Hi Krim, I would have to say that having a large hard-drive and lots of media downloaded / ripped locally is hardly in the spirit of a "netbook" ?
However I expect to make a switch in that direction ... when the Kindle idea merges with the netbook, with web browsing as well as the book metaphors and the always on-line high-bandwidth ISP service in the same package. In fact having had a mixture of multiple PC's and laptops (and phones with web / email) I have tended to use almost any PC device as if it was only a netbook, since I can never be sure the physical machine I have in front of me has on it the media I want to use anyway. Leave the media on the web somewhere, anywhere. (Need to sort out the MS / Google / Java conflicts so that web behaviour is really device independent.) PS I would say having conversations (or listening to music) privately but audibly in public places is a sign of mental illness that shows a huge lack of respect for fellow man - whatever the device being used - two tin cans and a piece of string even. As Arlo's example shows holding the device to your ear is just an "excuse" for such bad behaviour. Ian On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 7:18 PM, Krimel<[email protected]> wrote: > Arlo, John, Andrea, Whoever: > > I have witnessed several cultural transformations in my life time. I saw > stereo replace mono and VHS triumph over Beta. I was on the sidelines as CPM > lost to DOS and DOS to GUI. I saw Netscape eaten by a monopoly. > > Two moments stand out for me in that time. The first was when I connected a > 300 baud AppleCat modem to an outlaw Franklin Ace 1000 computer. I dialed > into a BBS system in Atlanta and was able to transfer a file from one > computer to another. > > This was 10 years before anyone talked about an internet. But I understood > in that moment that this was something completely different. Computers > talking directly to other computers... There was no way I could imagine what > could come of that but I knew it would be important. > > I saw something that important three days ago and I want to share it with > you. This is perhaps not as earth shaking as the growth of the internet but > certainly more significant than when I realized, with the invention of the > Bluetooth headset, that talking to yourself in public was no longer a > reliable sign of psychosis. > > Ok, this might seem a little complicated but remember it is going to change > the world. The first part of this revolution is a tiny bit of software that > can turn a cell phone into a wireless router. > > Ok, if you know what that means, I shouldn't need to explain further but for > those who don't, this means that you can always carry with you, your own > personnel internet hot spot. You can access the internet in your car or on a > plane or while camping in Utah. Until recently this meant that you could > access the internet on a little tiny mobile screen that you could barely > read. > > But if your phone has wifi capability, you can now share your connection > with any and all computers in range. Now this would just be of interesting > to Geeks like me until part two of the revelation kicks in. Netbooks. > > Several netbooks have come on the market recently that offer up to 9.5 hours > of battery life. This means you are no longer tethered to the wall. The > computers are so small that you are no longer even tethered to a desk. You > can hold them in one hand and type with the other. They are big enough to > actually use but small enough to fit in a woman's purse. > > What is interesting about this from an MoQ point of view is, first of all > the injection of dynamic quality involved in having that many people, that > interconnected all of the time. But of equal interest is the static latch > involved. All of this technology is actually at step backwards. > > The netbook processors are very very small and use very little electricity. > In terms of power they are several generations backwards. If desktop > computing is using quad-core 3 Ghz then netbooks are using single core 1.6 > Ghz. > > In fact most of them are sold with a Windows XP downgrade. So in order to > get the most out of the machine you downgrade all of your software and > hardware. Not only that but the internet connection through your wireless > cell phone router is going to be a whole lot slower than through your cable > modem. It is much faster then dial-up but still slower than you are used to. > > But even having a static latched downgraded computer has enormous potential. > I souped mine up a bit. For example I put a 500 gig harddrive in a 10" > netbook. On it I have about 65,000 books and articles, The screen size is > about that of a Kindle so reading any of those is now about like holding a > regular sized book in your hand. I also have several thousand songs, and > hundreds of lectures on everything from "Making Love the Bruce Campbell > Way," to a 25 lectures from UC Berkley on psychpharmacology. > > If all you wanted was an iPod. This is an iPod that can hold every song you > have ever heard and you can download more while you are listening. You can > stream episodes of "Lost" to the palm of your hand while waiting at a bus > stop. > > I am still in the testing phase here but I can tell that this has > possibilities that are impossible to foresee. Here is a simple example. My > civil union partner and I both have netbooks with webcams in them. We can > now take a walk around our neighborhood and both of us Skype our grandkid in > Boston while we walk. > > Oh yeah and this message is the first thing I have actually tried to type on > this little beast. While it will take some getting used to it is not too > bad. This little static latch is now my main computer. This is the first > time in more than 30 years that I have actually looked forward to > downgrading my computing horsepower. That alone is revolutionary... > > Krimel > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
