Hardware
The machine itself has been relatively unchanged since the initial designs were leaked. It’s a small device, with wi-fi ears and a pivoting screen. The display itself is of a higher resolution than you can find on most commercially available laptops, and it also has the ability to go into a sunlight mode (TFT?) which is a black and white display completely legible even in full sun. The rotating screen, coupled with the high-contrast display, gets the thing very close to being on par with an e-ink display. Yes, it’s that high of a resolution.

The keyboard, which I’m typing on now is another matter. It’s clearly made for the tiniest of fingers, which makes it fairly difficult for adults to use. Not that I’ve had the machine in my hands for a few days, I’m averaging about what I can do on a Blackberry. Which isn’t bad, but isn’t exactly touch typing either. The keyboard is sealed, meaning you could spill a drink on it and still be OK, but the keys don’t have the kind of “click” that I’m used to. They feel like little rubber slugs under my fingers.

The machine also features 3 USB ports and an SD card reader, all of which work fantastically. The touch pad is a little “touchy” and with a software update will support the use of a stylus.

The outside has a nice rough gripping texture and the buttons on the screen have some unused functionality, and supposedly can act like game pad keys.

Battery life isn’t too fantastic at the moment. With no fans and no hard drive, the machine should be able to eek out a little more than three hours from one charge, but that’s about all I’m getting at the moment. They say that in TFT mode while not using the wi-fi, that you should be able to get as much as 13 hours, but I don’t have the patience to test such a thing at the moment.

The only possible weak point I see on the hardware design is the hinge which can rotate the screen. It takes some effort to turn the screen into e-reader/game pad mode, and it only goes in one direction (clockwise), which I can imagine will put a little bit of uneccessary strain on the machine. But that’s a minor complaint for a device that can do what this thing can do.

In fact, the whole thing is so amazingly designed, that I can’t imagine that some of this technology does not quickly leak into more conventional laptops.

Next time: software, interface and a new metaphor for an operating system.

Good Packaging 2: Phillips Earphones
Originally uploaded by lightsoutfilms.

No scissors

1. Restart the Computer
There’s a logical reason behind this. It terminates active background processes that may be frozen in the computer, restablishes a network identity (IP via DHCP) and generally makes everything peachy-keen.

2. Email and Web Hosting Often Reset Themselves
When email times out, the website is not available, you shouldn’t jump to immediate action. Often times, the outage can last as long as a half-hour. For any outage longer than that, it’s probably safe to assume that something is wrong and needs your attention. Just make a call to the appropriate company. But making calls for shorter outages is going to be a waste of your time and energy.

3. Always Check the Physical Connections First
A loose ethernet connection can cause crashes, freezes, and a whole lot of other inconsistent and un-diagnosable problems. Make sure this and other connections are in nice and tight before running around like a chicken with your head cut off. I’ve been there.

So, another online world. This one less game than most. I tried Star Wars Galaxies and found it interesting, but also felt a little disconnected from everybody… alone in big deserts and the like (not to mention the time it would take to progress in the game). But “There” looks like it has the formula right. Basically a 3D chat room with some cool environments. Any early adopters out there want to give it a try?

1) I’ve always liked the iTunes interface. It’s elegant in a way that Windows Media Player and Winamp are not. I’m going to use this as my primary music player and uninstall all the other stuff. The sort features are amazing and it’s all clean and bright. The bad thing: iTunes does not support WMA files. I used WMA to encode a lot of albums because it maintains sound quality with pretty good compression. Now I have to rip everything again into the (granted, slightly better) AAC format. Phooey.

2) iTunes is a bit bloated. It takes up a lot of memory – I don’t like this.

3) As far as the music store (the whole point of downloading the damn thing anyway), I give the selection an 8 out of 10. There’s some great choices and some glaring omissions. Given the success that I expect iTunes will experience since moving to the PC however, I believe other labels will jump on the bandwagon.

I bought three songs and it was as easy as could be. The service has the distinct advantage of allowing impulse buys as well as experimentation.

Huzzah for iTunes

I went to the gym for the first time in a week and a half, and boy are my arms tired. I just flew in from New York and boy is that a long flight. Gibberish.

My DSL is finally working. So that makes everything easier.

One more thing. For my job, I’ve been coordinating a video project. Unfortunately, most of the production companies are crap. You should really see their samples. Just the most inept shit out there. It all looks like your Uncle Bobby’s wedding video.

Now I wanted to talk about Married by America. Really, I was going to do a review of it for the front page, but then I watched the goddamn thing and realized how boring it was. I was also going to write about the state of the American marriage, but then I realized that no one really cares how I feel. As a person who isn’t married and isn’t planning to in the near future, I’m probably not the best authority on the subject. The show is stupid, period, and I would have ended up giving it an F-. Yes, it’s worse than Are You Hot? You know, I was just chillin’ with my Pina Colada milk (damn that cow-teat milk is the bomb yo!) and I was thinking to myself, how much I love milk and the people that love milk as well. My peeps like this guy and my girl Kelly love to wear our mad bling’n’ cow gear around town and sit around just tippin’ back a few 40′s of the cool, white stuff, know what I’m say’n’ veal? That’s what us peeps call each other, ‘veal.’ I’m letting you into the inner circle yo. I mean, people say we sold out for a couple of cow hats and some free milk, but I don’t buy that shit, you know what I’m saying? That’s whack. We likes the milk. Nothing else to it. (End monologue)

Of course, people could say the same thing about websites that review DVDs, but that’s neither here nor there. In other grand news, I have a second interview tomorrow morning. It’s really the first one of those I’ve ever had, and I have the feeling they’re going to grill me and mock me and make fun of me and see how I handle it.

My knee hurts from the leg press (400lb – I’m not bragging, I’m just saying. I don’t think I should do that much with my bum knee. I think I hurt it in 1997 when I had a horrific bike crash at UC Davis. Some idiot cut me off. I braked, I fell, I bled all over my midterm. Not the best day I’ve ever had. I threw my bike across the road. People were worried about me. I was mad like the Hulk.) That is all.