Does a "soul" fit in your pocket?

Yesterday, I was playing with Knoppix, a CD-ROM bootable Linux install. While I'm not a huge Linux fan, I was impressed with how quick the OS seemed. I've been using an "Ultimate Boot CD for Windows" bootable CD to troubleshoot and repair failing XP computers, and loading XP from a CD is somewhat slow. Aside from having the ability to play with alternate operating systems, which you can do with products like Virtual Machine, or use and repair systems with malfunctioning operating systems and hard drives, I didn't see much use for these bootable CD-ROM operating systems.

Along comes IBM Research with "SoulPad" technology. They use an iPod to boot into Knoppix and store a user's computer environment. Brilliant! The OS can now be taken with you without carrying your PC.

Read more and watch a video demonstrating the technology at New Scientist Breaking News - Pocket-sized computer 'soul' developed