My dream PDA/subnotebook is my Toshiba libretto. For $500, I got a 110CT from ebay. Two 3-hour batteries, two AC adaptors. It has two PCMCIA card sockets, so I have a low-profile USB card in the bottom, and a low-profile wifi card in the top. I have my Sprint phone hooked to the USB card for use as a wireless modem, and with wifi, I can use it around the house.
I have taken this tiny (what they say is true, it's almost exactly the size as a clamshell-packaged VHS tape!) laptop just about everywhere with me. Into the bathroom, upstairs to clean the junk room, under the desk to display diagrams while I was working on my main desktop PC... the uses for this machine have been staggering. Even though I own a palm pilot, I end up using the Lib more for day-to-day geeky stuff, like VNCing to the desktop machine from the couch, making LiveJournal posts, reading/writing mail, AIM, IRC... the list goes on. It's just so incredibly handy to be able to run X86 excutable code wherever I happen to be. That's MY "killer app".
Everyone is so excited about the new bleeding-egde PDAs... I really couldn't care less. The only thing about my Lib I'd change is the low RAM maximum (64MB is tight, even for win98).
One advantage it has over a PDA is storage. It takes a regular 2.5" hard drive, which right now is a 4GB disk. But... it doesn't have the 8.4GB limit that some machines have. Once I can afford it, I'm going to put a 80GB disk in it. I'll be able to carry around every MP3 I have with me. Another application for that storage is for the maps to go with my PCMCIA GPS card. Those take up almost 3GB by themselves! You don't have that kind of storage on a PDA unless you pay out the ass for it (how much is a CF 2GB/4GB card these days, $500USD+?).
I have 1.5GB, actually. I bought PC100 SDRAM before DDR showed up and the prices skyrocketed. $30 each. I got a gig and a half for less than a hundred bucks. It was worth it for the bragging rights alone!
I know you're probably just saying this in jest, but I wonder if in twenty or so years, this might not be a standard part of pre-employment contracts that we're all signing.
It worries me.
Oftentimes, it depends on the topic. If someone (gender notwithstanding) is jabbering on about something I don't give a shit about, I will tune them out and let my mind wander. Talking about shampoo? My brain is elsewhere. If you want to keep my attention when talking to me, you need to talk to me about something I can relate to. Not sports or shampoo, but technology is a good start.
This is not at all surprising, considering that these are solid-state cards, with no moving parts. If they had tried to do any of this to something like a CF MicroDrive, then it wouldn't have lasted even through the first test before it stopped working.
For the longest time, I was a Maxtor fanatic. Had many drives made by them, with few failures. Compared to the shitheaps that WD makes, they seemed quite reliable. Then my power started to get flaky (at the time, I had no UPS) and I lost four drives, all at one time. I've since switched to Seagate, since the only drive of mine to survive those power problems was the Seagate 120GB in my MDD G4. Since then, I've used this as my mantra: "Maxtor for capacity, but keep it on a UPS. Seagate when it's mission-critical."
As a related anecdote... I recently pulled a 20MB Seagate SCSI hard drive out of an old Mac SE I had lying around in order to upgrade it. It had a date sticker from 1993 on it. 11 years and still running... seemed pretty impressive to me.
...is that Nokia is dragging it's feet when it comes to providing 3G features. When I went to get a cell phone, Sprint and Verizon (only providers in my area offering 3G service) Only had one Nokia model available each. The rest of their offered line was Samsung and Sanyo, with the ones with the leading-edge features (push to talk, video) being available with Sanyo handsets.
This may not be a big deal to some people, but it's clearly important enough to account for this drop in their market share. Hell, I never liked Nokia phones. Most of their designs are ugly and difficult to hold, not to mention the accessaries are more expensive than phones that don't use proprietary stuff. Besides, at the time I was buying, they didn't offer the one feature I was interested in... USB PC connectivity. Sanyo did, and my 8100 has been VERY good.
Oh, IOMega, how I loathe thee. I had a Zip drive a bit longer than that (about 14 months). After that time, it started showing the click of death. I managed to pawn it off on some poor unsuspecting soul before it finally died, but I lost three solid disks worth of files.
But one of the reasons Linux distros come with all these apps is because there isn't a single really good one. For example, in the days before Mozilla became truly stable, there wasn't a browser that stood out as better than the rest. Right now, I'd be hard-pressed to find an email client that likewise fit that billing.
Choice is a good thing, but in the end, do all of us want to choose every single one of thousands of apps?
I know I can, but it's barely noticeable on large sound systems at high quality. Even then, it's negligible. You have to be extremely nitpicky to even point it out.
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I the last year, I've worked an 80-hour week and an 18 hour day. I think I'm well on the way to Karoshi by now.
My dream PDA/subnotebook is my Toshiba libretto. For $500, I got a 110CT from ebay. Two 3-hour batteries, two AC adaptors. It has two PCMCIA card sockets, so I have a low-profile USB card in the bottom, and a low-profile wifi card in the top. I have my Sprint phone hooked to the USB card for use as a wireless modem, and with wifi, I can use it around the house.
I have taken this tiny (what they say is true, it's almost exactly the size as a clamshell-packaged VHS tape!) laptop just about everywhere with me. Into the bathroom, upstairs to clean the junk room, under the desk to display diagrams while I was working on my main desktop PC... the uses for this machine have been staggering. Even though I own a palm pilot, I end up using the Lib more for day-to-day geeky stuff, like VNCing to the desktop machine from the couch, making LiveJournal posts, reading/writing mail, AIM, IRC... the list goes on. It's just so incredibly handy to be able to run X86 excutable code wherever I happen to be. That's MY "killer app".
Everyone is so excited about the new bleeding-egde PDAs... I really couldn't care less. The only thing about my Lib I'd change is the low RAM maximum (64MB is tight, even for win98).
One advantage it has over a PDA is storage. It takes a regular 2.5" hard drive, which right now is a 4GB disk. But... it doesn't have the 8.4GB limit that some machines have. Once I can afford it, I'm going to put a 80GB disk in it. I'll be able to carry around every MP3 I have with me. Another application for that storage is for the maps to go with my PCMCIA GPS card. Those take up almost 3GB by themselves! You don't have that kind of storage on a PDA unless you pay out the ass for it (how much is a CF 2GB/4GB card these days, $500USD+?).
Anyway, enough ranting on. LB loves his Lib.
I have 1.5GB, actually. I bought PC100 SDRAM before DDR showed up and the prices skyrocketed. $30 each. I got a gig and a half for less than a hundred bucks. It was worth it for the bragging rights alone!
This has a frighteningly large amount if logical weight behind it...
Stay as far away as fucking possible from X11.
Would anyone?
...water is still wet.
*nods* I will, thank you.
I know you're probably just saying this in jest, but I wonder if in twenty or so years, this might not be a standard part of pre-employment contracts that we're all signing. It worries me.
"being a better slave never made anyone free." I love that phrase. May I use it elsewhere?
Oftentimes, it depends on the topic. If someone (gender notwithstanding) is jabbering on about something I don't give a shit about, I will tune them out and let my mind wander. Talking about shampoo? My brain is elsewhere. If you want to keep my attention when talking to me, you need to talk to me about something I can relate to. Not sports or shampoo, but technology is a good start.
What the hell Vaio do you have? Mine went from 90 minutes to 40 seconds in two years.... :(
This is not at all surprising, considering that these are solid-state cards, with no moving parts. If they had tried to do any of this to something like a CF MicroDrive, then it wouldn't have lasted even through the first test before it stopped working.
For the longest time, I was a Maxtor fanatic. Had many drives made by them, with few failures. Compared to the shitheaps that WD makes, they seemed quite reliable. Then my power started to get flaky (at the time, I had no UPS) and I lost four drives, all at one time. I've since switched to Seagate, since the only drive of mine to survive those power problems was the Seagate 120GB in my MDD G4. Since then, I've used this as my mantra: "Maxtor for capacity, but keep it on a UPS. Seagate when it's mission-critical."
As a related anecdote... I recently pulled a 20MB Seagate SCSI hard drive out of an old Mac SE I had lying around in order to upgrade it. It had a date sticker from 1993 on it. 11 years and still running... seemed pretty impressive to me.
...is that Nokia is dragging it's feet when it comes to providing 3G features. When I went to get a cell phone, Sprint and Verizon (only providers in my area offering 3G service) Only had one Nokia model available each. The rest of their offered line was Samsung and Sanyo, with the ones with the leading-edge features (push to talk, video) being available with Sanyo handsets. This may not be a big deal to some people, but it's clearly important enough to account for this drop in their market share. Hell, I never liked Nokia phones. Most of their designs are ugly and difficult to hold, not to mention the accessaries are more expensive than phones that don't use proprietary stuff. Besides, at the time I was buying, they didn't offer the one feature I was interested in... USB PC connectivity. Sanyo did, and my 8100 has been VERY good.
Seriously, am I the only one thinking of that Futurama episode?
It's billed as unlimted, and neither me nor any of my friends who use it have ever been charged anything other than the $15/mo flat rate for it.
Actually, some cellular networks have unlimited data. I know for a fact that Sprint (my provider) does.
Oh, IOMega, how I loathe thee. I had a Zip drive a bit longer than that (about 14 months). After that time, it started showing the click of death. I managed to pawn it off on some poor unsuspecting soul before it finally died, but I lost three solid disks worth of files.
Tragedy plus time equals comedy.
Besides, people love to laugh at the misfortunes of others. It's a proven fact.
But one of the reasons Linux distros come with all these apps is because there isn't a single really good one. For example, in the days before Mozilla became truly stable, there wasn't a browser that stood out as better than the rest. Right now, I'd be hard-pressed to find an email client that likewise fit that billing. Choice is a good thing, but in the end, do all of us want to choose every single one of thousands of apps?
I know I can, but it's barely noticeable on large sound systems at high quality. Even then, it's negligible. You have to be extremely nitpicky to even point it out.
..and now this? What other uses could genetic algorithms have?