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| Wednesday, December 10, 2008 |
| It's White! |
My very kind boss has given me something I may or may not deserve, but appreciate nonetheless - I now have a MacBook on my desk. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool PC guy. I have fairly strong criticisms of Apple in general. I've long considered Apple to have a problem emphasizing form over function. But now I'll be using one every day, so perhaps my bias will change.
I rather doubt it, but it could happen.
The point of the laptop was two-fold: it allows me to check for Mac browser errors (which are rather difficult to troubleshoot when you don't have a Mac) and to allow for on-the-road work. This will mean that come Christmas break, I'll be able to work if there's an emergency and I'm hundreds of miles from my home computer. I can't decide if this is a blessing or a curse.
My first impressions have been favorable, though of course there is a learning curve to be dealt with. I've always liked many of Mac's design features - they are, after all, a big selling point on these machines. I've always enjoyed small, practical design improvements and Apple has long been very good at that. My favorite improvement on Apple laptops over traditional PC laptops is the power connector. Rather than a small plug, Apple laptops have a small magnet that attaches to the side of the laptop. This means two things - first, it's easy to attach and detach, and secondly that if you trip on the cord, it pops right off rather than sending your laptop crashing to the floor from the table. On the other hand, I still have no idea why Macs absolutely insist on having one mouse button, even when every bit of software written since 1996 assumes the user has one.
Stubbornness not an admirable attitude in computer hardware, guys.Labels: computers, Mac, pc, work |
posted by Steve @ 11:46 AM  |
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| Saturday, March 24, 2007 |
| Durable machines |
One nice thing about the fact that I can't yet put together most of the more ridiculous parts of my dream car setup is that the technology surrounding them is growing.
Originally, I wanted a carputer in my car. I justified the expense, time and work involved by knowing that it would be able to give me a much more flexible GPS, it could track a wide variety of mechanical components of my car (i.e., fluid levels and temperatures, MPG), and of course, give me an awesome stereo system.
When I first started drawing up the plans for this beast, I was looking at a touch-screen monitor attached to a computer in the trunk. It looks like within the next year, I won't need anything but the monitor because 'slate' or 'ultracompact' style computers are becoming reasonably-priced (under $1,000).
This type of computer is like a very small laptop - so small, they don't have keyboards. Most are roughly the size of a normal piece of paper, but there are more compact ones that can fit on my small dash (my max size is about 8"x8"). Plus, several are designed for stockers and delivery drivers (such as a Budweiser delivery guy) and so can withstand 120-degree temperatures, 5-foot drops, and direct exposure to rain.
All I have to do is plug it into my USB sound system, the USB controls for the various lighting controls and sensors around the car, and maybe an external hard drive, and it's set. Best yet, I can use it as my own PDA. Perhaps soon, they will function as phones as well.
I'll be using Rugged PC Review as my usual shopping/news spot.
A couple commercial examples would be the OQO, VAIO UX Premium, and DuoCor. I'm more interested in the more durable models like the DRS Hammerhead and MobileDemand T8600. Here's a Wiki writeup on ultra-compacts.Labels: Beetle, carputer, cars, DuoCor, MobileDemand, OQO, pc, ultracompact laptop, VAIO, Volkswagen |
| posted by Steve @ 3:26 PM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Steve
Home: Tucson, Arizona, United States
About Me: I like to think about things, and I occasionally like to write what I think.
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