Dynabook

The Dynabook concept, created by Alan Kay in 1968, described what is now known as a laptop computer or (in some of its other incarnations) a tablet or slate computer with nearly eternal battery life and software aimed at giving children access to digital media. Adults could also use a Dynabook, but the target audience was children.

Part of the motivation and funding for the Dynabook project came from the need for portable military maintenance, repair, and operations documentation. Eliminating the need to move large amounts of difficult-to-access paper in a dynamic military theatre provided significant U.S. Department of Defense funding.

Though the hardware required to create a Dynabook is here today, Alan Kay still thinks the Dynabook hasn't been invented yet, because key software and educational curricula are missing. When Microsoft came up with its tablet PC, Kay was quoted as saying "Microsoft's Tablet PC, the first Dynabook-like computer good enough to criticize,". A comment he had earlier applied to the Apple Macintosh

Toshiba also has a line of sub-notebook computers called DynaBooks.