netbooks

Someone asked me if I had thoughts on what netbook I liked. They are still not well formed because I have mentally postponed the purchase until May, when we will open up the cottage in Maine.

Right now I am liking the HP ones the best. Primarily because I am not experienced with MSI, Acer or Asus. I would be interested in the Dell if I could get my hands on one for a test drive.

Like any computer purchase, the right one depends a lot on what you want to do with it. If you really are going to use a netbook for just web browsing, then you really can get something that is at the low end of the price range that suits your needs. As usual, I find it difficult to not upgrade my way to a full laptop price range.

Erica will also be a primary user, so I don't think she will be a fan of learning a new set of apps. Therefore I think I need:

• Web Browsing (FF or IE)
  
• email client (probably Windows Live Mail)
  
• Word Processing (Open Office)
• Separate Mouse (because neither of us like long term use of a touch pad). I already have a nice MS Bluetooth one, so Bluetooth becomes another feature I would like.
  

Linux vs. XP
I am going to stick with XP. Although I am in the minority of people who would have no problems using a Linux based OS, Erica is less enthusiastic. There are more apps for XP and better device support. If I stuck with Web browsing only, then I could stick with Linux, but once you start going off that reservation your options become limited. Some of the vendors don't even want to give you command line access, so that's one more barrier to getting new features added.

Memory
Given that I am going with XP, I think I will need the 1GB .

Keyboard
Needs to be big enough. I like the HP keyboard size. Some of the others were too small. I don't want to resort to thumbs.

Screen Size
Don't really care. Screen size does not affect the form factor of the HP This will be a value decision based on price difference.

Storage
I'd like to go with SSD. Need to find out if 8 or 16 GB will be enough. I am presuming that SSD will burn less power than a hard disk. I don't intend to keep my media library on the device, but the odd Movie might be nice for travel.

Wireless
I think they all come with G built in. N would be nice to have, but I don't have a N router anyway right now. I'd like Bluetooth as well. Integrated is preferred, but third party devices are an option.

As I said at the start, my needs and biases are probably different from yours, and I still need to do a little more research. Hope this provokes thought!

One way based on round trip purchase

If found it refreshing over the weekend to notice that Alitalia were advertising specials in the Boston Globe that were round trip and included taxes. In other words, you pay what they state in the ad.

One of the more frustrating moves that have been prevalent in the past are airlines that have advertised specials that are One way based on round trip and do not include taxes and Fees.

These taxes and fees can be significant when going to international destinations.

For instance, from BOS to LHR taxes are fees are $142.20 right now. That takes a $186 one way special and turns it into a $514.20 round trip total.

It used to always irk me when friends would say, I saw London for $186, when it really is 2.7 times more than that. (I'm not irked at my friends, they are just trying to be helpful)

Although it is refreshing to see some airlines advertising the whole price, I wonder if others will come around to it. There is obviously some attraction to the hook that gets people to log on and try and find the understated fares.

I think the only way around it would be to regulate. If there is no way for me to get to London, even just one way, for $186, then don't put that number on the billborad.

It's only getting worse, once you get the flying out the way then have to pay the baggage, drink, and meal fees (are meals and drinks still free on transatlantic??)

Blogging, facebook and Twitter

Like most things technology, such as Web services, getting the granularity correct is difficult and can make the difference between success and failure.

I am trying to balance what goes where, when I look at Twitter, facebook and Blogger (my tools of choice right now).

With Social Networking tools, I see a disconnect in how some people are using them. I use that phrase carefully as I don't think there are really any rules to follow (which makes this my point of view).

When you have a mismatch in granularity between readers and authors, people will dismiss micro-posts as not well thought out and a waste of space. At the other extreme if people are expecting nibbles and get a four course meal, they will generally skip it.

If you set expectations then people are more forgiving..

Twitter
I'm still trying to work out where Twitter fits.

First, I think of twitter as micro blogging, you are limited to 140 characters for each post, so you need to keep things short and sweet. The audience is somewhat different as well. While you can limit readers to only those you allow, most people appear to let anyone in. (you can flip this around and lock down Twitter and let anyone read facebook, but that is not typical).

If you are going to follow someones tweets, you need to have a good mental filter. Once in a while you will get a nugget of connectedness, but don't make it your job to carefully parse though looking for pearls of wisdom.


facebook
Gives you more room to post and is aimed more at social friends. I think this is more for the "think for a few minutes and post " granularity. You generally have a smaller circle of friends who are listening, so you hope that they actually are somewhat interested in what you are doing.

I do see a disconnect sometimes when folks use twitter and automatically post to facebook. I'm ok with using the tools to do different jobs, I just think sometimes that some tweets are not facebook worthy. Maybe I am not a worthy friend?

If you do have a facebook friend that tends to post their hourly status, you can ask facebook to show you less posts from them. This is less extreme than un-friending.

Blogging
This is for the longer discussion. This one took me about 30 minutes. I was going to say "well thought out" posts, but I'm not sure this is quite there.

The "well thought out" issue is an intresting one. If you over think it, you never post anything (see earlier posts). This is actually one of the things I like about facebook, it has given me an outlet for the less intellectual stuff.

Blog restarted

I'm going to restart this.

Now that I have more time, I hope to get some momentum going. Unfortunately the internet is scattered with blogs that look like this, with one entry, a large time gap and then a restart notice.

I wonder if this time will be any different?

One feature I like in the new blogger is labels (tags), that will let me separate out the family stuff from the technical. If I really get momentum I can always split into separate blogs, but I.m not going to get ahead of myself.