Fuelling the debate over whether the fundamental home multimedia building block will be the personal computer or the television set, Compaq Computer Corp is building a television-computer hybrid, its home town newspaper the Houston Chronicle reports. Robert Stearns, senior vice-president of corporate development told the paper the prototypes will be tested soon with major cable television companies and programming producers, but would not name them. The device looks like television, but will have a personal computer as well as television tuner inside. He sees the machine being linked to devices in other parts of the home, including a terminal in the kitchen that might might display recipes or enable a user to order groceries on-line. These things have to be done in partnership, he said: If there is nothing to connect to, no one is going to buy it. He said that building and marketing the machines could lead to a new Compaq unit.
