A Personal Information Display is any device that displays user-configured information, which can be a combination of static and dynamically-generated data. Unlike a full-blown computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

, it is a small, simple Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

-connected device which consumes little power, runs silently, is highly reliable, and provides little or no opportunity for real-time user interaction.

Dynamically-generated data

• news headlines
• stock quotes
• weather forecasts
• package-tracking status

Most, if not all, of the dynamically-generated data comes from RSS

RSS

-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...

 and other XML

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....

-based sources.

Examples of devices

The Chumby

Chumby

The Chumby is a consumer electronics product made by Chumby Industries, Inc.. It is an embedded computer which provides Internet and LAN access via a Wi-Fi connection. Through this connection, the Chumby runs various software widgets....

fits many of these criteria, but the Pertelian and WidgetStation displays are simpler and come closer to meeting the low-interactivity requirement of a personal information display.