Every week I share the happenings at Mobile Tech Manor, my home office. The focus at the Manor is mobile tech, as the name indicates, and there is never a shortage of gadgets moving through the doors. This column is where I share my week with you, and there is no telling what you’ll hear about. I cover things I did the past week, things that are upcoming — a lot of different things. Every week is different at the Manor so come on in and I’ll let you know how this one was spent.
Are Netbooks Enough?
I have a business trip coming up on Sunday and I ruminated over what gear to take with me, a process I always go through. The main decision I was confronted with was whether to take a “full” laptop, or if it would be more convenient to bring a highly portable netbook along.
The common arguments about the benefits of netbooks invariably mention two factors: price and portability. There is a camp that believes the major draw to the netbook is the low price, that netbooks are less capable than “regular” notebooks but the cheap prices make it worthwhile to overlook the performance hit.
Another camp will argue that the best feature of the netbook is in the area of portability. Most netbooks are smaller and lighter than notebooks and thus are much easier to carry around. Since notebooks are portable by design this would imply that netbooks are the easy choice when it comes to traveling.
I have always said that I felt it was low price that drove the popularity of netbooks. I admit they are very portable but I never felt that was the main draw with consumers. I am more firmly convinced of that after trying to decide this week what to take on my own trip. I have two highly portable loaner netbooks but at the end of the day the more powerful notebook won the spot in my travel gear bag.
Admittedly, price wasn’t part of the equation in this instance as I already had the gear in hand to choose from. Perhaps one of the netbooks may have won the right to accompany me if I was confronted with a major purchase. The concern that I would sacrifice too much performance was very real and played a major role in my decision process.
This whole internal debate opened my eyes, and I realized that if ultra-portability wasn’t enough to convince me to take a netbook on a trip, then when are they better than notebooks? I realized that at the end of the day I find netbooks too constrained performance-wise to have along as my only computer, and that surprised me a great deal. I realized my main question is not which netbook is best for me, but rather, is a netbook acceptable to me at all?
Don’t get me wrong: I like netbooks and enjoy using them. I have used quite a few of them, as a matter of fact, and have gotten a lot of good use out of them. Notebooks are very personal tools and we all have our own particular needs, and that will be the determinant for each individual as to whether a netbook is the way to go or not. They are fine for many, and especially good for those on a limited budget. Netbooks also make good companion devices for just about anyone; we each just need to determine if a netbook is capable enough to be our only system for a given job. I wouldn’t have questioned the capability of netbooks before this week, so my decision to not take one on my trip surprised me — and not much about mobile gear surprises me anymore.
Heat Wave
We are used to summer heat in Houston; the Texas Gulf Coast is one of the hottest places you can be. This summer has been particularly brutal as we have been breaking heat records. This week saw us constantly reaching over 100 degrees and the high humidity has made it almost unbearable.
The heat wave has driven home the folly of leaving mobile gear in the car, even for short periods. The ambient temperature is bad enough but inside a parked car it can reach levels dangerous to gear. I strongly encourage anyone in this heat to take the gear bag with you, even for short stops. Don’t leave it in the car; it can damage the equipment. A lot of gear is made of plastic, and plastic doesn’t always handle heat well.
This week I found a great way to beat the heat. The Cirque du Soleil came to town with the Saltimbanco show, and I bundled up the whole family to go see it. What a wonderful show; the acrobats and gymnasts are downright amazing! I loved the way they blend a story, great music and a mesmerizing performance to create a show unlike any other. It was my first time to see the Cirque but it won’t be the last, I can tell you that with certainty.
Apple: No Pre for You!
The Palm Pre this week lost a function I was using a lot, the ability to sync with iTunes. Apple shut that ability down, as we suspected all along it would do, and it bites. I don’t see what Apple loses by letting iTunes sync with gadgets other than the iPhone/iPod, but apparently it sees a bigger picture than I do.
Perhaps the company believes that I will keep using an iPhone forever to protect my investment in my music library, but to tell you the truth I am fast reaching the point where I am ready to let my iTunes collection go, to throw away my entire library and start building a new music collection through Amazon MP3. I have learned my lesson about being tied down to one solution, and I won’t make that mistake again.
All Things Google
I love Gmail. I can handle my email wonderfully, both on the web and on my many cell phones. I can search thousands of emails in a few seconds, and Gmail never lets me down. Other Google Apps haven’t served me as well as Gmail, but they are getting better. Google Contacts is OK, but not as good as a full-fledged client app. The Palm Pre interacts with Google Contacts well so it’s a mixed bag.
I have always found Google Tasks to be sadly lacking, and I have almost stopped using task lists as a result. This is not good, as I’ve always worked off task lists, so I was happy to see Google added a feature to Tasks that has me jumping for joy. It’s a simple feature, too, but it has already made me get much better at using Tasks. The new feature is the ability to turn any email into a task in the list. This is done through the Gmail “More Actions” drop-down list while an email is open. It’s a great way to quickly create a task out of an email that must be dealt with by an action on my part. Now if Google Tasks would only get priorities.
A Novel Idea
This week I finally started writing my novel. I have been wanting to get into fiction writing for a good while, and I finally got off my butt and started it in earnest. It’s a thriller, and I set out from the beginning to make the killer in my novel a really nasty one. The entire time I have been kicking the story around in my head I kept telling myself the bad guy must be creepy. Not just creepy, but the creepiest killer ever.
I wanted to see if I was succeeding in making my killer creepy enough, so I uploaded the first chapter to my iPhone. I handed it to my wife without telling her anything other than it was a book I was reading, and I wanted to know what she thought about it. I watched her discretely as she read it through and her reaction when finished was music to my ears. She looked at me and said one word: “creepy.” I gave myself a high five.
I haven’t set a schedule for the novel-writing; I am approaching it on a very unstructured basis. I do think I’ll get it finished at some point, but if I start lagging I may have to define some goals. It feels good to tell a real story.
E-books of the Week
I picked up the latest book by James Patterson, written with Maxine Paetro. “Swimsuit” is the story of a creepy killer, although not as creepy as my own killer, and is written in typical Patterson style. The protagonist of the story is a former cop turned novelist turned crime reporter. He gets sent to cover the disappearance of a swimsuit model (thus the title), and ends up involved with the killer who forces him to write his life story. Talk about a novel concept.
I started reading “Praying for Sleep” by Jeffrey Deaver, one of my favorite authors. This book starts off with a crazy behemoth of a man escaping from a mental institution, always a great premise for a story. I’m only halfway through the novel and frankly it’s been a little slower than other Deaver stories. I’m pretty sure it will pick up, though; his novels always do.
That’s It
Now you have shared my week with me, I hope you found it entertaining. I will be heading out on my trip in a few days and I am sure I will have trip-related happenings to share with you next week. Until then, be safe and happy.
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