ChromeBooks by Google are new simplified notebooks which are only able to run a web browser. In this case it is Google's own browser, Chrome. This product signifies the leap that many products are making to cloud based computing. As the notebook can only run Google Chrome, all the applications the notebook can run are limited to browser based applications such as Google Docs. Many power users will not find this useful however as a growing segment of users needs can be met purely by browser based applications this is a good product for them. The trend toward cloud based storage and computing is interesting as all the users documents will be stored online on Google's servers. This has advantages as the users documents are safe from theft or lose of the notebook and all settings and documents can be easily transferred to new ChromeBook.
As the video below shows, the ChromeBooks have some novel new features and I am interested in the price point these notebooks will be released at. This could create a new trend for low cost, web browser only devices which rely on the cloud and internet access to function. This could be quite useful for certain users who don't need special programs or applications to be productive on web only device. As the ChromeBook is highly tailored to web browsing the system should be very stable and offer a very good browsing experience.
The potential for HCI is that soon there will be no person left without some portable device that is capable of accessing the web. People will always have some way of connecting easily to the network through 3G or WiFi at all times and as a result as a society we will be connected and using computers even more throughout the day.