Auxiliary Displays - Computers that Compute Even When They're Turned Off!
http://www.code-magazine.com/Article.aspx?quickid=050043
PCs are great machines when they are on. Unfortunately, they are just about useless when they are off. This is about to change! In Windows “Longhorn,” monitors are not enough. In addition to conventional displays, Longhorn (the next version of Windows) supports “Auxiliary Displays,” or short, “Aux Displays.”
Contrary to what the name seems to suggest, aux displays are more than just displays. In fact, they are little secondary computers that are built into regular PCs. They are always on and can display information even when the main computer is off. To picture the concept, imagine a little display on the lid of a notebook that provides the user with up-to-date information on how many new e-mails they have, what appointments are coming up, and much, much more, without ever having to boot up the machine.