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 A calm Sunday afternoon. The ideal moment to sit down behind my little Acer Aspire Net-book and punch out some of the thoughts and idea's that have been on my mind for the last week. A busy week I must say. A week filled with work and meetings and a lot of rushing about. Clocking up some more miles in the car and spending quite a bit of time being "out and about". The cool part about that is that you need to get creative when it comes to your "on-line life". Most of us have an on-line social scene that centres around the moments where we sit "behind" the computer. Werther at home or at work, our digital lifestyle is closely bonded with the keyboard and mouse that we are using at that moment. As soon as we step outside ( or even wander near the coffee machine ) small physical space represents the giant gap between our 'Analogue' (I refuse to call them "real") lives and our "Digital" Lives. Or does it really ?
To me that mobility started to fade away when I got my first smart-phone that had a GPRS connection (my good friend the Palm Treo). It was one of the first cellphones I owned until it , quite literally "died" and I was quite attached to it. Not because of the hardware (it was a decent piece of kit) but because of the fact it bridged the digital life I had behind the keyboard, with my real life when I was out and about in off-line-land. From that moment on, with slow GPRS pop3 pull-mail as my only lifeline, something fundamentally changed in the way I used computers and more importantly, in the way I experienced the internet.
Fast forward to last weekend, when I traded up my trusty Blackberry Curve 8300 for a Blackberry Bold 9000. A streak of luck would have it that I found a busy businessman with a taste for the newest gadgets who was going to buy a Blackberry 9700. In order to scrounge up some extra cash he put his Bold 9000 up for sale on the internet and I was the first one to call him about the offer. The cool little device was only 5 months old and came with a one-year warranty and plenty of extras. (Deluxe casing etc.). I was looking out for a BOLD because I had enjoyed my Curve very much over the last year but was itching to try out a new toy.
What I did NOT expect when I got my hands on the BOLD, was the fact that is was so radically different from any smart-phone I had owned prior. Ok, With the Blackberry Curve came the advent of Push-email (My Knightwise.com mailbox in my pocket) and that in itself meant the end of using my personal cellphone as a 'voice communicator'. Next came übertwitter on the Blackberry (another great step forward) and next came the Googletalk client. With these three applications I had a pretty firm tie to the internet, no matter WHERE I went. Downside was of course the poor speed (GPRS Only) and the limited data plan I have (100 meg's a month).
With the Bold however this changed. The device in itself is bigger and comes with a much better screen. Its a lot faster then the Curve, and upgrading the internal SD card from 1 to 4 gigabyte did give me a lot more storage. But what surprised me the most was the fact that this baby could run several applications at once (multitasking) and came with a Wifi connection. This last part (something that I had always scoffed at in a smart-phone, (Who needs wifi on a device with a numerical interface') turned out to be yet another killer feature for this device. What happened is that I started to browse the applications on the Blackberry Appworld and downloaded not only the Facebook app, Ubertwitter, GoogleVoice and Googletalk, but I also went for MSN messenger, Flickr uploader and some others. I had some of these applications on the Curve, but the combination of Wifi connectivity at home AND multitasking brought on a whole new way of "connecting" to my digital life.
Where at first I would have my Netbook next to me on the couch, with Skype, MSN, Twitter and Email open, these applications have now been permanently moved to the Blackberry. I no longer run an MSN/Adium/Pidgin client to manage my MSN, Googletalk and Facebook contacts. Those applications are now running on the Bold. 24/7. Suddenly these apps have been "liberated" from the computer and now permanently reside in my back pocket. Same with Twitter. When I'm behind the computer I'll probably fire up Tweetdeck, but only as an "extra" way of interacting with my Twitterstream. The combination of the screen real estate, processor power, multitasking abilities and wifi/3G connection of the Blackberry has turned the device in a full-blown "communicator" instead of a "phone with email". I don't really see the Blackberry as a "Phone with extras". I look at it as a "personal communicator" with the 'extra option' to make voice-calls. The application Nimbuzz (that I found thanks to @meon) now even ties all my major social "comlines" (MSN, Skype, Facebook and Googletalk) into one single IM application. As I find more and more applications on the app store I'm feeling myself become more and more independent of just not 'one computer" but 'any computer'. While finding new tools for the Blackberry (I've even found a stand alone podcatcher that will auto-download my podcasts over wifi and store them on the SD-card) I've pondered ditching the Ipod touch (and its need to "sync podcasts) every morning in favour of the Blackberry. But the drain on the battery is becoming the showstopper.
However, aside from it all, I'm amazed at the way we change the way we interact with the digital world now "devices" become more and more powerful. Pretty soon "classic phone-calls" will be a thing of the past and trees can grow without fear of being cut down to make "books" out of them thanks to ebook readers. But what about our computers ? Will we see a drastic change in the way we interact with our digital lives ? Will the Ipads and the Smartphones take over the communicational aspects and will a computer regress into an "interaction terminal" for tasks that require a bigger screen ? Or are down the path suggested by @thenos100 when he asked us the question : Would you use a Smartphone with an external keyboard, screen and mouse ? Its a valid question that requires some pondering.
Perhaps its time to say "bye bye computer"?
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If the internet is about ONE single thing, then it must be about "interaction". About finding out new things on the net thanx to your peeps. About inspiring people, showing people the way and so forth. The whole interweb is one big interactive community that constantly influences eachother. So why stop at the edges of your screen.
In my new office ' Nicely dubbed 'The laundry room' by some of my Twitter followers' I've put up some frames and hung up some pictures to make the whole place nice and cosy. I have however left an 'open spot' in my decorations for a little social experiment. I've put up 3 little picture frames on the wall directly next to where I sit. I have however , on purpose put NOTHING in them yet. Why ? Well , because I'm not going to decide whats gonna be in them : Its up to you guys ! Yes YOU can decide what will become the content of these three catchy picture frames that are going to be in full view AND are going to be "in the shot" whenever I need to record a video-segment for KWTV.
There are a few parameters. It has to be something that's at least a little family safe, It has to be in "picture format" (they aren't hung in landscape mode) and Nyana gets a veto wether or not its gonna be on the wall. (She IS the Style Guru of the house) But for the rest : Its a free for all. Whatever you send it ( picture , drawing etc) should be something YOU yourself have made and you can sign it with your name on the bottom. So help me decorate the office and ... become a part of the Knightwise.com "Wall of fame".
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 This weekend I had the honor AND the pleasure of going out to buy me some new gear. After renovating our laundry room over the holidays, I had planned on getting me a second 28 inch monitor, but Einstein got in the way. According to some teeny weeny "law of phisics" 2 atoms cannot occupy the same room in normal spacetime. As a result the edge of my "Second" 28 inch display would occupy the same atomic space as the wall of my office. ( I just didn't have the room for 2 screens). So that purchase was canceled. This DID free up the next item on my list for purchase : A new(er) Pc laptop to run Ubuntu and Windows 7 to replace my TC1100 Tablet pc. I love the device, but at over 2 kilograms its a little heavy to lug around ALL the time.
The parameters for "what I wanted" out of this new laptop were a little conflicting to say the least. I wanted the power of a full size notebook, but wanted something distinctly smaller than the standard 15.4 or 17 inch size notebooks out there. I had even been hitting the bargain sites for a second hand 13.3 inch Macbook, but still found it too large. With nostalgic memories of my old 12 inch Ibook in my mind, i went on the impossible quest of finding this mix between high power-small formfactor - affordable price.
The "Small form factor" was not an issue. There are hundreds of Netbooks out there in every possible color, ready and able to become your portable companion. From 7 inch screens (nice but too darn small) to 9 and 10 inch screens (getting there, but still too low when it comes to screen resolution) to the newer 11.6 inch models. These last models sport displays with a screen real estate of about 1300 by 768 which is pretty decent. The additional bonus of this form factor is that you get a full sized keyboard.
So I did some looking around and was a little disappointed to find a few models out there (From Acer, Packard Bell etc) but all of them once again with an Atom Processor ( Some with the new Atom 520 chip set that means HELL when you want to run Linux on them). So Friday afternoon I hooked up with @woollymittens on twitter and we talked about the notebook HE got for his trip to Australia. Apparently Packard Bell had created a special DOT MA model that had the same "look and feel" of a netbook, but sported an AMD instead of an ATOM processor and came with 2 gigabytes of ram. I was intrigued about this "Uber-Netbook" and did some more Googling around. We found the Packard Bell M.U model with 1 gigabyte of ram and a peculiar Intel Intel CULV processor in the Local Mediamarket, and for about 400 euros it was quite a bargain. After checking out some reviews online (Tweakers.net) it appeared to be a very interesting notebook. Mind you : This is NOT a netbook, Because the machine did NOT have an Atom CPU, its ram capacity was NOT limited to 1 gigabyte AND it came with an HDMI connector on the side. (and an ATI Radeon videocard). This gave it the edge over the 'regular netbooks' by stepping away from the " Crippled/underpowered Atom architecture " while still holding true to the compact formfactor. So it was time to hit the road and go take a look at the machine.
The great thing about having a Geeky wife is that you have a "buddy" that loves to go with you on your "Laptop Quest". So I talked the "desired specs' through with Nyana (just so she knew what we were hunting for) and we dashed off to the nearest MediaMarket in Herstal (French speaking part of the country). to go see if we could find one of these Packard Bell M.U notebooks. Unfortunately they were sold out BUT they did have one very good looking Acer Aspire 1810 model on the shelves. A little bit higher in price then the Packard Bell , but it was one sweet little notebook. I had read online that the Packard Bell dot MU series were actually the same machines as the Acer "Timeline" Netbooks. So I asked the shop-dude for details.
Surprisingly THIS friendly Mediamarkt shop clerk DID now what he was talking about and he explained that the Acer Aspire 1810TZ came with an even newer processor then the Packard Bell MU series. With a 1,3 GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core ULV SU4100 processor this baby came with 2 gigs of ram AND a 64-bit version of Windows 7. The led screen , the low powered processor, the 6-Cell (8 theoretical hour), the 4500HM graphic card AND the HDMI port make this little laptop a very VERY powerful dwarf that puts its Netbook-family to shame.
All in all, this isn't a Netbook, The Acer Aspire 1810tz is a small form factor laptop. 3cm thick, fast, fairly silent, very fuel-efficient and extremely portable it is a dwarfed-down version of your run-of-the-mill laptop.At 499 euros it was a pretty high price for a Netbook .. but its NOT a Netbook. So if you compare the price to a 'regular' laptop ..its pretty cheap and portable.
First impressions of the device are very positive. The display is nice, the cpu is fast, the keyboard is wonderful and the Windows 7 needs to be de-crapified after installation (plenty of useless software provided by acer) But beside that its a great machine ! What i like is the 5 in 1 card-reader , The wireless b/g/N card and the fact its only 3cm thick (and very light).
The real fun however started when I installed Ubuntu 9.10 on it. Every single thing worked out of the box. EVERYTHING. The wifi , the sound , the video drivers, (ok i still need to check the HDMI port) the card-reader ... EVERYTHING .. And its lightning fast ! The bad press 9.10 has gotten so far has nothing to say on this install of Ubuntu. The laptop is supported flawlessly. Even my Mobistar 3G modem (for which i Still need to find 64 bit drivers to get it to work under Windows7) works like a charm. And did I mention it was Fast ? like in : Really fast.
All in all the combination of fast hardware, a small form factor and flawless software support by both Ubuntu AND Windows 7, elevate this little notebook to one of the better ones I've owned in a long time. I even dare to say this is the BEST PC-laptop i've owned up until now. (Looking at bang for the buck). Over the next couple of days i'll be pushing the limits of the Graphics card by trying Half-Life, I'll hook up our TV on the HDMI port and " Release the power of the dwarf".
Links :
Another review by Notebookcheck
My own UNBOXING set.
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I went shopping for a new notebook yesterday and got me an Acer Timeport as my main 'non mac' system to run Ubuntu , Windows 7 and stuff like that. I'll post a complete review once i'm done testing. But the unboxing porn IS ready to go. Instead of doing it mysellf, I outsourced the process towards two friendly Starfleet Officers.
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One of the shows that allmost puts me in a Coma every time I see it , is MTV Cribs ! Some punked up rapper with too much money and about half a braincell does loooove to show people around his great house with its 4 pools, 3 Garages and 45 Plasma Tv's so he can watch Martha Steward while taking a crap. But the voyeur inside of us does like to poke around in peoples houses to see 'how they hang".
Well the question about "how they hang" in the highest penthouse apartment know to human kind .. has ALSO been answered. Thanx to Sharky we get a great video tour of the ISS Spacestation in this youtube video he sent in. The funny thing is that its A: Not at all "Spacy" (it looks more like the inside of a Russian Pop-bands Tourbus) AND that its damn Cramped. The one thing I noticed is that "Zero G" is not all that its worked up to be.
Sure you never "Fall Down" and impress your friends by propelling yoursellf by the power of your own farts, but you also need to strap EVERYTHING down. So I hope you think of things like that when you see those ISS guys on Tv. Remember how cramped their little condo-in-space is. Ok , they have the greatest view OF the planet, but they also run the risk of being hit by (hopefully their own) flying poo.
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