Sandy & Dave’s Report:

"While Smart Displays can handle most PC applications, they can’t handle wireless video. Video is not currently supported by the remote desktop protocol (RDP) which provides the link from the PC to the remote display."

So that’s why. I discovered it the hard way, when I tried to use Adobe Premiere through Remote Desktop. I hadn’t investigated why it wouldn’t work properly. I guess they’ll fix this in a future version of RDP.
I like the Mira concept, and I’ll probably get one once they reach $500 for 15". I hope they come with a stand and the ability to work as an additional monitor in an extended desktop environment. I’d hate to see it sit idle most of the time, because we’re spending a lot less time on the couch than at the desktop. Since my current Winamp setup takes 1,018×691 pixels (screenshot), it could almost use its own monitor (it’s taking a good chunk of my second monitor as it is.)
Right now most of my MP3s (80GB out of 100) and movies (60GB out of another 100) are stored on CDRs. I’m going to start storing some stuff on DVD-Rs, but when we have 1TB hard drives for $200 (3 to 4 years down the road) I’ll move everything back to a big fat media server. By trend growths, and assuming similar file sizes (i.e. no new revolutionary codecs), my collection should grow by 200GB every year, taking me to about 10,000 albums (up from 2,000) and 750 movies (up from 150).
In other words, by the middle of this decade average consumers will be able to own a tremendous music collection and a decent movie selection, all available at their fingertips. Too bad the current content industries fight hard not to enjoy the ride. Now the question is how to take the sound itself where you want it in the home. We should be able to choose from sets of speakers alternatively or concurrently served by the media PC. Maybe as an evolution of X10?
11/27/02 update: wireless Bluetooth headphones, wireless speakers would be nice too.