The Penalty Box

Since I’m not in school, my use for a laptop has shrunk to about zero.  Carrying a 5 pound computer around in a semi-large to large bag doesn’t really fit my needs.  As such, I’ve been looking at the burgeoning netbook/UMPC/MID market.  Something lightweight, reasonably small, Linux-based and long battery life are the things I’m interested in.  Bonus items would be stuff like GPS and pocketable size (for a MID) or tablet format (netbook).  At this point, a few people I know would be screaming, “YOU SHOULD GET AN IPHONE! STEVE JOBS CAN HAVE MY BABIES!” (Okay, the last part might be disingenuous…they might say “manbabies” if they’re not female).  There are several reasons why I do not want an iPhone, some have been mentioned by Greg, another being that I’m on a contract with Bell and do not wish to pay the cancellation fees.

The Asus EeePC looked promising, particularly the 901 (please ignore the cheesy posed picture on the website).  However, the crappy battery life (3 hours) meant it can’t be an all-day away from a plug device, and a bigger battery means more weight.  Tack on a price that doesn’t yield any advantages over a traditional laptop (what happened to the $200 price tag, Asus?) and that falls quickly out of favour.

The Fujitsu U810 has the features I want, along with the tablet format, but the $1400 price tag puts it into “regular laptop” range.  Considering there’s no Linux option either and that means this, too, falls into the “do not want” pile.

The Nokia n810 proved intriguing though (apologies for the Flash).  GPS, Linux-based, pocketable in a cargo pants pocket and even a slide-out keyboard.  I’m not a fan of touchpad typing, as I’ve tried out Bishnu’s iPhone, so the tactile feedback of a slideout keyboard would be pretty good.  Price is reasonable; NCIX and DirectBuy both price it sub-$400.  Battery life isn’t super awesome, but it’s good enough to be an all-day device.  Rumours of a price drop to the $300 range had me holding off on it for now, plus there was some slim possibility of other netbooks like the MSI Wind or the Acer Aspire One that might knock my socks off (they didn’t).

It was then during my regular web browsing that I came across these two puppies, both from Viliv: the S5 and the S7.  Details aren’t fully fleshed out yet, as they are scheduled to be available to buy in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009 respectively.  Just from specs though, the S5 is pocketable, runs at least 6 hours, can function as a PMP and has Bluetooth/GPS options.  Coming in at around 1 pound, it looks pretty sweet.  Plus, there are plans to have a cradle with ports for monitor/keyboard/mouse so you can plug in the S5 and it can function like a desktop.  The S7 is a 7″ tablet, is under 2 pounds, runs for 10 hours and has Bluetooth/GPS.  Both will have Windows XP with possible Vista, and there will be some Linux distro on it (I’m guessing probably Ubuntu Mobile or something Maemo-like).  I’m leaning more towards the S5 at the moment, especially if it has GPS.  Definitely something on the WANT list and worth keeping up on.

To make this post geeky in the nostalgic way rather than techy, check out this awesome Mario medley…on bassoons.  Look for the beatboxing around minute 3.

My day started out with a bad night’s sleep.  Hooray, it’s Monday and I’m tired.  Being tired meant staying in bed a little too long trying to convince my body to do what my brain told it to do.  This threw off my schedule enough that I was a few minutes late getting out the door.  I get about a block out before the section of my brain that calculates temperature tells me that it’s a bit chilly (it’s about 10 C, windy and I’m wearing a short sleeve shirt).  Damn.  Welp, too late to go back for a jacket, I need to catch my bus.  Unfortunately, events conspired to have me arrive at the crosswalk of Hastings and Sperling just as the wrong light turns red, which means mashing the walk button won’t have any effect for a couple of minutes.  End result? I miss my bus.

And another.

As I silently curse the Crosswalk Gods, the light finally changes and I cross the street to watch yet another bus take off.  The next bus is not crowded and just happens to have a driver with a lead foot.  For gas and brake.  Trying to prevent my head from smashing into the pole in front of me meant I could not sleep on the way to work, but at least I got a seat.

I get to work and a script flaked out over the weekend.  Yay, stats triage.  Fixing it takes the better part of the day, and when I almost think I’ve got it, a bug crops up and I spend the next two hours poking at code, trying to make it go.  Final cause? I used the parent object instead of the inheireted object and the parent object’s version of the function didn’t rotate an array’s contents.  I was rather close to writing an ugly workaround hack that my co-workers likely would’ve tarred and feathered me for.

On the way home, I forget my wallet on my desk, prompting a mad dash back to the elevator to go up and down 27 floors.  Then there’s a conspiracy theorist on the bus rambling about how the government was getting into all of our private data.  The rant is sparked by the bus driver asking him where he was going in order to determine if he had to pay one or two zones.  “I’ll go where I want to go, I don’t have to tell you where I’m going.  What are you, my mom? Gonna hold my hand? I’ll go where I wanna go.”  Way to show the maturity of a 14 year old girl and convince no one that you’re “sticking it to the man.”  I see your intelligence peaking at the level of “tampon wrapper.”

And so it happened, tonight was my night to cook.  I managed to mistime the cooking of the stir fry, almost forgot to cook the rice and forgot to put more oil on the frying pan, which resulted in some bread crumbs from the pork catching on fire.  Fortunately, I saved the pork chop and put out the fire, but not before some smoke drifted out of the kitchen, prompting a few curious roommates to wonder what the hell was going on.  I guess it’s a good thing the kitchen smoke detector is unplugged, as steam seems to set it off.  Apparently dinner tasted fine, so I guess in the end it’s not so much presentation as it is taste.  I won’t be trying out for Iron Chef anytime soon, that’s for sure.

In the end, it wasn’t a terrible day, just not the best of days.  Perhaps it brought some entertainment to you, dear reader. I’m just really glad our beer fridge is stocked.

It’s also very awesome.

This is an installment of Good Idea, Bad Idea.

Good Idea: Biking to work

Bad Idea: Doing it with two fat tire rims stacked on your handlebars so you can’t see where you’re going

Good Idea: Working out at the gym
Bad Idea: Counting to a laughably high number while pressing free weights ten pounds too heavy for you to impress the girls.  And the girls are wearing headphones.

This concludes this installment of Good Idea, Bad Idea.