“Soon these devices will become even more connected, working not only with PCs but also with cloud services from third parties and Microsoft, such as Windows Live Services,” he said.

At Computex this week, Kevin Dallas, general manager of the Windows Embedded Business, will showcase the potential of consumer Internet devices with a demonstration based on NVIDIA’s Tegra computer-on-a-chip technology, which works with the Windows Embedded CE platform for specialised, small-footprint devices.

Another bid to create a useful class of consumer devices is Fugoo. The Fugoo platform uses a version of Windows in conjunction with widely available Web ‘widgets’, which publish everything from the time and weather to currency exchange rates and horoscopes.

Fugoo’s prototype devices integrate that software functionality into home appliances to create dynamic displays in clocks, picture frames and even coffee makers.

At Computex, Fugoo announced that its first commercially available product, a digital picture frame launched in partnership with Pandigital in the US, will be available this summer.