Netpliance I-opener

The Netpliance I-Opener was one of the pioneers in a class of Web-surfing gadgets known as Internet appliances.

Though most such devices survived less than a year on the market, the vision of providing simpler and more specialized on-ramps to the Internet has largely been realized, albeit a decade later.

July 6, 2010 4:00 AM PDT

Photo by: Ildar Sagdejev/Wikimedia Commons

| Caption by: Ina Fried