by sitting in the same high-speed LAN the experience is a bit better, but still.

It will be interesting to see if Assembly continues to develop as an event or if it will fade away. The social aspects of the event has probably allways been important but now it is starting to be the only reason why someone might want to attend. There are signs of the event developing: now they have seminars and I personally like checking out what the hardware stores at the event are selling - although I usually end up shopping at some on-line store anyway where the selection is wider.

Another interesting detail is that the Sony PSP is trying to put the LAN party idea in your pocket and make it mobile. Instead of dragging your desktop computer to a specific building, you have your game device in your pocket and can connect to other players nearbay - in the bus, at school or wherever - and play network games.

Or perhaps we will see something in between: people taking their Sony PSP's to Assembly '06 to find people to play with.