OtherOS enabled the machine to run Linux, the alternative operating system to Microsoft Windows and Apple OS. Running Linux essentially turned the PS3 from a single-purpose gaming console into a desktop computer, which people could use to write programs.

NEWYORKER: Machine Politics

You can even use an old-fashioned wire to hook them up to less-portable devices a desktop computer or CD player, for example.

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It not only offered such desktop-computer-like services as e-mail, but allowed a driver to use them without looking away from the road.

ECONOMIST: Wired cars

Today, one in three people in the U.S. use their mobile device as their primary tool to access the internet, rather than a laptop or desktop computer.

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