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The revolutionary Zonbox - the $99, ultra low-power, zero-emission Linux computer from Zonbu, is sure to be all the rage when it's launched next month. The computer is a fanless 1.2MHz platform that uses Amazon’s S3 storage servers to save your files.

Gizmodo says

"It's as simple to use as a Mac...pre-loaded with best-of-breed open source software for almost anything you'd need...all managed via the other cool thing the Zonbu has: A 4GB CF card that acts as a cache for the 25-100GB of personal storage on Amazon's S3 servers. In other words, this machine syncs, swaps, and backs up your data automatically, over the wire. I love it."

According to the company website, the Zonbox consumes only about one third of the energy used by a typical light bulb. It's a fanless, silent, miniaturized personal computer preloaded with 20 pre-installed software applications, and providing data protection, application update, and system management service starting at $99. It's got cellphone-like service plans starting at $12.95 a month.

Zonbu also has a free take-back program for recycling, automatic backup of the entire contents of the computer, access to data from any computer, and everything is plug & play.

Chairman and co-founder Alain Rossmann managed marketing for the original Macintosh launch at Apple Computer, and is, his bio says, "widely recognized as the father of the wireless Internet for his pioneering work on the convergence of Internet and mobile phone services, and developing the WAP industry standard." Zonbu is co-founder Grégoire Gentil's fourth startup in twelve years; his most recent success was Twingo, acquired by Cisco Systems in 2004.

And here I sit at a computer that's got iTunes going to block out the hum from what I think is the hard drive. (I'm not sure.) Methinks that quiet will be a major computer selling point in the coming years. If not sooner.

I was wondering when a box this cheap was going to come out.

I just have privacy concerns about storing my personal data with Amazon.

Hmm. Good point Alice. But then again, we do banking, etc. online, so what's the real difference?

We have been using it for quiet a while and had put hard drives in them ... the only draw back i can see is if you run it like we do (24/7) within couple of days it get too hot that one can't even hold it and kills the hard disk, as there is no cooling fan and is having a aluminum casing